School-effectiveness and school-improvement researchers are increasingly looking to establish some kind of synergy between their respective fields; however, current attempts lack a clear understanding of organizations. School-effectiveness research tends to emphasize structural dimensions, while the focus in school-improvement work is on…

In the California Community Colleges (CCC), authority is conditionally delegated to local college districts to approve new credit courses, articulate courses with other district colleges, and approve graduation requirements. This document details policies adopted by the CCC's Academic Senate regarding the scope, mechanisms, and conditions of that…

Today's schools are being affected by changes in educational technology and increasing student diversity. In the new education paradigm, schools must prepare all students to think critically, solve problems quickly, and learn continuously. Schools therefore need leaders who can mobilize entire communities to accept and lead change. This paper…

This book is designed to help identify, analyze, and address problems that are found in rural parts of the United States. It focuses on the community as the place where individuals come together in order to solve those problems. The book's 13 chapters are divided into 4 sections. The first section discusses rural definition and community…

The field of education has been slow to recognize the Total Quality Management (TQM) concept. This resistance may result from entrenched management styles characterized by hierarchical decision-making structures. TQM emphasizes management based on leadership instead of management by objective, command, and coercion. The TQM concept consists of…

The fourth in a special series of handbooks dealing with constitutional themes, this document looks at power in the context of the U.S. Constitution. "The Constitution's Prescription for Freedom" (L. Peach) examines the separation of powers provided for in the Constitution. "The Concept of Power" (C. Roach) is a series of…

Computing involves social issues and political choices. Issues such as privacy, computer crime, gender inequity, disemployment, and electronic democracy versus "Big Brother" are addressed in the context of efforts to develop a national public policy for information technology. A broad range of research and case studies are examined in an…

This paper presents a reconceptualization of multicultural education for the 21st century through a critical analysis of the current status of multicultural education. Based on Milton M. Gordon's theory of racial and ethnic group relations and assimilation, the paper identifies three ideological systems for viewing…

Literacy may be defined as a set of changing practices and techniques with the social technology of writing. The distribution of literate practices by institutions has been tied up with knowledge and power in societies. Who gets what kinds and levels of literacy from schooling is directly related to the "division of literate labor." This is…

This paper outlines a framework designed to help school districts evaluate themselves during the implementation of systemic change. Based on the experiences of districts that participated in the NEA Learning Laboratories Initiative, a process called "rapporteuring" was developed. The process provokes the particular site into serious…

This study applied need theories to understand leadership motivation in college and university presidencies. Eight presidents from colleges and universities in a midwestern and a southeastern state were interviewed. The participants had been in their present position for at least three years. Included were two leaders from research universities,…

In Western Australia the suspension rate for Aboriginal students is double what could be expected on a population basis, and their exclusion rate is over seven times higher. In schools in Western Australia the act of removal from the classroom is widely practiced, and the process has been formalized to shift responsibility from the teachers to the…

In this book, women in senior educational management positions discuss issues of internationality, management, gender, and education in various developing countries. Contributors examine power relations within organizations; choices men and women make that affect how they plan their lives, education, and careers; and characteristics of men and…

Teachers' educational methods to procure or enhance parent involvement in their children's learning processes in schools in German-speaking countries are examined in this comparative study. This Austrian replication of a study conducted in the United States (Epstein, 1986) administered questionnaires to 124 first-, third-, and fifth-grade teachers…

A study examined policies addressing minority student retention in higher education at the national, state, and institutional level in order to clarify how the discourse surrounding minority student retention in higher education is related to social and political purposes and existing power arrangements. The study proceeded by critically examining…