Examines the Swedish school as an institution created by society for certain purposes and with certain functions. The authors offer a model which describes the school as a social organization that steers the educational process. (AM)

Rather than concentrating on similarities, it would seem far more profitable to search for ways in which schools are unlike other organizations or the models we have of these. It was suggested that we need to begin building images of schools that are congruent with their reality. This paper attempts the first stage in the task by identifying major…

Because organizational effectiveness of schools is difficult to define, a model is needed to explain the complexities of the concept. Two models offer some promise. One is the goal model, which defines effectiveness as the degree to which organizations meet or surpass their goals (either official or operational). The other is the system resource…

This paper summarizes a new paradigm of instructional supervision, which shifts the focus on supervision from an examination of individual behavior to the improvement of work processes and social system components of the school district. The paradigm, called "Knowledge Work Supervision," helps teams of teachers and specially trained supervisors…

This paper summarizes a new paradigm of instructional supervision, which shifts the focus from individual behavior to the improvement of work processes and social system components of the school district. The proposed paradigm, the Knowledge Work Supervision model, is derived from sociotechnical systems design theory and linked to the premise that…

One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter attempts to demonstrate that deviant behaviors in school are caused and patterned by the manner in which schools differentially constrain the ability of students legitimately to attain the goal of academic success. By applying a modified and extended version of…

This document comprises two papers. The first, by Professor Martin Carnoy of Stanford University, provides a dialectical view of the socialization functions of schooling. In the first part of his paper, Carnoy relates how the dialectical model best explains the historical mechanisms by which the socialization functions of schooling developed, and…

This study focuses on the school district decision to initiate an innovative program. A natural experiment in the identification of school districts interested in initiating serious innovation is used to study the differences between school districts that were and those that were not considering innovation in one specific decisionmaking period. In…

Recent research studies and reports of current desegregation plans are examined against the background of two models of social systems: consensus and conflict. The article's focus moves from the community to the school to the classroom to the individual. Available from Duke University Press, Box 6697 College Station, Durham, NC 27708. (Author/IRT)

It is argued that studies of "school effects" must make a clear conceptual distinction between school and schooling as very different results may be obtained by research that does and does not maintain these conceptual and corresponding operational definitions. (Author/DB)

Discusses challenges to traditional views of school leadership posed by many school reform initiatives, curriculum innovations, and teacher incentive plans. Examines teacher leadership structures in light of the purposes and goals they seek to advance. Uses nonhierarhical theories of leadership from the general leadership literature to examine…

Using Amitai Etzioni's (1961) sociological model as a basis for analysis, the paper examines the relationship between central student characters and their chief reference group or significant other(s) in the schools as portrayed in three films: "If" (1969), "Child's Play" (1972), and "Educating Rita" (1983). Two…

Discusses the necessary restructuring of the nations' schools to reflect the paradigm shift in society. Presents the findings of a study state and national reports of change initiatives since 1982 recorded in science education literature that compared various components, roles, and dynamics of educational systems in the dominant and new paradigms.…

The report interprets and explains the basis of Mexican American/Anglo disparity in the educational experience through the theoretical framework of "group conflict." Chapter One presents the group conflict model of society, outlining the manner in which groups form and compete for power, wealth, and prestige. Chapter Two focuses on the way in…