Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether principals can have an impact on organizational learning (OL). The authors use a cultural perspective, based both in the emerging literature from positive psychology and the relatively well-developed research tradition in studying the nature and impacts of OL to address four questions:…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on student trust and to examine the relationship between student trust, behavior, and academic outcomes in high school. It asks, first, does trust have a positive effect on high school outcomes? Second, does trust influence student behavior, exerting an indirect effect on…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of staff bullying in Australian schools, to identify bullies and targets and to examine some implications for school leaders in dealing with staff bullying. Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative research design survey instrument contained 11 demographic items, 44 questions of…

Purpose: Newly designed schools for centuries have projected fresh ideals regarding how children should learn and how human settlements should be organized. But under what conditions can forward-looking architects or education reformers trump the institutionalized practices of teachers or the political-economic constraints found within urban…

Purpose: The special characteristics of small schools appear to set them apart from larger schools. In fact, small schools may be a discrete group in that their complexity may not be in direct ratio to their size. The special characteristics of small schools may include the absence of senior staff, administrative assistance on a part time basis…

Indicates serious shortcomings in the case for small secondary schools as presented in the past several years in South Australia. An unwarranted acceptance of the argument in favor of small secondary schools would exert a deleterious effect on secondary school provision. (Author/IRT)

Purpose: The aim of this study was two-fold: to demonstrate a general construct of schools called academic optimism and to show it was related to student achievement in urban elementary schools, even controlling for socioeconomic factors, and school size. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 99 urban elementary schools in Texas…

The economic efficiency of public school districts was explored by utilization of the concept of economies and diseconomies of scale. An optimum size relative to costs was discovered by analyzing the data with curvilinear least squares regression and also with the differential calculus. (Author)

Examines control mechanisms that superintendents used to shape and direct suburban high school principals' work. Includes four hierarchical controls (supervision, input, behavior, and output) and two nonhierarchical controls (section/socialization and environmental), along with school social status and district size. The control mechanisms were…

Proposes that specific programs of study, rather than school size, be used as the unit of analysis in assessing educational costs. (WM)

Exploring cognitive school leadership elements, this study uses a set of 1200 U.S. principals and employs an earlier validated set of five leadership cognitions drawn from psychologists in educational administration. Regression analysis suggests these cognitions exist independently of many social and personal qualities typifying principals and are…

Purpose: This paper aims to identify what counts as successful school leadership within a Norwegian context. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses multi-site case study methods as a methodological approach. In selecting cases the first strategy included schools appointed as "good practice schools" by the Ministry of Education and…

The effects of the learning environments of small and large schools on the personality development of students were explored. Multiple regression analysis revealed the effects of school size to be reflected in only two of eight variables: sense of cohesion and concern for persons. (Author/JM)