Consensus decisionmaking is a tool which utilizes the talents and knowledge of school personnel and recognizes the dignity and worth of each individual member of the staff. This process recognizes the abilities and dedication of the teachers and focuses on the organization as a whole, rather than individual facets of the organization. Because of…

The goal of the seminar reported in this document was to consider the site leadership and management issue as it relates to professionals' changing roles and influences educational equity and excellence. The seminar attempted to bring sensitive reform movement issues back to those most affected by their implications. An important seminar element…

One of the most valuable skills in group decision making is the ability to make trustworthy judgments about group performance. It follows from the "inferential model" of social cognition (Pavitt, 1989; Pavitt & Hight, 1986), that there are three types of judgments relevant to the group context: (1) behavioral (what the group did);…

Background information on the history and use of quality circles is provided in this paper, along with a discussion of the applicability of this management technique to the community college setting. First, introductory material is presented on the development of the approach in the early 1950s, its widespread use in the industrial and business…

A School Context Analysis Form, designed to access the readiness of a particular school to participate in planned change, is introduced and described. This report chronicles two improvement efforts in two different schools to demonstrate how the eight identified contextual indicators interact to influence improvement efforts. The eight factors…

Three critical factors in the Terrence E. Deal model for examining organizational climate and culture are values, rites and rituals, and communication networks, and these were assessed in a study of 80 graduate students to determine their perceptions of these elements in a university graduate program in Administration and Policy Studies (APS). The…

Contrast between the appearances and the reality of several aspects of a school environment, including a participative management style, a democratic leadership style, the principal's image as democratic, and attentiveness to student needs is discussed as related to a boarding school in Israel. During an exploratory case study, observations were…

An analysis is provided of the governance system of the California community colleges based on a case study of one example of decision making. First, background information is provided on the history of the California community college system, with particular focus on state and local decision-making processes. The next sections address the…

An examination of problems inherent to class size concepts suggests possible arrangements, given limited resources, for providing optimal classroom environments. Among the problems in determining class size are ambiguous definitions, measurement problems, and contradictory research findings. Traditional definitions of class size ignore such…

Interviews with 14 experienced educators on the current state of education in the United States are presented in this booklet. The experts discuss the current tasks facing educators, the need for redefining the teaching profession, and the importance of rethinking the area of educational finances. The conversations reflect concerns about…

Besides setting the tone for accomplishing student learning goals and effecting improvement, school climate serves as a determinant of teacher attitudes toward personal and professional growth and development. Bureaucratization of schools decreases teacher effectiveness through rules, controls, and reduced autonomy and authority. The formal…

Among the 96 papers presented at this conference are the following: "Team Building Techniques that Get Results" (Berg); "The Subtleties of Communication in Small Group Meetings" (Henry); "Feedback--Its Role in Team Building" (Lucas); "Group Dynamics--Success through Interaction" (Manning, Johnson); "The Able-Bodied Handicapped: Bridging the Gap"…

This report documents a hearing to extend authorization of appropriations under the Vocational Education Act of 1963. The discussion focuses on the role of the state advisory councils in vocational education. Testimony includes prepared statements, letters, and supplemental materials from advisory council members from Pennsylvania, New York,…

This booklet explains the concept of a community exchange system (CES), or barter system, for the exchange of goods and services and describes how to set one up. The booklet is concerned only with nonprofit, voluntary organizations. The booklet is organized in four sections. The first section introduces the community exchange systems idea and…

Teacher inservice education coordinators working with approximately 130 school districts were asked to report on their use of, and to rate the effectiveness of, 11 planning practices. The study's purpose was to determine if the emphasis in the literature of the past decade on collaborative planning and needs assessments beyond a teacher survey…