A growing body of work regarding teacher learning and implementation of reform has pointed to the significant role organizational contexts play in shaping teachers' engagement with reform and their implementation decisions. Within science education, the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and standards reflective of the…

This research project focused on explaining the decision making process of K12 Christian school superintendents whose schools belong to the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) organization. In spite of their similar religious and philosophical beliefs, ACSI K12 Christian school superintendents differed significantly in…

If presented as challenges to practitioners' conventional assumptions about organizations, new views of educational administration might find greater acceptance. Practical experience shows, for example, that variance and unpredictability are phenomena normal to all organizations. Schools, too, are loosely coupled systems. Nor are decision…

This paper examines the organizational planning process and its potential contribution as a method of facilitating a school system's ability to adapt to its changing environment. After reviewing the literature on educational planning and discussing several different planning models, the author concludes that the educational planning process could…

Despite a wealth of research literature showing the importance of teacher empowerment and autonomy, and a multitude of plans and models for bringing teachers to the decision-making table, teachers remain encapsulated in their classrooms. In spite of career ladders, career lattices, merit pay, and mentorships, teachers have been unable to take…

Examines interorganizational behavior patterns that may beset project establishment, drawing on the experiences of an anonymous developing nation struggling to initiate an educational project approved by the World Bank. Results show that the behavior of participating organizations can influence the decision-making process during project…

Some organizations, such as the college or school, are by the nature of their enterprise, anarchic and, where this is so, attempts to retain predictability by strong boundary maintenance are irrelevant, since unpredictability is built into the organization. (Author)

Argues for a school-centered renewal process making schools the target of improvement efforts and the site of professional inquiry and reflective practice to determine educational change. Examines the creation and use of knowledge, the nature of schools as organizations, and the lessons learned from experience. Includes 18 references. (MLH)

Summarizes the nature of deliberative theory and examines how it arises in theories of improvement in business and related activities. Deliberation plays a key role in organizational design and high-involvement ergonomics. The concept could be easily applied to educational settings. Those closest to problems should solve them. Contains 47…

Discusses the concept of power and how it relates to school libraries. Topics include personal power; organizational sources of power; organization versus power; the climate within a school, which influences decision making and collaboration; and the role of the library in sharing the power of resources and information. (LRW)

This paper offers a process for organizational decision making that will assist educators involved in school restructuring. The first part, which focuses on the nature of theory and the relationship of theory to practice, concludes that current organizational theory on decision making is inadequate. The next section outlines four stages of a…

In the past, educators have based their decisions on an assumption that schools would continue to grow in enrollment and resources. Educational literature too has focused on developmental and growth assumptions. Such assumptions may no longer be valid, as educational organizations are being confronted by problems of retrenchment and decline. This…

The author makes three assumptions in discussing the effect of collective negotiations on teachers' sense of alienation: first, alienation is a multidimensional concept that, in this context, is taken to derive from within the organizational setting of the school system; second, school systems are organized as bureaucracies containing more or less…

Argues that the case study method of assessing human interactions in organizations provides incomplete information and contains inadequate judgment criteria. Examines epistemological assumptions on which case study or interpretive methodology rests (including cultural analysis of organizations) and recommends an alternative problem-solving model…

Reports the relationship between the teachers' participation in organizational decision-making and the perceived influence attributed to their administrative superiors, the principal and the superintendent. (Author)