Argues that high school department chairs should relate collegially, not administratively, with teachers. Advocates teacher collegial groups (TCGs) as a productive strategy for setting collegial department norms. Offers research findings on TCGs in school settings. (SR)

This paper presents findings of a comparative case study that explored the inner realities of four successful high school principals identified as effective. Case studies were conducted of four high school principals in a North Carolina school district. Data were obtained from 2 interviews with each principal and interviews with 10 teachers in…

Examines the process through which a high school principal learned to share power. The principal and teachers grappled with issues of shared governance, choice, and responsibility. Teacher and principal interviews indicated teacher empowerment and collegiality occurred as the principal enforced his vision of instructional improvement through…

Organizational change will be a major theme of the school reform movement. Despite restructuring efforts, schools are still operated on the factory system model. Using the social norms concept, this paper examines schools as informal organizations and advocates staff development as an essential key for changing informal relationships (roles)…

In successful schools, a significantly larger percentage of students graduate with knowledge, skills, and a positive attitude toward citizenship and work than students in other schools of comparable socioeconomic status. Using data from the "Tennessee Looks at Its Schools" project, which was based on fourth-grade Stanford Achievement…

Research on school restructuring provides little evidence that teacher-student-principal relationships are changing. Staffs may be confusing structural with normative thinking, which requires them to reflect critically about their schools as work places. Suggests that school-constructed theories in practice that promote critical thinking and…

A collaborative effort between a high school principal and researcher to identify a successful principal's school improvement agenda and practices is described in this report of one of four case studies. Methodology involved indepth interviews with the principal and surveys of 10 teachers to compare their perceptions of teacher/principal…

A study of how principals in effective schools set norms for teacher behavior, student achievement, and educational goals used data from six elementary schools in Tennessee that achieved scores on standardized reading tests substantially higher than scores predicted on the basis of the students' socioeconomic levels. Four primary norm-setting…

The United States is entering an era of nationalizing education as national coalitions become major reform players and the power of local school boards and district central offices continues to erode. National coalitions will provide student assessment systems and new workplace designs where school-site personnel will craft personalized learning…

Ways in which a high school principal implemented a shared decision-making structure into his school are described in this case study. Two research questions are explored: the identification of the principal's school improvement agenda; and how he improved his school. Methodology involved interviews with the principal and teachers, as well as…

The process of school-empowerment ultimately may be intellectual: an awareness and understanding by schools as unique collective learning communities that new school structures, roles, and relationships are necessary in the first place. First, preliminary results from field studies of schools undergoing restructuring are used to show that school…

A case study in which an institute of higher education (West Georgia College) and a school district (Carroll County Schools, Georgia) collaborated on a two-year school improvement project is described. Five roles/perspectives--those of the college professor, superintendent, central office, principal, and teacher--are used to describe the three…