The project summarized in this report collected data from 3 of the 25 largest Association of Research Library (ARL) member libraries in order to: (1) examine the durability of the measure of technology set forth in "An Empirical Assessment of Perrow's Technology Construct" (Administrative Science Quarterly, 1974, pp. 338-356); (2) study…

As a part of the initial phase of a strategic planning effort for the development of Florida's 1988 through 1991 long-range cooperative extension program, an effort was initiated to achieve common expectations for overall organizational mission and purpose among diverse cooperative extension faculty. The unification effort included the following…

Changing student demographics, legislation improving standards and access, and increasing community expectations are creating instability in the nation's education system. Also, public confidence in schools' effectiveness has eroded. This treatise draws on sociology, corporate studies, and effective schools research to understand how education…

This booklet proposes a 10-year plan for restructuring local school districts entitled "Education by Charter." An introductory section cites current demands for educational reform and cites proposed remedies in order to suggest that nothing short of fundamental change in the internal organization of the school district will sustain and incorporate…

A case study tested the premise that people cope with ambiguity in particular ways within an organizational context, negotiating for understanding and choice through the manipulation of power, ideology, and technology. The study focused on the implementation of a satellite communications network in local Catholic Church offices and on staff…

Students studying office administration as a career at Lehman College (New York) participated in a case study reenactment in order to learn the processes involved in using an "Office Automation Committee" to ensure the successful planning and implementation of office automation. Based on the experience of the National Institute of…

The history of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) is discussed. The organization was founded in February 1938 when 45 college teachers and 12 persons from state departments of education or public schools adopted a constitution for the National Association of Teachers of Educational Measurement. The revised constitution of 1943…

Under the superintendent's guidance, the Riverside (California) Unified School District underwent decentralization between 1960 and 1978. The process involved seven stages: (1) conceptualizing and actualizing a "cooperative community" committed to educating every child, (2) communicating these concepts to key individuals, (3)…

This paper hypothesizes that both the structure and function of school systems are influenced by the following environmental factors: the institutional division of labor, the degree of homogeneity, the degree of stability, the degree of competition, and the amount and source of funding. Support for the hypotheses relies on open systems theory and…

Preliminary lessons emerging from five case studies contained in a larger study on improving urban high schools are explored in this report. An eclectic approach was taken to describe the contextual influences in and around the school improvement programs. Potential variables were selected from previous research to frame the investigation and site…

This paper presents a model for turning research findings into prescriptions for practical action. The model contains the following five interactive elements: (1) clear, understandable research knowledge; (2) relevant knowledge, which is seen as meaningful to normal life and concerns; (3) images of actions which exemplify the knowledge; (4) a will…

The concept of a functional "we" in a school setting and the idea that people who make up a school community relate school experiences and interpret school phenomena in the form of organizational "stories" provide the theoretical bases for a model to initiate strategies for school development and improvement. The functional "we" concept refers to…

The field of social innovation policy can presently be seen as divided into two opposing camps: pro-fidelity and pro-adaptation. The former conceptualizes innovations as consisting of a number of relatively well specified components, and argue that rigorously developed, evaluated programs should be implemented with close correspondence to…

Failure has frequently been the result of attempts to implement new educational technologies within a school organization that evolved in response to an older technology--the technology of the classroom, the blackboard, and the textbook. This failure may be due in part to specific causes in individual cases, but the pattern of failure suggests…

Maryland's Perryville High School Positive Disciplinary Project involves both actively disruptive students referred by the administration and students who have demonstrated the potential to be disruptive who are referred by teachers, guidance counselors, or parents. In either instance, the student becomes a part of the program for the entire…