No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The study involved the development and administration of an opinionnaire designed to determine task priorities for public schools. The location for the study was a suburban area; Mount Pleasant Township, Delaware County, Indiana, and the town of Yorktown. The community is served by the Mount Pleasant Township Community School Corporation.Seven identifiable sub-publics within the community were involved in the investigation. They were: adult lay citizens, middle school students in grades six through eight, high school students in grades nine through twelve, middle school teachers, high school teachers, middle and high school administrators, and school board members.The respondents were asked to place fifteen educational task items in priority order. A total of 1,391 individuals took part in the study as follows: 161 adult lay citizens, 573 middle school students, 593 high school students, 23 middle school teachers, 33 high school teachers, 5 administrators and 3 school board members.The fifteen task items were grouped into four major classifications: Intellectual - ability to employ the basic tools of knowledge, ability to make decisions after considering all aspects of a problem, desire for further education and the ability to continue learning in the future, and creativity. Social - ability to get along with others, sense of civic responsibility and understanding of governmental processes, patriotism and loyalty to the United States, and understanding of the need for a clean environment. Personal - understanding of personal hygiene, good mental health, development of moral behavior, and participation in cultural activities. Productive - specialized vocational training and job preparation, and management and financial abilities for living.The analysis of data involved multiplying the number of responses favoring an item by the number of that rank, thus obtaining a weighted value. The weighted totals were ranked in descending order, thereby establishing a rank order according to priority.Respondents ranked their choices within three major categories: Most Important, Important, and Least Important.Findings of the study were as follows:Adult Lay Citizens.-- Ranked Intellectual Elements Most Important. The Personal Elements were considered to be Important while Social Elements were considered as Least Important tasks of public education.Middle School Students.-- Placed Intellectual Elements in the Most Important group. Personal Elements were ranked high in the Important classification. Little interest in the Social Elements was indicated.High School Students.-- The most Important category included Social, Personal, and Intellectual items. ProductiveElements were divided between Important and Least Important. The Personal Elements were ranked as Least Important.Middle School Teachers.-- Ranked Intellectual Elements Most Important. Social Elements were Important, and the Personal Elements were ranked as Least Important.Hiqh School Teachers.-- Social Elements ranked as Most Important and Important. Intellectual Elements were scattered throughout the ranking. Personal Elements were ranked low.School Administrators.-- Ranked Social and Personal Elements as Most Important or Important. Productive Elements were Important to this group. Intellectual Elements were ranked in all three major classifications.School Board.-- Ranked Social and Personal Elements in the Most Important group. Intellectual Elements were in the Important classification, and productive Elements ranked low.The respondents displayed a high level of agreement concerning public school tasks. It was concluded from the study that Intellectual Elements were the most important tasks of the public schools even though the total pattern was comprehensive. Administrators differed in their perceptions concerning educational priorities from other groups. Vocational tasks were not considered important to the respondents. Tasks dealing with aesthetic values and creativity were ranked very low in the priorities.

The question which animates this thesis is the extent to which study of extant leadership theory and research is relevant to the fostering of educational leadership. Because this question cannot be answered without an adequate account of leadership in education, the thesis develops a conception of educational leadership and assesses the relevance of the leadership literature in light of that conception. The foundations upon which this conception of educational leadership is built are as follows: (1) the ordinary language meaning of "leadership," (2) the ideals fundamental to a liberal, democratic society, and (3) our ideal of the educated person. Conceptual analysis of "leadership" reveals that it is used both descriptively (to denote positions) and normatively (to rate something positively). The normative use spans a continuum of standards from weak to strong. Weak-normative leadership is ascribed according to the extent to which a leader has been able to influence others to pursue a goal. Strong-normative leadership is ascribed according to the extent to which the leader's ends and means are worthwhile. It is argued that, in general, people who want educational administrators to exercise leadership want strong-normative leadership, i.e., they want administrators to envision worthwhile goals and to use morally appropriate means to influence their colleagues to pursue these goals. Thus, the sense of leadership upon which the conception of educational leadership is based is the strong-normative sense. The ideals taken to be fundamental to a liberal democracy are: (1) equal respect for persons, (2) use of intelligence in problem solving and promoting change, (3) cooperation and pooled experience in setting values and solving problems, and (4) respect for individual rights. The ideal of the educated person is characterized in terms of the acquisition of worthwhile knowledge through means which respect rational autonomy. A conception of educational leadership compatible with these ideals is explicated and defended. Rival conceptions of educational leadership are examined. It is argued that the conception of educational leadership developed here is preferable to its rivals in that it incorporates their strengths and avoids many of their weaknesses. Leadership theory and research are examined and shown to be generally incompatible with the conception of educational leadership explicated and defended in this thesis, and with the ordinary language concept of leadership. The thesis concludes that it is probably not appropriate to make such theory and research the central component of courses which aim to foster or improve the exercise of educational leadership; rather, study of works which attempt to clarify and justify educational goals and means would seem to be more promising. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

