Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1997. / Title from title page screen, viewed June 7, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Sally B. Pancrazio (chair), Ronald S. Halinski, Dianne E. Ashby, Ramesh Chaudhari, Robert F. Hall. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-152) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / Supervision can and should be the most important function of a principal. One of the things that effects the quality of supervision as practiced by the elementary school principal is whether there is a lack of supervision or whether there is an abundance of supervision. Thus, it is the purpose of this thesis to attempt to discover the degree of freedom allowed the elementary school teacher by her supervising principal in her classroom and in her daily work. If the degree of freedom allowed can be discovered, this could be compared with what is the ideal according to educational authorities. This comparison could be an aid in helping the principal and the teacher improve supervision and thus improve their school. If the foregoing can be accomplished, the ultimate purpose of education would be closer to realization.

viii, 70 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The relationship between principal's scored levels of innovativeness and shared leadership behaviors was studied using an embedded case study methodology. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between a scale of principal innovativeness and reported shared leadership behaviors. Using a research-based self-report questionnaire, the principals reported their perceived innovativeness preferences. Semi-structured interviews with the principals and literacy coaches gave insight into shared leadership behaviors. Principals reported similar levels of innovativeness, though shared leadership behaviors varied between participants. Variances were relative to the extent that each principal shared decision-making power with informal leaders within their respective buildings. / Adviser: Diane Dunlap

The purpose of this study is to make a survey of the relation between the legal provisions for education in Texas and the public school administration, to determine, if possible, whether these provisions provide for an adequate program meeting the educational needs of the children of the state. Legal provisions, in this instance, comprise both the constitutional provisions for education and the school laws passed to carry out these provisions.

Doctor Educationis / This study is based on an investigation into the way RCL members participate in the deliberation of their School Governing Bodies. The study was conducted in two primary schools in the Western Cape town of Vredenburg. The research participants were members of the Representative Council of Learners from these schools. Focus group discussions as well as in depth interviews were used to explore the RCL members' views on the nature of their participation during SGB deliberations. the main fining of this study is that, due to external as well as in-school factors, a huge gap exists between normative RCL policy exp[ectations and the actual manifestation policy in the real world of the RCL members' schools. the findings of the study reveal a lack of participative capacities among these RCL members, which, in combination with a non participative culture at their homes, the community and the school, leads to learners being excluded from democratic processes. / South Africa

The study utilizes the case study approach in examining clinical supervision in a large, multi-service human service organization. It specifically examines factors impeding clinical supervision, asserting that clinical supervision is typically not practiced as a result of multiple causes. A model of clinical supervision is synthesized from existing literature and is used as the basis for the study, which was operationalized through questionnaires and interviews conducted throughout the organization, a review of organizational materials, and the observation of supervision. In addition, organizational efficiency was conceptualized as the product of the interaction between defined task, organizational employees, formal organizational arrangements, and the informal culture of the organization. The thesis presents seven propositions to support the view that clinical supervision is impeded as a result of multiple causes: (1) supervisors are not well versed in the clinical basis of direct care work, (2) supervisors are untrained in the practice of clinical supervision, (3) most supervisory tasks are considered to be administrative rather than clinical, (4) organizational structures do not adequately encourage or support the use of clinical supervision, (5) training in clinical supervision is unavailable, (6) clinical supervision is more likely to be provided in programs that have a clear "clinical" identity, than in programs that are less clearly defined, and (7) clinical supervision is reserved more for highly professional staff than for the bulk of the direct care staff that deliver agency services. Results largely support the propositions, showing that responsibility for supervision largely lies in the informal organization. There are few formal arrangements or plans for the development and use of clinical supervision, and, where practiced, supervision is far more administrative than clinical. The study also highlights the lack of conceptual sophistication in direct care supervisors in which a highly interpersonal, human relations type supervision is mistaken for clinical supervision. Clinical supervision is considered the outcome of a series of interacting parts, and a complex concept based upon both content and approach. The study concludes by describing a method for the design of clinical supervisory systems, based on generic principles identified in the literature but built around the specific needs of individual organizations.

Many African-American congregations in urban settings have established after-school tutorial programs as a means of assisting students toward better academic performance. While there is some consensus that church sponsored tutoring programs in the Black community are welcome and should be encouraged, to date the research documenting what is actually taking place in these programs and what the responses are of those affected by the programs is generally sparse. Descriptive case studies of tutoring activities sponsored by two churches, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Church of Springfield, Massachusetts and the New Covenant Presbyterian Church of Miami, Florida, form the basis of this study. These free tutoring programs are an attempt to offer remediation to inner-city youngsters within the context of volunteer staffing patterns based upon the caring tradition of the African-American church. Background information was gathered from church and tutoring program records, giving attention to program purpose, evolution, and organization. Interviews and questionnaires were used to gather data on the perceptions of those involved with these tutorial efforts (students, tutors, and parents) concerning the program's effectiveness in helping students academically. A telephone survey of twenty other churches located in differing urban areas was taken regarding their tutoring experiences and these responses were compared with the perceptions of individuals involved in the case studies. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Church program's fifteen year history betrayed a continual metamorphosis in the program while the New Covenant tutoring experience was much more brief, slightly more than a year. Similarly, among the churches programs surveyed, some tutorial programs had long histories and others were new. The perception was widespread among persons involved with the twenty-two programs that these activities were of positive benefit to the students involved. Among community-based organizations, many Black churches have long histories and extensive resource networks within their neighborhoods which make them reliable community alternatives for the establishment of relatively low-cost remediation programs that could prove highly effective. Follow-up research documenting actual impact on academic performance is needed.

