Reviews research principles underlying site-based school management, including the National Committee for Citizens in Education's parameters. Outlines a Missouri school district's approach to site management, highlighting establishment of guidelines, team training, financial support, flexible staffing, and sense of ownership. (MLH)

A discussion of recent higher education policy changes in European countries aimed at improving competitiveness and measuring performance outlines the policy adjustments and some of their consequences, compares two concepts of coordination, describes the American experience, and examines results of the changes in Europe. (MSE)

Life history interview tracked the movement of five middle-class women attending classes through a continuing education center for women. The center facilitated their movement through developmental stages but hampered their movement between stages, their abandonment of old social roles, and their construction of new roles. (BJV)

The graded self-contained classrooom can be a negative influence on student and teacher development. Teachers and students should work together in collaborative relationships and in environments featuring nongradedness, multiaged pupil groups, and flexible shared space. (MD)

Analyzes the data obtained in a five-year study of principals. Identifies six ways principals in the study exercised leadership through staff development. The most effective principals reinforced teacher development through informal communication and monitoring. (MD)

Principals' job orientation has recently changed from school management to instructional leadership, though research indicates principals are instrumental in influencing student achievement gains. Effective schooling characteristics are synthesized, a diagnostic instrument of principals' training relative to instructional leadership is discussed,…

Outlines the steps a "lighthouse" principal took in turning an ineffective school characterized by low morale, poor achievement, and high absentee rates into an effective school with high morale and improved student achievement during a six-month period. (MD)

Educational excellence exists in the process of learning as much as in the results. The engagement that marks excellence involves curiosity about the world, clear thinking with values, and character that keeps you anchored in the world. Every person is capable of this excellence. (LHW)

Places questions about parent involvement in the following four categories: (1) coproduction or partnership, (2) decision making, (3) citizen advocacy, and (4) parent choice. Discusses these categories, identifies examples or models, and offers recommendations for action by parents, policymakers, and practitioners. (LHW)

Projects successful in involving parents in their children's education include the following: (1) parents' reading with children; (2) letters to new parents; (3) library visits and booklists; (4) monthly suggestions for involvement; and (5) newspaper "promise" ads for students and parents to sign. While programs may seem "gimmicky," they engaged…

Takes issue with research findings on effective schools and discusses the differences between "effective" schools and "good" schools. The findings on effective schools are too often equated with desirable outcomes but fail to distinguish between "effectiveness" and "goodness." (MD)

Most organizational behavior literature recognizes the importance of guidance and good feelings (leader substitutes) in maximizing personal and organizational outcomes. In this study, teachers identified leader substitutes, not leader behavior, as significantly related to organizational commitment and role ambiguity. Includes 5 tables and 14…

Argues that the decline in higher education performance standards can be associated with the "new practicality" in the college curriculum. Argues that students and faculty are subject to pressures which condition their choices for the expedient, experiential, or entrepreneurial. Criticizes teachers who promote benign permissiveness, deflate…

A 1983-84 Alberta study examined the job satisfaction of senior high school principals and its relationship to these principals' perceptions of their influence, their effectiveness, and their school's effectiveness. The selected indicators and best predictors of these variables, and associations with demographic variables, also were identified.…

Educators, businessmen, and politicians talk about the quality and the future of elementary and secondary schools in America. (RM)