A new idea of education is upon us and if we are to achieve a civilization based upon justice and cooperation, realization of a greater personal freedom and the accomplishment of a fuller democracy, education must pave the way. Before this goal can be fully realized, fundamental changes and adjustments must be accomplished in our social and industrial life. A new education will be one of the most potent factors in the reshaping of our national character. This education must be one that will truly equip men and women with knowledge, inspiration, and power necessary to build new institutions, and mold progressive ideas. It must be free, bound by no worn out traditions, and limited by no fixed procedure; not a reparation for life, but life itself. The individual must be trained to make adjustments to his environment and exercise self-criticism along with the power to control and govern himself. In short, the new education must be a spiritual awakening, the discovery of truth and a training in the art of living and play. We are coming to have a new view of education. Much has been said of the spirit of democracy in education, which in reality is nothing more than individual efficiency and self-control. Sometimes, we are so concerned about the results of growth, that we neglect the process of growing. We are just beginning to appreciate the fact that childhood has its own ways of thinking, seeing, and feeling.

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between selected characteristics of school board members and public school systems in Indiana and the educational progressivism of board members as measured by the attitudinal responses of board members to statements on an instrument pertaining to controversial educational practices and issues.A major theoretical perspective adopted in the study involved the notion that attitudes of school board members may be differentiated by structural and contextual characteristics related to the school systems of board members in addition to, or rather than by, background characteristics of board members.Data pertaining to the background characteristics and attitudes of board members were obtained from a two-section instrument. Section I contained items designed to elicit information pertaining to the background characteristics of board members, while Section II contained a modified version of Education Scale VII that was employed for assessing progressivist attitudes.Stratified random sampling techniques, based upon the student enrollment of Indiana school systems, were used to select a sample of 524 school board members. The 524 school board members selected for the sample were administered the two-section instrument by mail. Two mailings resulted in 302 usable instrument copies being returned.Data pertaining to the selected school system variables were obtained, except data pertaining to the variable of study council affiliation which were obtained from a doctoral dissertation, from statistical reports furnished by a Division of the Indiana Department of Public Instruction.A correlation matrix was generated from the data for analysis of the simple relationships between all combinations of the continuous independent variables and the dependent variable by pairs. The one-way analysis of variance procedure was utilized for analysis of the simple relationships between. the categorical independent variables and variables contained in the matrix.Multiple regression statistical techniques were employed for analysis of the collective contributions of the selected independent variables to the variance of the dependent variable when the variance shared by other independent variables in a set was statistically controlled. The various multiple regression computations were utilized for analysis of two null hypotheses formulated for investigation relative to the relationship between selected background and school system variables and educational progressivist attitudes. On the basis of the findings, the two null hypotheses were held as being tenable.Major conclusions, among others, derived from the findings included:1. The findings do not support the proposition, as traditionally advanced in the literature, that age related to progressivist attitudes.2. None of the six background variables included in the investigation are strong and reliable predictors of educational progressivist attitudes among Indiana school board members.3. Two of the eight school system variables included in the investigation, student enrollment and teacher training and experience index, are relatively strong indicators of educational progressivist attitudes among Indiana school board members, but only when the contributions to the variance of educational progressivist attitudes shared by the two variables and other selected school system variables are not statistically controlled.4. The attitudes Indiana school board members hold regarding practices and issues in public education are varied and complex and do not lend easily to generalization on the basis of any one single dimension related to the backgrounds or school systems of board members.