This case study presents findings from a year-long ethnographic study of a principal at a dilapidated rural elementary school with arid, dusty surroundings. It concludes one of seven studies conducted in elementary and intermediate schools in urban, suburban, and rural settings to investigate the instructional management roles of principals.…

Truly effective schools cannot exist without strong instructional leadership. At the base of the school improvement process are certain assumptions related to the role of principals, such as the expectation that school administrators demonstrate skills as both efficient managers and visionary leaders. The task of school reform has become one of…

By 1990 Australia had experienced almost 10 years of incessant activity to restructure education. In many respects, educators are not in control of the change process. This paper explains transformations that have occurred in the senior education positions, in the shape of educational organizations (including schools), and in the way education is…

Essential elements of teacher preparation programs should become the foundation of instructional leader training. Techniques of Responsive Intervention to Validate Effective Teaching (TRIVET) is an administrative training program that provides instructional leaders with the skills and knowledge to collect data, diagnose instructional…

After defining the school learning environment as a collage of various goal stresses and discussing relationships between motivation and achievement explored in recent research, this document explains the need to change school culture and climate in order to enhance student motivation. Policy and procedural areas where change may be desired are…

Given current emphasis on the importance of the principal as an instructional leader, this document outlines a training session designed to help principals learn and share effective teaching methods. Trends in inservice training are discussed, and research on aspects of teacher effectiveness such as clarity of presentation, student-centered…

Recent research casts doubt on the commonly held notions that administrators affect student learning through instructional leadership and that changing administrators will improve school performance. To help construct a model for examining the process of leader succession that specifies a number of major school process and outcome variables…

The result of two seminars bringing together educators to discuss the "often conflicting requirements of affirmative action and reductions in force" (RIF), this booklet is intended to provide practical insights and suggestions on meeting affirmative action goals "in situations characterized by staff and program cutbacks." Chapter 1 describes…

Suggestions are offered for use in dealing with the problem of student retention and attrition. The suggestions reflect the combined experiences of the faculty of Jefferson Community College (Kentucky) and were developed through a small-group process. They are divided into five categories: (1) faculty/student interaction related to the affective…

Intended as a guide and reference for persons involved in local administration of the Johnson-O'Malley (JOM) Indian Education program, the handbook contains basic information about the program and the roles and responsibilities of school administrators, JOM personnel, and local and state Indian Education Committees (IECs). Beginning with a history…

Data gathered from a national survey on the status of adult and continuing education in the United States are presented. Chapters cover: continuing education in 410 institutions of higher education (description of the sample, relationships among institutional characteristics, staffing patterns, and support for grants acquisition); the continuing…

Intended for practitioners and graduate students in reading education and educational administration, this guide presents theory, research, and practice that will help prospective and working administrators and supervisors to conceptualize better ways of helping children learn to read and want to read. Chapter One, "The Need for Reading…

The Renewed Primary School project in Belgium is analyzed in this paper in terms of organizational response to a large-scale innovation, which is characterized by its multidimensionality, by the large number of participating schools, and by a complex support structure. Section 2 of the report presents an elaborated description of these…

The Netherlands' New Basic School was implemented in the mid-1980s to increase individualized instruction and curriculum differentiation in the earliest grades and to improve schools' capacity to serve students with varying learning needs and ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Under the plan, preschools and primary schools were brought…

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data included in America's Challenge: Accelerating Academic Achievement, indicate the scope of the task of reaching the National Goal for Education on Student Achievement and Citizenship. This discussion guide focuses on the five corollary objectives of the National Goal, which are to: (1)…