Reviews 15 books dealing with organizational behavior and corporate management that are applicable to the effective management of elementary schools. The similarities between effective school management and corporate management are obvious. Schools must discover, develop, and sustain creative teachers and ideas in the same way successful…

To address the social challenges facing schools, administrators must revitalize the work culture. Borrowing from successful business practices, the School Management Institute has implemented a 25-day Managing Productive Schools leadership training program in Florida, Minnesota, and Virginia. The program is based on the cultural conditions,…

Based on a systems approach to management and organization, the Instructional Leadership Model identifies leadership tasks in clusters under school planning, staff and program development, and evaluation. A summary of analysis of research on effective schooling characteristics and leadership tasks supports the model and provides parameters for…

Findings of a study that examined the effects of a management/leadership program on school district work culture are presented in this paper. The Pasco County (Florida) school district under study was involved in school restructuring, part of which included participation in a management training program, Managing Productive Programs (MPP). MPP…

Using a survey of 442 school administrators in eight districts in Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas, researchers developed a psychometric scale, entitled "A.C.T. Administrators-For-Change-Training Instrument," to assess administrators' desires for administrative training. An original 76-item A.C.T. scale was drafted…

School districts have primarily stressed the instructional management aspect of the principal's role, while research has focused on principal effectiveness as a factor for increased student achievement. A synthesis of effective school characteristics identified by the literature is the first objective of this paper. A second purpose is the…

The organizational and human productivity knowledge-base expansion of the past 5 years indicates that educational leaders and support staff must assume responsibility for schooling together to change student achievement patterns. The sociological management challenge is one of empowering groups to address educational productivity. The…

A strategy for assessing the skill needs of principals and for training them to assume effective instructional leadership is outlined in this paper. A school production model of instructional leadership, supported by research, is presented; the model emphasizes orientation toward specific goals of school productivity and suggests ways to analyze…

This paper describes two conceptual models for addressing long-range development needs of principals. The first, a job competency model for managing productive schools, presents a comprehensive view of the central job tasks of the principal for stretching the school's capacity to influence achievement norms. Changing the school's work norms…

Developed as an assessment instrument for the Administrators-for-Change Training program, this survey of 195 administrative personnel in the Fort Worth Independent School District (Texas) identifies their priorities for training in management skills and the intensity of training desired. A synthesis of literature addressing the changing role of…

In serving two purposes, this paper explores elements in the current gap between what is known and what is practiced about how to influence student achievement and proposes a conceptual framework and an action model for rethinking the organization, management, and technologies of instructional programs. A comprehensive goal-based and role-based…