This paper explores the OECD framing of the role of the school leader in a series of its publications, drawing on role theory, using critical analysis of how school leaders' roles are represented in a body of OECD texts. The research findings provide insight into the multi-faceted portrayal of the 'ideal' role of school leadership as framed by the…

Even after thirty years, assessment within higher education continues to remain a demand among accrediting bodies and the public, but the role of assessment has been less transformational than envisioned. While literature includes various barriers to assessment, there is a gap around building a culture of assessment within higher education. This…

In this study of Pennsylvania Charter Schools; the focus was on the qualifications, duties, and role perceptions of the special education supervisors. Using role theory as a theoretical lens, an interpretational framework was developed in order to both form a survey instrument and to assist in interpreting the participant responses. This case…

Dwindling resources, the challenges of providing postsecondary remedial education, and an environment that emphasizes outcomes assessment are realities that confront the community college department chair. The role of the department chair is particularly challenging in the community college context due to accountability pressures, fiscal…

This paper presents the results of a study to translate, adopt, and extend role theory as related to the secondary school principal; to develop and test instruments, processes, and devices for obtaining and analyzing role theory variables; and to generate hypotheses concerning the principal within a role analytical framework. A series of…

Areas of role conflict between classroom teachers and administrators are educational expertise, authority structure and professional status, and ambivalence toward the leadership concept. Approaches to conflict resolution are defining the role of curriculum supervisor as a service function to teachers, empathy in role taking, and adoption of…

Focuses on the indicators of effectiveness in a case study of an alternative school. The clarification of staff roles in conjunction with the development of innovative roles is stressed as an important success factor. Includes a discussion of role theory. (APM)

Reports on an ethnographic study of five primary school principals that was conducted to show what principals actually do and to illuminate the ways in which they and their work are seen by themselves, some members of their staff, and some of their pupils. (Author/IRT)

The purpose of this study was to explore and compare the self-perceived roles of black and nonblack administrators who have comparable institutional affiliation and who hold similar positions in selected predominantly white institutions of higher education. The population for the study consisted of 98 black administrators and 110 nonblack…

A review of research shows that, while supervisory job prescriptions focus on classroom observation for the purpose of improvement of instruction, job descriptions differ from the prescription and there is a gap between the classroom supervision that occurs and the supervision prescribed in the literature. (FL)

This article proposes a new approach to improve management effectiveness of home economists employed in administrative roles across business, government, and educational settings. It discusses the concept of social style, its major behavioral dimensions, social style types, and strengths and weaknesses of each style. (CT)

The authors propose that a principal, instead of making all decisions himself, should convene faculty, staff, and student groups to help bring conflict into the open and to work on organizational problems systematically. This "team-leader" role assumes that team members are intelligent, competent, and want to perform well; and that an open…

How a principal operates and functions as the leader of a school is based on complex interactions. What these are and how they affect the principal are described. Concludes that principals will continue to have major roles in tomorrow's schools. (Editor/RK)

This document examines role theory limited to the major studies related to educational administrators. The nature and history of role theory are reviewed and three theoretical approaches to the study of role theory are described: (1) role conflict resolution theory; (2) role theory related to social systems theory; and (3) the Fundamental…

This research examined Mintzberg's-dimensional model of the managerial job. Two questions were asked: (1) What effect do the job incumbent's career goals and activity preferences have on perceived importanceof the roles; (2) How does perceived importance of the roles affect job performance? One hundred seventy principals responded to a…