Today's educators sometimes make unthinking hasty decisions based on a "Gallup Poll" mentality that holds that whatever the majority of the people want should be implemented. Educators, bowing to public pressure, are sometimes too quick to jump on any bandwagon. One such bandwagon is the current back to basics movement. Insofar as back…

The concept of reflective practice and teaching people to be reflective practitioners is examined. The document begins with a look at professional knowledge according to three prominent professionals in the educational administration field: Schon, Schein, and Achilles. "Reflective" strategies that could be incorporated into courses and…

Educational administration has recently undergone widespread criticism and reform efforts. Analyzing and comparing eight programs and studies spanning 1950 to 1990, this article concludes that the new wave of ideas (1980-90) resembles earlier waves. Will 1950s models be the vision for the twenty-first century? Change in educational administration…

Critiques the present state of research in educational administration, discusses difficulties involved with developing and codifying a knowledge base, and presents possible solutions and faculty-oriented improvements. Although education and educational administration are concerned with applying concepts from many fields, education still requires…

The controversial nature of the knowledge base of educational administration is discussed in this paper. Included are a definition of professionalism, a discussion of how to build and develop a knowledge base, and a review of the obstacles to knowledge base development. Elements of a consensual knowledge base include theory, practice, and other…

Questionnaires examining teachers' personality style and attitudes about pupil control show that, among the unidentified number sampled teaching grades seven through eight, humanistic methods are more effective than authoritarian controls. (10 references) (CJH)

Issues in the educational administration knowledge base are discussed in this paper, with attention to its definition, extent, and usefulness. The discussion is based on the premises that the knowledge base lacks: (1) organization; (2) definition and applicability; and (3) comprehensiveness and usefulness. Other hindrances to developing a…

This paper raises and answers the question of whether professors of educational administration and school administrators are scholar practitioners or simply practitioner scholars. It concludes that the professors are scholar practitioners because they contemplate the practice of administration via theory and research. School administrators are…

A major focus for research in preparation programs should be on the practice of administration. For some time, the preparation of educational administrators has been rooted in the traditional liberal arts approach--the approach of a discipline--as a model for preparing the practitioner. Emphasis has shifted to the concept of the accurate…

The task of improving educational administrator preparation is one of epic proportions. The magnitude of the task is expressed using allusions to the epic style and the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece. The paper presents a quick "environmental scan" to determine how visionary and revolutionary are some current ideas for improvements…

Numerous 1983-84 educational improvement studies emphasized the need for strong principal leadership, yet present reform efforts fail to address adequately principal preparation. This proposal for administrative excellence has a four-category focus: recruitment of those with strong liberal arts degrees; selection of those committed to an 11-month…

This essay discusses professional development as a capacity-building strategy. It raises questions about various approaches to capacity building, including the emphasis on professional development. It states that despite self-reports and surveys, scant, if any, replicable empirical evidence relates professional development to changes in teacher…

This paper expresses points of view about what is needed to create a knowledge base for educational improvement. It argues that educators have failed to build a strong foundation for education's presumed cumulative effect. The paper assesses the claim that education constitutes a profession and discusses ways to improve the current educational…

In the professorial role's traditional triad of teaching, research, and service, research (publishing) and teaching get more attention than service. If professors are to be part of improving education in America's schools, they must define service more broadly, and they must give greater attention to the service role. Education should be…

This paper presents a model for preparation programs for educational leaders. The model portrays key program elements under three major headings: (1) pre-preparation concerns, (2) program issues and concerns, and (3) post-program concerns. Recruitment and selection are important pre-preparation concerns. The candidate's leadership experience,…