Background: Using meta-analytic review techniques, this study synthesized the results of 79 unpublished studies about the nature of transformational school leadership (TSL) and its impact on the school organization, teachers, and students. This corpus of research associates TSL with 11 specific leadership practices. These practices, as a whole,…

Research has consistently shown that principal leadership matters for successful schools. Evaluating principals on the behaviors shown to improve student learning should be an important leverage point for raising leadership quality. Yet principals are often evaluated with the use of instruments with no theoretical background and little, if any,…

Purpose: In light of the excessively broad conceptions and nonobservable terms generally characterizing discussions of organizational learning, this study explores the notion of organizational learning in schools through the conceptual framework of organizational learning mechanisms (OLM) and develops a measure of OLM at the elementary school…

Background: The term "distributed leadership" is now widely used among scholars and practitioners in the field of educational leadership. Major actors in the nonprofit sector promote and financially support the development of distributed leadership. Unfortunately, there is confusion and ambiguity about what "distributed leadership" means, and…

Purpose: Although conflict has traditionally been considered destructive, recent studies have indicated that conflict management can contribute to effective teamwork. The present study explores conflict management as a team phenomenon in schools. The author examined how the contextual variables (task interdependence, goal interdependence) are…

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine (a) ways in which elementary principals in Connecticut influenced the induction experiences of new teachers and (b) how school leaders professional backgrounds and beliefs affected their approaches to induction. Research Methods: The study included six elementary principals from three Connecticut …

Purpose: The success of schools fundamentally depends on teachers' willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, namely, to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Attempts to understand the causes of OCB frequently focus on individual characteristics; only recently have researchers begun to direct their attention to more…

A reconceptualization of leadership focuses on the individual, on future consciousness, and on outcome behaviors. Suggests the importance of the leader's emotional stability and future awareness. An application is made to leadership training programs in education. (MLF)

Investigates administrative metaphors and the school principalship in the current literature. Three metaphors--maintenance, survival, and vision--are explored through participant observation of the behavior of five principals. (MLF)

Presents a discussion of the legal context of evaluation systems upon which merit pay programs are based. Following the discussion of the law, a model merit pay program is presented. (MLF)

Persistent problems in the formal preparation of educational administrators and the background of the 1983 American Association of School Administrators (AASA) guidelines are briefly discussed prior to the presentation of an overview of the guidelines themselves. As specific competencies and skills are presented, the rationale for each is set…

Reviews the history of administrative theory; defines a paradigm for the study of educational administration that is a synthesis of the American experience in the international context. (MLF)

A critique of "Evolution in the Professorship: Past, Philosophy, Future," by Donald J. Willower, published in the summer 1983 issue of this journal. (MLF)

John A. Clark's critique of "Evolution in the Professorship: Past, Philosophy, Future," by Donald J. Willower (published in the summer 1983 issue of this journal) is refuted by the author. (MLF)

The finding reported previously in this journal (EJ 265 763), that elementary schools conform more to the image of the rational bureaucracy while secondary schools fit that of the anarchy or loosely coupled system, is reinforced and extended using a large sample, more reliable measures, and more elaborate techniques. (Author)