Formulates theoretical model of four binding forces in school organizations--bureaucratic linkage, cultural linkage, tight coupling, and loose coupling--and examines their effects on teachers' feelings about school life. Finds, for example, that loose coupling had a positive effect on teachers' sense of community, job satisfaction, and commitment.…

Presents findings of a study exploring teacher leadership roles in a metropolitan K-8 school district. Results show that the development and performance of these roles are mediated by their organizational contexts. Teacher leadership should be approached as an organizational development issue rather than solely as an individual empowerment issue.…

The theory-driven Organizational Health Inventory was compared to the empirically derived Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire in predicting student achievement and teachers' commitment to the school. After controlling for the socioeconomic status of the sampled 58 schools, only academic emphasis contributed significantly to student…

Most reform movements do not fundamentally alter the prevailing organization, scheduling, curriculum, or structure of teaching. The time has come to view teachers as the solution to, rather than the source of, school problems. Empowerment reform raises questions and allows school practitioners to work toward their own answers. Includes 22…

Using principal interviews about state accountability systems in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, this article describes two organizational learning cultures (the symbolic and the strategic) that differ in their attitude toward, and use of, assessment information. Apparently, state accountability systems can either…

In comparing and contrasting the year (horizontal) and house (vertical) systems of pastoral (guidance) organization and management in British secondary schools, this article examines a model combining pastoral and academic concerns by establishing a vertical system. This system is proposed as the most effective way to integrate these two concerns.…

Reviews research on the effectiveness of supportive leadership, teacher participation in decision making, and staff collaboration. Investigates conditions that promote or impede the implementation of these practices by using a multilevel statistical model. Finds significant variance between public and Catholic schools, as well as within-school…

Four secondary teachers, long accustomed to working in isolation, joined forces to provide an interdisciplinary program with flexible scheduling and common planning periods. This article describes their school-within-a-school program, its acceptance by the Coalition of Essential Schools, and the program's benefits. A sidebar provides restructuring…

Educational administration must abandon its focus on organization, based on hierarchy, legitimacy, and self-interest and develop its own identity. Families, communities, and friendship networks constitute alternative collections of people. To understand schools as communities, educational administration would need to address new questions,…

This article describes a school reorganization in Woodstock (Illinois) resulting in the establishment of an Early Learning Center serving all the district's young children (525 children, ages 3 to 6). Advantages of this center approach for the students (such as integrating students with disabilities), for teachers, for parents, and for the…

Explains that the many common stereotypes of Christian schools mask their considerable diversity, examining distinctions between types of Christian schools, discussing denominational diversity, noting Christian parents' attitudes toward private and public education, examining differing curricula, and looking at the governance of Christian schools.…

Defines postmodernism and explores underlying philosophic assumptions. Ponders the usefulness of postmodern considerations for educational administration. Examines implications of postmodern thought for educational practitioners, highlighting "harmonious" practices such as reflection, conversation, affirmation, invitation, and commitment…

Attempts to reconcile two theoretically opposing perspectives of bureaucracy (as either alienating or facilitative) by creating and testing a new construct called "enabling bureaucracy." Empirical results are encouraging. Schools can be designed with formalized procedures and hierarchical structures that help rather than hinder teaching and…

Four contiguous chapters in the new "Handbook of Research on Educational Administration" examine evolving views of school organizations. Schools are conceived as facing certain enduring dilemmas or viewed as cultures, polities, or communities. Authors describe rumblings (debates, rhetoric, and prescriptions) in the cracks of conventional…

Explores how Dutch secondary schools can provide supportive working contexts that promote teacher learning, focusing on integration of two substructures (subject departments and student guidance units). Analyzes tensions between the substructures, summarizes insights into teacher learning communities, and discusses integrated teacher teams'…