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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

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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.

The purpose of this study was to redefine and validate science education curricular goals for grades K-12 in the 1980s. Goals were obtained through a survey of recent educational literature. The goals were then compiled into an instrument, Science Education Curricular Goals for Validation, which was mailed to 100 science educators for validation by ranking each of the goals on a 1-7 scale (with 1 being the least important and 7 being the most important). The science educators were randomly selected from the membership of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, an organization dedicated to research in science education with a United States membership of 582 as of October 1980. The sample of 100 science educators represented 17% of the total United States membership. Medians and ranks for each of the 17 goals were calculated and the additional goals suggested by respondents, organized with minimal editing, were reported. The results of the study indicated that, although there was some agreement on the initial 17 goals in the instrument, there was also considerable disagreement as evidenced by the suggestions from respondents of 41 additional goals. The highest goal was one dealing with the processes, concepts, principles, and generalizations of sciences. The lowest ranked goal was one dealing with the integration of the humanities and the sciences. In the additional 41 goals suggested by respondents, there were several that were in direct opposition to those in the original 17 or to those additionally suggested by respondents. It was concluded that considerable further research is needed before a cohesive set of science education curricular goals can be established.

Throughout the 1970's many "accountability systems" were developed and offered as panaceas for curing the ills of education. The purpose of this study was to develop a method by which the wide variety of accountability designs could themselves be held accountable, and then to apply the methodology of these evaluation criteria to develop an accountability system that would, in fact, accomplish the basic ends of accountability and thus place the entire process of education on a deliberate basis. The design and effectiveness of accountability systems, at the application level, presuppose the rules of the more fundamental target, sequence, and relational models that provide the rules and categories for the development of all manner of accountability systems. As part of this study's investigation, the purposes and goals, objectives and activities, support conditions and evaluations of selected accountability evaluation systems were reviewed and placed into a design. The bases for the categories of accountability and the ways in which definitional types were used by those systems of accountability clearly set conditions for the performance of the accountability system. An examination of some of the accountability criteria used by evaluation designs resulted in the identification of three levels of evaluation associated with accountability. These criteria judged the ability of systems to (1) measure the data or material involved in the system, (2) provide a format or structure for collecting and classifying the information generated by the system, and (3) a statement of the mission goal or objective which provides the purposes for the system. Using these criteria as guidelines, selected literature related to accountability systems was reviewed and critiqued. The literature represented a variety of systems ranging from the use of standardized tests, to performance contracting, to the systems approach. The criteria for evaluating the systems presented in the literature were used as guiding standards for the development of a model for a comprehensive accountability system. The system developed in this study, the Parallel Pairs model, is derived from the more generic concepts developed through the use of relational models. This model permits the interrelationship of two categorical systems within the same framework. Thus, the accountability categories are capable of being interrelated with and subsumed under the categories of education. Moreover, the hierarchical structure of the model provides for placing the evaluation categories and criteria into levels. The use of the Parallel Pairs accountability model should provide a means for separating and isolating, continuing and phasing the complex variables that will emerge in the future expansion of science and technology in our daily lives. The model is based upon five evaluation types with the same system. These evaluations make it possible to evaluate individual activity accomplishments, accomplishments by categories, management of specific projects, the effective management of projects, and a comprehensive evaluation of the overall results of an educational system in a district. The accountability model proposed by this study was predicated upon the articulation and application of the criteria that produce a "good" accountability system. The foundation of this study was based upon the exploration of those model bases that give rise to the variety of accountability systems. The criteria and model presented by this investigation should contribute substantially to the understanding of models accountability and evaluation by the general public as well as to offer specialists in evaluation an in-depth perspective on the internal, technical, and methodological issues in forming an evaluation of any kind. The criteria for accountability for models of evaluation offer a clear insight into accounting for accountability and effective evaluation.