Inspired by the publication of "Leaders for America's Schools" (1987), a guide for improving administrator preparation, this paper identifies program components to be reformed, examines general problems associated with each component, and encourages thinking about solutions to some of these problems. Assessment centers to test administrator skills…

Describes the Educational Opportunity Program of Northern Illinois University's adaptation of an administrative planning decision making program called the Delphi concensus seeking process. (MD)

Defines the concept of the synergistic model of organizational structure. The primary components of the model are cooperative action and job integration, which have as a direct result the increased energy in staff members using the model. (MD)

Discusses the implications of a planning and decision concept, "Ideal Displacement." Cautions administrators that the process by which alternatives are developed, weighted, and selected has a profound impact on the quality of the decision. (MLF)

Studies in five Missouri districts identified eight characteristics deterring change and constituting an "informal covenant" between teachers and principals. Eight corresponding conditions essential to change include relating changes to a school's culture, knowing local procedures and sensitive issues, recognizing moments when changes are…

The traditional division of the school into discrete classrooms does not fill today's diverse student and faculty needs. The alternative might be a school divided into 40 individual carrels, 15 project rooms, 5 offices, 2 seminar rooms, and 1 multipurpose room. (Author/JM)

Discusses changing negative attitudes toward schools to positive ones by the use of three strategies: promotion of public participation, emphasis on mutualism of values and attitudes, and employment of expert testimony. (Author/JM)

Suggests procedures for analyzing educational goals prior to adoption, recommends "force analysis" as an important dimension of needs assessment, and explains techniques for clarifying the relationship among goals and objectives and the grade levels and subject areas in which they are to receive emphasis. (Author/JM)

Outlines a procedure that negotiators can use to survey the attitudes of those involved in collective bargaining and then plot those attitudes in a matrix that categorizes issues as hard to negotiate, easy to negotiate, important, or unimportant. Such information should aid negotiators in formulating their strategy. (IRT)

Explains how school systems can qualify for assistance under the National Energy Policy Conservation Act, which provides federal funds to those districts and institutions (schools and hospitals) that are willing to take energy conservation measures. (Author/IRT)

Presents some strategies for changing attitudes toward sex equity and Title IX. (IRT)

Provides an overview of the facets involved in persistence of developmental students at the college level. (IRT)

Suggests how administrators may reduce teacher incompetence. Teacher incompetence can be reduced if administrators fully understand and undertake appropriate preventive and remedial measures. Two sections comprise this article. First, a taxonomy of teacher incompetence reveals the magnitude of the problem. Second, preventive and remedial measures…