The educational institution's resistance to change may be attributed to its non-profit motive, domesticated service role, bureaucratic structure, and the fact that its existence is ensured by law. The characteristics likely to contribute to the success of change agent in school settings are: (1) a high social status within the faculty of the…

This report describes a study of two small-to-middle-sized midwestern school districts, each observed for about one year. The aim was to clarify the nature of the organizational form of school systems and to examine the organizational processes, using qualitative rather than quantitative methods. Two central concerns of the study were to explore…

Six approaches to community development are presented by several authors in this booklet. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the community development concept. In chapter 2, L. J. Cary emphasizes three distinctive features of the community approach: (1) popular or broad-based participation, (2) community as an important concept, and (3) the…

Graduate education in the United States is viewed as a narrowing and intellectually confining experience, and its effects on the student and society are discussed. The experience of the graduate student includes learning how to deal with departmental requirements, course expectations, and demands from professors. The ability to "hustle" to meet…

Identifying the genuine needs of a community and developing a sound program to respond to those needs represent the primary mission of the community educator. The success of program planning efforts will depend largely on how solid the analysis of the community is. This collection of papers deals with the question of how community analysis is…

Research questions and literature pertaining to a conceptual model on productivity at the departmental level are discussed. The model can be pictured as involving three goal-achievement processes: faculty research, faculty teaching, and student learning. Items that constitute the goal achievement process are goals, committed resources, expended…

Essays which focus on similarities between developed and underdeveloped nations, concentrating on the issues of power and rural social stratification, are contained in this textbook on rural sociology. It is intended for students of rural sociology, including teachers and researchers. In two main parts, the book first deals with rural social…

The current role of the provost in higher education was investigated to gather data for discussion of the adoption of the provost title at Chicago State University (CSU). The study was based on analyses of the institutional entries in HEW's 1976-77 Education Directory and 1971-72 Directory and on the responses to questionnaires sent to those…

Since acts of teacher brinkmanship were considered to represent an expression of the teachers' dissatisfaction with the teachers' role, it was conjectured in this study that a relationship should exist between teachers' attitudes toward teacher brinkmanship and the teachers' job satisfaction. Two instruments, the Teacher Job Satisfaction Inventory…

The change in the organizational structure and goals of Mount Wachusett Community College (Massachusetts) from its inception to its current state is analyzed with respect to decision-making concerning staffing. At its infancy, the administration is seen as a rational focal structure; a central power grants resources and staff members are afforded…

School subjects do not hold an equally secure position in any educational system. Some subjects are required of all children, some are required of only some children, and some are not required at all. It is the task of this paper to show how people talk about subjects with respect to their place in the school curriculum. The social valuing of…

The influence of the sex, grade, religiosity and birth order of adolescents on adolescents perceptions of the parental power structure in the family was examined in this study. Parental Power was conceptualized as a multidimensional variable following the French and Raven (1959) formulation of social power bases. The parental power dimensions…

BASED ON A NATIONAL RANDOM PROBABILITY SAMPLE OF 180 SCHOOL DISTRICTS WITH 150 OR MORE PUPILS, DRAWN BY THE BUREAU OF THE CENSUS, FOUR CRITERION VARIABLES WERE DEFINED AS INDICES OF SCHOOL-COMMUNITY RELATIONS--(1) UNDERSTANDING, THE DEGREE TO WHICH INFORMED OBSERVERS SIMILARLY PERCEIVE SCHOOL-COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS, (2) QUIESCENCE, THE DEGREE TO…

A 3-YEAR STUDY OF DECISION MAKING IN THE NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS EXPLORES THE POLITICAL FORCES AFFECTING EDUCATIONAL POLICY AND EVALUATES THE RELATIVE OPENNESS OF THE SYSTEM. POLICY MAKERS INCLUDE THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, 31 LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS, THE SUPERINTENDENT, THE HEAD OFFICE STAFF, THE FIELD STAFF (PRINCIPALS, ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS, DISTRICT…

A study was conducted to explore aspects of intercultural communication present when Iranians attempted to communicate publicly in the United States. Thirty-six American students with little previous knowledge of Iran were interviewed following their attendance at a public lecture/demonstration sponsored by Iranian students in Texas. The…