This paper examines the relationships among school climate, leadership styles, and group interaction as perceived by teachers, selected parents, and selected students in a medium-sized Mississippi Delta school district. Parent dissatisfaction with the behavior of a junior high school principal provoked this study. The total sample consisted of 86…

A 1986 study was designed to obtain feedback from members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the Province of Manitoba on the information they receive from the University of Manitoba and ways in which the university could keep them better informed. Interviews were done with 47 of the 57 MLAs. Findings indicated the following: the University of…

The theme of the 1983 Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association concerned developing efficient teaching-learning systems and efficient management systems. Such an emphasis on efficiency was symptomatic in the United States' educational arena to a commitment to the practices of scientific management. The central role accorded to…

An educational reform effort to implement a comprehensive school act in British Columbia (Canada) is analyzed with a focus on some sociotechnical and political aspects. An overview of the content, background, and implementation of the reform effort is followed by identification of seven contradictions inherent in the plan. Contradictions are as…

South Africa is in a state of transition. In viewing the struggle between apartheid's defenders and its opponents, social scientists can make the valuable contribution of projecting alternative scenarios of change as it relates to the way in which state institutions intersect with society. This paper is part of a larger study of South Africa that…

Reunification of Germany, democratic changes in Eastern European countries, and new government policies of the Soviet Union will lead to the reduction of U.S. troops in West Germany. As a Department of Defense contractor providing associate degrees to soldiers in Europe, Central Texas College (CTC) will be severely affected by the troop…

During the 1988-89 school year, two local school districts were placed into "Phase III" of the Kentucky Educational Improvement Act (1978), a category of state receivership in which much local decision-making power was transferred to Kentucky Department of Education officials. When state education department intervention occurs, major…

The effectiveness of parent choice plans requires that schools-for-profit be given an equal opportunity to compete with government and nonprofit schools in the educational marketplace. Little information is available about schools-for-profit because most states do not gather separate statistical data on that category. However, the following…

A general outline of the development and the status quo of political education in the Netherlands, focusing on the degree of internationalization, is presented. In the light of current and future educational/political developments, attention also is devoted to the North-South issue (the existence of people in developing nations in relation to the…

The National Literacy Campaign of Zimbabwe was launched in July, 1983. The objectives of the campaign were to enable adults (1) to understand information about themselves, their localities, and their country; and (2) to become effective leaders and productive members of their cooperatives, village committees, management committees, and other…

The financial restraint of the last 3 years and the related rhetoric of accountability, productivity, cost effectiveness, and retrenchment have introduced new levels of trauma into the educational scene in British Columbia, exercising a particularly powerful impact on the community college sector. In a financial context that requires governments…

The paper traces the life of the 18th century North Carolinian planter Willie Jones and his transformed political stance from traditional commitment to the Crown to a new constitutional faith in republicanism. Jones' political career and struggles are noted through the Revolutionary era and the controversy of centralized versus decentralized…

What many educators see as the assistance of a program evaluation is often an intrusion into the governance of the program being evaluated. Redistribution of authority and control occur not only because evaluation findings support one constituency more than another, but the very act of evaluating affords protective status to the initiators of the…

Academic freedom for precollegiate teachers in the United States is less clear than that expressed and confirmed in law and custom for college faculties. The question studied was how academic freedom is perceived in theory and practice by secondary school teachers outside of the United States. The interview schedule was modeled after schedules…

Several approaches that policymakers may wish to consider in enacting and sustaining educational excellence are summarized. This issue brief draws from presentations given at two sessions on education and excellence held at the 1983 meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. California's approach is highlighted, based on the…