This paper reports on a longitudinal study, known as the Rancho Plan, begun in 1976 at a high school in California. The study was conducted to experiment with planned change in organizational and instructional structures. The data which have emerged offer teachers' recollections of what was and connect them to the long-term effects of a planned…

This collection of 12 essays examines the school's need to establish a collaborative environment as a precondition for its own development. The following chapters explore the necessary shift in schools from a bureaucratic to a professional mode: (1) "Recanting Bureaucracy: A Democratic Structure for Leadership in Schools" (D. L. Clarke and J. M.…

Processes and outcomes associated with baccalaureate education for registered nurses were studied longitudinally as part of the Sleuthing Nursing Pathways Project. Participants included about 500 registered nurses who entered the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs at the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Northern…

Shared governance empowers teachers to increase their autonomy and contributes to their role in determining school policy and influencing student outcomes. This paper, exploratory in nature, describes the policy impact of shared governance in nine autonomous schools where the participants at each site have provided some insight into policy issues.…

The rhetoric and results of efforts to empower and professionalize teachers are examined to gain insight into ways in which the language of educational reform functions in both maintaining and changing power relations. This critical analysis clarifies how the ways people communicate both influence and are influenced by the structures and forces of…

Based on the assumption that a strong teacher contract can restrict the latitude of school administrators, this study tested the following hypothesis: School principals who participate fully in board-teacher collective bargaining as negotiators or active consultants will perceive themselves to have greater on-the-job discretion than principals who…

The literature on socialization of nursing students for professional commitment is reviewed, along with the literature on nursing as a female profession. Concerns addressed by the literature include the following: students' self-images over the course of their nursing education, nursing leadership, the conventional orientation of many young…

This paper explores notions of empowerment, as variously constructed in contemporary educational discourse, in an attempt to better understand what it means to adopt empowering rhetoric. The discussion is framed around three questions: (1) What is empowerment in contemporary educational discourse? (2) What is desirable, and what should teachers be…

A survey was conducted to determine the amount of autonomy for each of three music faculty types (performers, theorists-historians, and music educators). Autonomy was measured by comparing the actual time devoted to the various job-related activities with the time each faculty type would like to devote to the activities. A questionnaire listing 16…

The professional model of teaching currently being advocated cannot resolve the dilemma of the teacher's role in American society because it does not address issues of gender inherent in both the model and the role. Ways to develop an alternative model are suggested. (Author/MT)

Two policies--freedom to carry out research as determined by the individual scholar and the mandate to make the results of that research broadly available--are crucial elements in the successful functioning of universities. Possible conflicts and their ramifications are discussed. (MLW)

Discusses a current research effort that investigated the career orientations of a representative sample of urban secondary and elementary teachers in Utah. The author creates a theoretical background for the study and introduces the Career Orientation Inventory that was used in the data collection process. Implications for the urban educator are…

Summarizes in an interview Sidney Hook's personal experiences as a student and teacher in the New York City school system before the era of progressive education. Reflects on the contributions and failings of progressive education. (PS)

Argues that, to maintain professional identity, staff members resist challenges to the "sacred" norms of their school's culture and subsequently create a culture of opposition if the threat continues. Data from three case studies of high schools support the argument and provide examples of what is meant by sacred norms. (CJH)

Explores the resilient normative order in schools and reformers' attempts to alter an order that centers on teachers' interactions with students. For teachers, legitimate authority consented to by students is essential. By treating teachers as passive receivers of advice, reforms undermine teachers' authority and create teacher resistance and…