Evaluation can serve a variety of educational management questions, but an administrator's ability to use evaluation as a management tool depends not only upon his or her own perception of evaluation but also on the perceptions of other potential evaluation users in the system. Research has uncovered a variety of factors influencing an…

The Alberta Academy for Educational Leadership was created by a number of education-related organizations in response to provincial governmental pressure. To evaluate the program, at the end of a 3-year exploratory period, data were obtained from onsite observations, meetings with three sets of graduates, selected school staffs and colleagues, and…

Describes a conceptual framework that provides for the principal to be the "school leader" but not the "instructional leader." Defines the principal's primary duties as program planning, implementation, and evaluation. Discusses implications of framework on training and practice. (Author/NEC)

This paper examines 23 induction programs, 11 conducted and reported between 1967-1977 and 12 conducted and reported since the onset of the 1980s educational reform movement. Earlier reviewers of pre-1980 (Zeichner, 1979) and post-1980 (Huling-Austin, 1988) induction programs differ in their beliefs about whether or not research data support the…

Although vast numbers of educational innovations have been introduced into the nation's schools over the past 20 years, few have succeeded in effecting affective, behavioral, and cognitive student gains. Many recent studies have focused, therefore, on school change processes and the formulation of strategies for successful innovation…

This paper focuses on how teachers and administrators share a commitment towards the general principle of accountability in regard to efficiency in educational programs. The notion of efficiency is shown to have limited application to complex multidimensional processes, including those of classroom language learning and of language program…

The eight papers in this book summarize discussions and recommendations by participants in a 1977 conference that focused on three topics: definitions of linking functions and roles; coordination of dissemination and linking activities; and support needs of linking agents, including options for providing support. Each of the chapters provides…

Current thinking about and operational examples of school-focused inservice teacher education are synthesized. The primary data sources for this report were the ideas and materials shared in case studies conducted in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. The report begins by examining how several writers have contributed to…

Factors associated with the use of program evaluation results are examined. Evaluation can serve a variety of educational management needs if (1) these needs are organized around a central concern, and if (2) stakeholders use evaluation information so that their decision making resolves the central concern. (GDC)

Instructional leadership is the principal's role in providing direction, resources, and support to teachers and students for the improvement of teaching and learning in the school. This handbook reviews factors affecting that role in four broad domains: keeping informed about trends, planning for instructional improvement, implementing…

Factors which appear to affect learning are reviewed: student characteristics of age, ability, and motivation; amount and quality of instruction; home and classroom environment; peer influence; television; school and principal effects; and financial expenditures. (GDC)

This monograph surveys the literature relating to the role of the principal as change agent and the process of educational change, and reviews those characteristics that research has found to make principals more effective and efficient change agents. The introduction identifies four relevant perspectives in the research on instructional…

Eight case studies representing valid and extensive reading research were reviewed to determine the impact of school principals on student reading achievement. In all eight studies, principal leadership behavior was positively associated with reading achievement and school outcomes. Evidence indicated that reading effectiveness was enhanced by…

Effective instructional management processes come in many guises, but all share four essential components: (1) a set of educational goals toward which progress can be measured; (2) a means of assessing students' instructional needs and determining placement and grouping; (3) an organizational structure and instructional delivery process capable of…

The academic program review process that accounts for conceptual properties of loose coupling is analyzed, and organizational theory literature is reviewed with regard to program review and loose coupling. In addition, the academic program review process used at Ohio State University is described in detail, and the elements of loose coupling…