This document considers several aspects of the use of assessment centers for the evaluation of school principals. Citing the literature, the document defines the assessment center concept, and describes the operation of a typical four-day assessment program. The paper also recounts efforts to ascertain the reliability of assessment results,…

The writer of this paper was invited to act as a consultant to Minnesota's Independent School District 196 to generate a plan and program for the inservice education of school principals within the district. The paper presents an analysis of the problem; a discussion of the organizational context and the client system; a description of the methods…

This literature review highlights the large amount of research needed on the role of educators within school districts in planned educational change and knowledge utilization. After first defining knowledge utilization as the use of information (from research or practice) in educational products or ideas, the author identifies three factors…

The Deans' Grants awards have required skills and behaviors not traditionally associated with the role of dean. A sample of ten deans acting as Deans Grant project directors was studied to determine their roles and functions and the specific behaviors perceived as supportive of change efforts. Through interviews with the deans and staff, it was…

As part of a district-wide longitudinal study of the implementation of a science curriculum innovation, researchers developed case studies of a sample of nine elementary schools in the Jefferson County School District, a large suburban system in Colorado. The study applied the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, which assumes that change is carried out…

New Jersey's removal of $22 million from its 1979-80 state school aid payments requires that school administrators immediately establish priorities and explore options for dealing with enrollment decline. From 1969 to 1978 New Jersey K-6 enrollment has dropped 19.4 percent. The time for selecting reasonable approaches to declining enrollment is…

The preparation of professional personnel for positions of administration in higher education institutions and agencies is discussed in this lecture. The skills and competencies required of executives in higher education (including intellectual curiosity and leadership) are identified and administration curriculum content (education for an…

Characteristics of private and public schools were compared in this study utilizing data collected in surveys by the National Institute of Education, the Council for American Private Education, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The aims of the study were to provide a national picture of secondary education and increase…

The relationship between the schools and the press who reports about them is the subject of this paper. It contains four speeches made at a 1973 meeting of the Council for Basic Education held in Washington D.C. Two school officials and two journalists offer their views on such subjects as training for educational writers, press bias, and the role…

A number of factors have contributed to the inflation of grades in higher education, including: the belief that grades traumatize and dehumanize students; the conviction that academic standards are unfair in light of the equality of each individual; teachers' hesitation to fail high-risk or open enrollment students; the influence of popular…

Self-Renewal is a systematic process now being used by many New York City High Schools to solve problems, to improve their planning of programs and policies, and to manage change. Renewal places special emphasis on participative planning and the use of Organizational Development techniques. The concept applies principles of the behavioral sciences…

The purpose of this paper is to describe actual on-the-job behaviors of a sample of principals working in a large city school district. Specifically, the principals were asked how they define their role and how they use their authority to provide a stabilizing influence for the organization. The key organizational maintenance efforts of…

This module is the third in a self-instructional program designed to train public school personnel in how to manage educational projects. The purpose of this module is to assist local school district personnel in the development of project proposals. It covers four major phases: proposal planning, proposal preparation, proposal development, and…

This manual, one of four related documents, is the first stage in a sex fairness program implemented in the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District (Pennsylvania). Section 1 helps a school district's coordinating committee study district needs for sex fairness. It illustrates how to define needs by gathering pertinent information and how to establish…

A survey was conducted of 260 high school principals in 48 states concerning their knowledge of communication law as it related to freedom of the press under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The survey instrument contained information concerning nine composite court cases, and respondents were asked to indicate for each case…