In Michigan, highly politicized school-finance reforms and the charter-school and school-choice movements present enormous challenges for school business officials. There is greater demand for administrator accountability and credibility, an open environment, effective communication skills, efficient use of data, long-term vision,…

Examines the ways that academic department chairs cope with the demanding and often contradictory roles they must assume. Discusses the challenge of allocating resources among faculty members and simultaneously maintaining collegiality. Presents data culled from interviews with 23 current and former department chairs. (MJP)

Presents a check list of three-tiered rubrics to help administrators assess their own technological literacy in information systems use, record keeping and budgeting, data use, communication skills, online research, identification of teacher and student competencies, envisioning and planning, and ethical use and policy making. (MLH)

A study used interviews, observations, and documents to examine perceptions of principals in eight accredited, independent schools in Alberta (Canada) about major factors affecting their leadership role. Factors included philosophical congruence enhanced by respect and trust, as well as personal relationships, school culture, symbolism, and…

Uses analogy of a farm silo to explain how departments within a college operate as separate entities. Suggests that, when departments are self-contained and unconcerned with work of others, students face long lines and duplications of services and get different answers from different offices. Describes how the combined efforts of admissions and…

Describes frictions inherent in the decision-making process at a California community college, where shared governance is both clearly defined and mandated. Discusses responsibility versus consultation and offers two successful examples (regarding the writing center and the basic writing program) in which faculty were involved in the decision and…

This book advances the new field of educational leadership--that of policy scholarship. It examines the ways in which concepts of educational leadership and management have evolved historically and culturally and reviews contemporary debates about the nature of school leadership. These debates involve cultural conservatives, New Right marketeers,…

School principals are regularly confronted with conflicting priorities and perplexing dilemmas. This book shares some of the sense that practicing principals have made of their own complex work. Arguing that there are no textbook solutions to most school problems, the book proposes looking at leadership as a quest. It identifies seven persisting…

The abstracts in this series provide two-page discussions of issues related to leadership, administration, and teaching in community colleges. The 12 abstracts for Volume 8, 1995, are: (1) "Redesigning the System To Meet the Workforce Training Needs of the Nation," by Larry Warford; (2) "The College President, the Board, and the Board Chair: A…

In the context of a professional-development reform movement in Quebec, the Ministry of Education asked universities to participate in the training of school principals so that they could implement a culture of continuous learning in their own schools. The university researchers used a bottom-up approach to initiate collaborative inquiry with 37…

This qualitative study examined the perceived impact of the president on organizational change at five community colleges in one state, and is part of a multiple case study which is addressing organizational change in community colleges. The methodology for the study was based on the literature of organizational change which suggests four…

The educational reform movement of the 1980s forced superintendents and school boards to critically reexamine the rationale used for principal evaluation. The 1985 South Carolina Educational Improvement Act forced all administrators to objectively define and evaluate educational goals for both students and personnel. Consequently, the Abbeville…

This paper explores the role and preparation of academics for senior management and executive positions in colleges and universities, particularly in Australia. A background section cites trends in higher education management and recent critiques of that management and the consequent scrutiny of leadership effectiveness. There follows an…

This manual is designed to give public library trustees basic information on the structure of library service in Michigan, with emphasis on the trustees' major areas of responsibility, in order to help trustees understand and fulfill their obligations. In particular, the "Action Checklist" at the end of each chapter is designed to assist…

Emerging research on instructional leadership is examined in this paper, with a focus on the new perspective on strategic thinking. The main theme is that research must address the reasoning that underlies the exercise of leadership rather than describe discrete behaviors of effective leaders. A computer simulation designed to facilitate the…