Purpose: This study explored a theoretical model that links teachers' perceived uncertainty and teachers' sense of collective efficacy with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in elementary schools. OLMs serve as a mediator construct. Research Design: For testing the primary theoretical model, 801 teachers from 61 elementary schools (33…

Purpose: Research finds that the attitudes of principals and teachers create an atmosphere for learning, often referred to as school climate, that influences school effectiveness. Other research shows that atmospheres of trust, shared vision, and openness create positive school climate conditions. Little is known, however, about how these climates…

Purpose: This study tests key constructs of sociocultural and organizational learning theories with quantitative methods to better understand the nature and impact of district and school leadership and actions on the quality of programs of family and community involvement. Research Design: Survey data from a "nested" sample of 24 districts and 407…

Purpose: This study makes a distinction between a school having high attrition and one having difficulties in hiring. It does so by exploring the relationship between definitions of hard-to-staff schools, school demographics, and school conditions that are often associated with a school being hard-to-staff. Research Design: The study relies on a…

Purpose: In this study the authors focus on different (configurations of) leadership or management styles in schools for general and vocational education. Findings: Using multilevel (students and schools) analyses, strong differences in effective management styles between schools with different student populations were observed. Conclusions: The…

Previous qualitative studies show that when the formal organization of a school and patterns of informal interaction are aligned, faculty and leaders in a school are better able to coordinate instructional change. This article combines social network analysis with interview data to analyze how well the formal and informal aspects of a school's…

Purpose: This article explores distributed leadership as it relates to two teacher teams in one public secondary school. Both situational and social aspects of distributed leadership are foci of investigation. Methods: The qualitative study used constant comparative analysis and discourse analysis to explore leadership as a distributed phenomenon.…

Purpose: The objective of this article is to provide an analysis of articles in "Education Administration Quarterly (EAQ)" over the 25-year period 1979-2003. Approach: The approach is document analysis. Findings: Information is presented on four key themes: (a) types of articles published; (b) methodologies employed; (c) topic areas emphasized;…

Purpose: The contingency model theory suggests that the effects of a leadership style cannot be studied without explicit attention to the given situation. Accordingly, the authors propose a model that allows them to examine simultaneously the relative impact of participative leadership and directive leadership on teachers' performance through the…

Purpose: In this article, the authors highlight three constraints--structural time crisis (Schor, 1991) ideal worker norms (Williams, 2000), and labor and occupational queues (Reskin & Roos, 1990; Strober, 1992)--on the decisions and choices of women seeking to advance to and hold positions in the superintendency. Proposed Conceptual Argument: The…

Uses concepts from organizational learning theory to provide theoretical framework for case study of Oakland, California, central-office administrators' roles and capacity to support the implementation of school-community partnerships. Draws implications for research and practice. (Contains 111 references, 2 tables, and 1 figure.)(PKP)

Explains fundamental shifts dominating education's transition at technical, managerial, and institutional levels. Since the first edition of the "Handbook of Research on Educational Administration," school administration has been reconfigured and recultured. Social justice, democratic community, and school improvement comprise major integrative…

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 schooling…

Offers a model representing a normative perspective on organizational leadership. An organization's normative structure consists of members' perceptions of conditions necessitating leadership, the extent to which these conditions are present, and members' beliefs about leaders' intentions and how they should be realized. Leadership cannot be…

Since business leaders have become increasingly involved in setting education reform agendas, understanding their motives would be helpful. Using five interest-group theories and longitudinal data, this article examines the formation, agenda setting, and maintenance of an organization of business leaders. Moderate support was found for each…