The theory-driven Organizational Health Inventory was compared to the empirically derived Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire in predicting student achievement and teachers' commitment to the school. After controlling for the socioeconomic status of the sampled 58 schools, only academic emphasis contributed significantly to student…

Based on comments from a woman principal's diary, this article views the building of a healthy school culture as essential to achieving school effectiveness and administrative sanity. Success depends on a clear mission, sound communication patterns, a good leadership team, and effective planning and staff development components. (MLH)

Extensive interviews with school personnel of alternative programs reveal that it is in the process of defining their essence with regard to decision-making, admissions, policies, responsibility, freedom, calendars, and programs vs. school identity that planning problems arise. (A related document is EA 507 273.) (Author/MLF)

One alternate approach to school administration centers on the use of two principals, one for administration and one for instruction. This article examines the approach and offers some cautions. (Author/MLF)

This summary of a study describing the communications of school administrators and teachers and the degree of congruency between principals' and teachers' instructional intentions and students' and teachers' perceptions of classroom events concludes by proposing Rensis Likert's overlapping work groups as a more effective organizational pattern for…

Some criticisms of high school have been concerned with what organizational theorists call operations technology. Broadly, technology refers to the work an individual teacher or the school's collective professional staff does with or for students, the school's "raw material." Technology can be studied more closely by separation into three…

Describes an effective community education program for Pearl High School in Nashville (TN) that involved the consideration of five factors (community involvement, personal needs, organizational needs, perceptions, and expectations) in a successful effort to unify the school. (SB)

Presents results of an empirical research project focusing on an explorative analysis of decision structures in schools. Outlines structural patterns of school organizations, taking into account the perspectives of teachers and principals. Provides a starting point for a multi-dimensional modeling of school organizations. (CAJ)

One result of the extraordinarily rapid pace of educational reform in recent decades has been public expectation of greater accountability for the more than $300 billion spent annually on schools. As reformers have sought better ways to utilize all resources, including instructional time, block scheduling has been developed as a more efficient way…

This study used field study methodology to identify and describe decision-making processes and leadership behavior at the school-wide level in secondary schools that individualize their educational programs. Indepth interviews, observations of groups and individuals, and analysis of documents were used to obtain the basic data. Two senior high…

Developed as a guide for school leaders faced with the task of restructuring a school, this guide is a comprehensive look at the notions of restructuring and reform. It provides a comprehensive definition of restructuring, three outstanding representative examples, and a systematic process for implementing and managing change. Written to provide…

One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter, by utilizing ethnographic data, develops an understanding of the interrelationships among administrative styles, deterrence, commitment, and disruption. The effect of change in administrative styles on the character of order and disruption in a desegregated…

The sources of the chronic precariousness of order in public secondary schools are examined. The means of control available to principals and teachers are analyzed and the consequences of strategies of control are considered as they interact with strategies for academic education. Order and academic education as goals often require mutually…

This report gives the results of a 1977 survey of secondary school principals by the National Institute of Education, Washington D.C. The purpose of the study was to empirically describe high school organization and programs and how they are affected by federal, state, and district characteristics. The results of the survey counteract many…

Examines how educators have overcome obstacles to school improvement and implemented recommendations in "Breaking Ranks" governing technology, personalization, and organization and time. Implementation often falters due to large enrollments, time factors, school goals, and traditional views of teacher roles, responsibilities, and…