The general meaning of research data drawn from study of school improvement programs creates the opportunity for sound theory building. By emphasizing the principal's role in policy development, this paper analyzes the characteristics of large-scale educational innovation projects and their explanatory foundations. Belgium's comprehensive Renewed…

Three research questions are addressed in this paper: (1) What does school improvement mean in relation to the context of a research project? (2) Given particular developments in European society and the nature of primary research data, what should schools be like in the year 2001? (3) What steps are being taken in research and development to…

This paper analyzes a research project that maps implementation efforts of comprehensive and mandated change at the primary school level in The Netherlands. In examining this large-scale national reform program, the report deals with schools whose innovation efforts acquired funding from the central education department in return for their local…

This paper analyzes the implications of a school's physcial environment for children's development. Its purpose is to draw the attention of educators to the implications of the physical environment for the child's development and to invite them to participate in the process whereby the design program of schools is formulated. The paper presents…

This paper designs a theoretical construct that integrates a number of mainstream systems of inquiry available to educational policymakers. Each system of inquiry has postulates, basic and derived concepts that characterize its epistemological foundations and methodological directives. None of these systems of inquiries, however, is proscriptive…

This lecture addresses the conditions of educational administration as a profession, drawing on the speaker's experience in evaluating 37 colleges of education. The thesis is that a radical reform movement in the profession of educational administration is essential to the survival of the profession. Accordingly, the present condition of…

This paper describes the model and process developed by the Connecticut education department to assist schools in improving their effectiveness. The report offers an operational definition of the term "effectiveness" and summarizes the research that provides the conceptual base for the model. The characteristics selected from this…

This presentation highlights and discusses the recommendations made by the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration in its report "The Restructuring of a National Understanding of Requirements for Educational Leadership of the Future." The revamping of administrator preparation is said to be essential because current…