Using data from a survey of superintendents in four states, this study explored how contextual factors and the real and perceived stringency of accountability measures influence the attention superintendents pay to the different roles comprising their work. A major concern was the extent to which stringent accountability was associated with…

Positioned in relationship to reform literature calling for small schools "by design" and interpreting data from a case study of a high performing but low-SES district in a Midwestern state, this paper provides a basis for making sense of the apparent divergence in policies governing schooling structures in rural and urban places. Its…

Examined conditions of school superintendency that make it attractive or unattractive as a career move for principals in Ohio. Responses from 508 principals show that the ability to make a difference and extrinsic motivators (e.g., salary and benefits) make the superintendency attractive, while increased responsibility, accountability…

Attempted to examine the process of conceptual-change teaching through an Internet discussion, part of a distance-education teacher-training course, involving approximately 40 teachers. The prior beliefs of these teachers about science and science teaching may have hindered change and limited their willingness to explore the designated subject on…

"Creating the Dropout" traces the history of school leaving and the concept of the dropout. The dropout was invented, not discovered, only being explicitly recognized after 1960. Inventing the dropout became a way to channel general concerns about the condition of cities, identifying dropouts as authors of their own troubles. (SLD)