This paper is based on the assumption that the educational administrator is the mediator in policy development. The author sees the administrator as caught between two conflicting approaches to policy-making--one characterized as "rational" and the other as "political." In attempting to deal with this dilemma and with the dilemma of shrinking resources, administrators find themselves in a "reactive adversarial stance," that is, they are forced to react instead of act, they must mediate among groups in bitter conflict, and in consequence, administrators typically seek to escape from problems rather than to solve them. It is suggested that to become more effective policy-makers in education, educational administrators need to take a comprehensive view of policy-making that combines both the rational and political approaches. It is also urged that the efficacy of this new approach be measured by what Coleman calls "policy research" (designed to guide social action) and "discipline research" (designed to add knowledge to a scientific discipline). This attempt at an integrated approach to policy-making must focus on the administrator as a mediator who mediates among evidence that is both rationally-based and politically-based. (Author/JM)