A coauthor of a book on the history of thought and practice in educational administration reflects on issues raised during the writing of the book as follows: (1) Categories of administrative thought are difficult to establish. Two categories were derived from Richard Scott's rational systems approach--scientific management and bureaucracy. The categories of human relations and open systems emerged from terms that characterize widely held notions about administration. (2) Views characterized as scientific management and human relations were advocated in both organizational and educational literature. (3) There is a more complete record of administrative thought than of practice. Max Weber and others illustrate the evolution of administrataive thought. The paucity of documents concerning practice relates to American education as a local phenomenon. (4) There is some relationship between thought and practice. Conflicts over bureaucratic practices have required that schools move from closed to open systems. (5) Administrative thought has had the historical task of balancing organizational with individual concerns. (6) The most challenging new framework comes from the Canadians. Thomas Greenfield's phenomenological approach reinterpreted organizations as cultural artifacts. The ensuing debate brought a paradigm enlargement in the field of educational administration. Educational practices should be better recorded and the relationship between thought and practice should be more definitely determined. Three reference pages are appended. (CJH)