Examines student and teacher attitudes toward student brinkmanship, behavior that challenges the authority system of the school while avoiding negative sanctions, and discusses possible consequences of student brinkmanship for the school's social system. (Author)

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)

Responds in an ongoing dialogue with Peter Gronn about the need for self-critical inquirers who emphasize openness and skepticism in research methods and ideas. (MLF)

Domains of inquiry, values, and practice as they bear upon educational institutions are considered. Various junctures within and among the domains are described, and it is contended that integration is desirable. In analyzing the nature of disjunctures, special attention is given the character of educational organizations and their settings.…

Following a brief summary of the historical context of the professorship in educational administration from 1959 to the present, an eclectic philosophical grounding for the profession, drawing from naturalism, instrumentalism, empiricism, and pragmatism, is proposed. Implications for inquiry and practice are drawn, and recommendations for future…

In replies to two critiques of his 1980 article, appearing in the fall 1982 issue of "Educational Administration Quarterly," the author first questions the notion that all organizations must meet certain requirements to survive and, second, denies that structured observation research on school administrators is "neo-Taylorism."…

Researchers examined the work behavior of five elementary school principals in two northeastern states and found that their activities exhibited typical intensity, variety, and fragmentation, showed many individual differences, and were less hectic than those of secondary principals examined earlier. The authors also discuss the limitations of…

Using a perspective that emphasizes schools' internal structure and external context, the author examines theory and research on loose coupling in schools, society's institutionalization and legitimation of schools, and structured observations of educational administrators' work. (Author/RW)

A survey of 3,100 students, teachers, and principals in 47 elementary and secondary schools in the Middle Atlantic region, using the Pupil Control Behavior Form, revealed a positive association between principals' humanistic pupil control behavior and schools'"robustness" (the degree of meaning and excitement students find in school).…

Deals with three types of philosophical issues surrounding theory development: epistemology, abstraction and the concept of system, and values and ideology. (JM)

Analyzes the managerial behavior of five high school principals using Mintzberg's structured observation technique. (Author/WD)

Presents a naturalistic perspective on inquiry as a compelling philosophy for educational administration. Naturalistic inquiry is ethical, open, growing, self-corrective, fallible, and resembles scientific inquiry. Subjectivism, neo-Marxist critical theory, postmodernism, and identity politics are all creatures of the times. Thriving on relativism…