By concentrating on the formal school organization, researchers can miss the informal relationships that are fundamental to leadership. Distributed Leadership Studies (DLS) provides a framework for examining school leadership and management that considers the interactions of leaders, followers, and aspects of the context. The framework involves…

The government-funded studies in this special "Kappan" section show that changing one aspect of the educational system is extraordinarily difficult. The system is allergic to change, teachers are inadequately prepared, and attitudes are key to the intractability problem. Cooperative and productive learning should be overarching concerns.…

Students have learned social and political responses to the power structure of the schools. A critical self-study by schools is one kind of democratic reaction to the challenge students are offering. (DW)

A condensation of a paper presented at a Phi Delta Kappa-Temple University Symposiu.

In reviewing a study of elementary urban school teachers, the author points out how the bureaucracy of education stifles teachers' ability to develop an internalized locus of control and leads to disenchantment and alienation. Giving teachers authority to act in their areas of expertise while decentralizing the educational power structure will…