Accomplished teachers are leaving the profession by the thousands (7% yearly). A 1997 National Center for Education Statistics survey found that dissatisfied teachers leave because of student discipline and motivation problems, inadequate administrative support, poor salary, and insufficient influence over school policies and practices. The…

Investigates (1) how Malaysian linguists perceive and categorize sub-varieties of Malaysian English, as spoken by select speakers, along the lectal continuum; and (2) whether "gatekeepers" regard the same select speakers acceptable for delivering business presentations to different audiences. Discussion sheds light on what is and is not…

A three-county survey of administrative credential students in California found that 26% of respondents serving in administrative positions are considering leaving their jobs; 62% of qualified candidates are staying in the classroom. Solutions to principal overload include hiring more assistant principals and grooming inhouse talent. (MLH)

A school board member-turned-English teacher shares several insights: teaching is exhausting work; class size matters; teachers are isolated; teachers often misunderstand board actions; administrative filters distort what boards and teachers are really saying; adopting one-sided, radical change is foolhardy; and teachers are professionals…

Draws on ongoing case studies of women's initiations of elementary collaborative principalships to discuss dilemmas encountered within the contradictory environment of "centralized decentralization" in New Zealand. Accountability issues have emerged as significant in one school, as the women and their board have been radically…

A dozen schools in Colorado opened their doors to professional performance auditors to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency. The audit reports recommended finding precise costs of functions, programs, and operations; minimizing duplication; and increasing accountability. (MLF)

A study proposed a structural model of college faculty worklife and tested its generalizability by examining possible differences in the model across three cross-sectional samples of probationary faculty at a major research university over an eight-year period. Identified trends in faculty perceptions about their worklife over time can be used as…

Examined the working conditions faced by parents who has at least one child in need of help for educational or behavioral problems using data for 1,878 families from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Mother and Child Survey. Data show that low-income parents often lack the paid leave and flexibility they need to help children with…

Techniques for supervising day camp staff so that they develop responsibility include holding daily morning meetings with the entire staff, taking the "open door" to staff, encouraging information sharing, managing by walking around, ending the day with a short assembly, and observing staff at the end-of-the-day dismissal and other major…

Workplace violence has not bypassed schools. Stories are surfacing about disgruntled school employees threatening, attacking, and sometimes killing administrators. This article shows how school leaders can develop greater awareness of potential problems and design cautionary measures. Contributing factors, warning signs, legal consequences,…

Direction sequences initiated by coworkers to eight individuals with mental retardation were compared to those initiated by school personnel to eight special education students with moderate mental retardation in community-based vocational training. Although most directions in either setting were direct/noncomplex, more indirect commands occurred…

A survey of tenure-track faculty in the Texas A & M University college of education investigated attitudes concerning the environment for grantsmanship. Results indicate the need for a system providing faculty with assigned time for proposal development, provision of start-up money for competitive grant-writing, equal emphasis on grant writing…

Describes how context influenced 58 beginning school principals in urban, suburban, and rural Louisiana school districts. Results are presented as storylines that demonstrate social issues extending beyond any single district or any one context variable such as race or gender. Commonalities among the job tasks and work attitudes are discussed.…

The vice-chancellor of an Australian university examines the way his time is allocated for a variety of recurring activities and considers the role of vice-chancellor from a political science perspective. This administrator is seen as playing a role within the university community comparable to that of a prime minister or premier in larger…

Discusses problems women academic scientists in India face because of gender. Women scientists are aware of how their position in the academy is different from that of men but have not made efforts to address their problems collectively. States that these women have a feminist perspective of a kind but have been disassociated from the women's…