A report compares 30 small/rural K-12 school districts (900 students or fewer) in Illinois to 642 similar districts nationwide, using data from 1982-83. Qualifying districts were identified as 4,125 nationwide (26.4% of all public school districts) and 221 in Illinois (22.4%, enrolling 121,570 students). A questionnaire was mailed to…

Data gathered during 1982-83 are used to compare 41 small/rural K-12 Iowa school districts (900 students or fewer) to 642 similar districts nationwide. In Iowa, 307 qualifying districts (70.7% of all public school districts), enrolling 154,130 students, were identified; 4,125 districts nationwide qualified. A questionnaire mailed to…

Questionnaires were mailed in 1986 to school board presidents in small rural districts across the United States in order to identify the characteristics of successful rural school superintendents and the qualities that rural school boards look for when hiring a superintendent. There were 93 usable responses from 28 states. Analysis of the…

The dissatisfaction theory of American democracy (Ianneccone and Lutz, 1970, 1978) purports that citizens do not become politically active until a high level of dissatisfaction is present and that superintendent turnover is the end result of a process in which the school board becomes increasingly unresponsive to its community, dissatisfaction…

To investigate whether the proportion of males to females employed as educational organizational development (OD) practitioners is equitable, sex distribution data from three recent sources are presented in female-male ratios, in categories that define the available talent pool for educational leadership, educational leadership positions, and OD…

This paper describes the activities and experiences of a technical assistance consultant working with a superintendent and assistant superintendent to implement the Achievement Directed Leadership (ADL) school improvement program during 1981-82. The paper's first section describes the ADL program's "top-down" implementation plan, with…

Programs must be designed to remove barriers to equitable vocational education. Barriers to such programs are erosion of public and special interest group confidence in the educational system; lack of systematic student services; and lack of mutual awareness, communication, and cooperation between vocational and general educators. To remove…

This report presents findings from a survey of Indiana school superintendents' and school board members' attitudes about the school's role in sex education. Data were obtained for the study by means of a questionnaire; 645 completed "Family Life and Sex Education Questionnaires" were returned. Data, presented in tabular form and followed…

The materials in this manual are designed to help workshop leaders prepare for and present a workshop for school board members on the political roles played by the board and its individual members. Three possible workshop focuses are treated, covering political roles at the local level, at the state level, and, in cases of cooperation, between…

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the process of gaining and implementing public school administrators' right to unionize. The first two chapters consider why school administrators perceive the need for negotiation rights. Chapter I incorporates literature on the changing role, status, and work ethos of educational administration.…

RESPONSES FROM 120 ADMINISTRATORS IN ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN MICHIGAN EMPLOYING A REIMBURSED LOCAL DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION WERE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE THEIR OPINION ON--(1) PROBABLE EFFECTS ON REIMBURSED PROGRAMS IF THE SALARY REIMBURSEMENT WERE DISCONTINUED AT THE END OF 3 YEARS, (2) USE OF STATE AND FEDERAL FUNDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF…

A survey project was conducted from July 1977 through June 1978 to: (1) determine the occupational interests and academic plans of seventh, eighth, tenth, and eleventh grade Bergen County public and Catholic school students and their parents; (2) determine the perception of Bergen County public school superintendents regarding the status,…

The appendix to the study illustrates the three instruments used for gathering data and the four sets of statistical tabulations serving as a basis for the study's recommendations. The instruments are (1) a questionnaire regarding selected characteristics of Iowa county school systems; (2) a questionnaire regarding alternative methods for the…

It is essential that school board members understand the important role that public sentiment plays both in the management of the public schools and in the determination of legislated powers of local school boards. The 14 articles from the "Illinois School Board Journal" presented here were chosen for the light they shed on public…

Since early in this century educators have been proposing staffing formulas they believe will facilitate educational quality. The resulting guidelines represent a wide range of recommendations--from the possible to the utopian. School boards, teachers' groups, administrators, consultants, and taxpayers thus have a range of choices among the…