This research combines systems and critical theory to analyze the relationship of the athletic department and the institutional development office. The purpose of the study was to propose a model of coordinated athletic fund raising based upon a theoretical framework that explains athletic fund raising as an organizational function within the context of the interdependencies of a system. In the first phase of the research, a theory-based model of coordinated athletic fund raising is set forth. Several key characteristics of a coordinated approach are identified. In the second phase, results of telephone interviews with athletic fund raisers at Division I institutions are reported. Basic descriptive statistics and qualitative data analysis techniques are used to present a full and rich picture of how athletic fund raisers assess the relationship between the two offices. In the third phase of the research, a comparison is made between empirical findings and the model. Relationships between development offices and athletic departments vary greatly in nature and in scope. The majority of athletic fund raisers report that the relationship between the athletic department and development office is strained. Poor relationships may be deleterious to the athletic fund raising effort. A comparison of reported existing relationships to the model suggests that few existing relationships approach the level of coordination presented in the model. The theory-based model is determined to be useful in providing insights into the complex forces that affect athletic fund raising. Recommendations for moving relationships closer to the model focus on strategies that athletic fund raisers can employ to improve the relationship. Recommendations to athletic fund raisers include finding ways to produce and market critical fund raising resources to the development office; emphasizing negotiation as a strategy to improve exchanges; and working to establish better feedback mechanisms and more open lines of communication with the institutional development office.

This descriptive and interpretive study explores the problem of school funding uncertainty in Massachusetts. Information from three main strands converges on the achievement status of today's Massachusetts students: the history of school funding since the earliest permanent English-speaking settlements, the municipal budget-making process in Massachusetts as it affects school funding, and the state budget-making process in regard to its effect on the funding of public K-12 education. Clearly the history of school funding mirrors social and economic issues in the 400-year period reviewed. Definition of social and economic needs of the citizenry has been a continuous political process. Who has had the power to define the needs has affected the funding of public schools. The municipal school funding process in Massachusetts is reviewed both as an annual procedural cycle and as a product of ongoing politically sensitive relationships at the local level. Its effect on the funding of public K-12 schools is influenced by the credibility and political effectiveness of the school district leadership. Funding of public schools by the state is also reviewed both as an annual procedural cycle and as a product of the political give and take that legislators rely upon to get their own agendas supported. Against this background of the past history and current process of allocating resources for public K-12 schools, student achievement scores are examined relative to money provided for schools. A statewide pattern showing money reflected in student achievement is found--both public money and personal money. This study concludes that in Massachusetts, while the uncertainty of school funding continues from year to year regardless of the 1993 Education Reform Act, a sufficient and stable flow of money to the schools is necessary to prepare students adequately for the future. Suggestions for further study and for local action are detailed.

Despite evidence that an understanding of the individual's interpretive framework is an important factor in understanding effective teaching, there is little research in higher education which addresses this variable. The purpose of the study was to facilitate an understanding of the personal context within which the behaviors and strategies of effective teachers exist. Designed as a case study of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Distinguished Teaching Award winners from 1962 to 1995 (N = 47, 69% of total population, representing all of the Schools/Colleges within the University), it employed a written survey to gain data about faculty backgrounds and adoption of teaching attitudes and activities which the literature has identified as characteristic of effective teachers, followed by in-depth interviews (N = 14) to explore the participants' personal constructions of the process of teaching. The major findings include: all participants' definitions of teaching reflected a constructivist orientation to the process; a consistency in participants' definitions of the major goals and processes of teaching, and motivations and rewards for teaching across age, discipline, and sex; close attention to their own and their students' experiences is the primary source of learning about and motivation for teaching; the goal of relating to students is to facilitate learning, thus participants define an appropriate faculty-student distance in their relationships with students; teaching is considered an activity with intellectual value; evidence of individual shifts in the construction of their goals for teaching and of their relationships with students, their content and the context that parallel established schema for epistemological and intellectual development, indicating the possibility of a psychological developmental aspect to the development of effective teachers. Some implications for further research include the need for efforts to clarify possible epistemological developmental aspects to the development of faculty as teachers, to research the connections between developmental stage and teaching effectiveness and conceptualization of efforts to improve teaching as incorporating more than attention to methods.