This study explores conditions that lead urban high school teachers to voluntarily participate in school-wide reform programs. The study is significant because of the leadership roles assigned to teachers by the current national and Massachusetts school reforms. Information was gathered through interviews with the teacher leaders of reform programs at three urban high schools in Eastern Massachusetts and a survey of all the teachers at the same schools. At the time of the study, each school was engaged in a reform project that incorporated recommendations from the leading national and Massachusetts reform reports. Six themes emerged from the interviews. The themes included: recognition of the social and academic needs of students; resources to meet the teachers' immediate needs as well as the needs of the reform; time for teachers to participate and time for reforms to be implemented; opportunities for teachers to collaborate; teacher in-put in defining the problems and formulating solutions; and respect for teachers' contributions. All full time teachers at three schools were asked to react to these six conditions. The teachers' responses indicate that it is the collective impact and general climate created by the six conditions that influence their decisions to participate rather than any single condition. There is no significant difference between male and female respondents. Six recommendations are offered for future reform proposals. Reforms must make allowances for the collective histories of teachers and schools; address the most immediate needs of teachers; recognize the special concerns and interests of teachers regarding curricular, pedagogical, and student policies; provide a clear vision of their goals and the essential steps to reach those goals; and connect the research on school reform with the experiential base of teachers.

The purpose of this study is to document change at an urban high school in order to analyze the impact the different variables of the school culture have on the process of change. It is, essentially, a process of effecting change at the school's unique personality level (its atmosphere, climate, culture, ethos) which provides the conditions for addressing problems at a deeper level. The study is based on the theoretical assumptions of effecting change through a process of responding to teacher and student needs to improve morale and responding to school needs to improve public perception. The process of change is reconstructed through in-depth interviews with representatives from within and from outside the school, i.e., partners in education, who were participants and observers: they represented teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, and the university partner. The data was analyzed using as a framework Fullan's three phases of the change process: (1) initiation, (2) implementation, and (3) continuation in order to determine the influences the different variables have on the process. In accordance with the literature in educational leadership, the educational leader can play a central role by creating an environment of change and empowering teachers and other members of the school community. This study corroborated those findings in the sense that the headmaster was a central person in the change process and he enabled people to promote change through power-sharing and empowerment.

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The purpose of this study was to compare the priority ratings given to evaluative criteria of four groups within the education profession--superintendents, secondary supervisors, secondary principals, and secondary teachers. The research sought to determine whether or not factors of agreement existed among the four groups of people regarding their attitudes toward important teacher characteristics. A total of fifty-two subjects from four occupational roles was used: thirteen superintendents, thirteen supervisors, thirteen principals, and thirteen teachers. The subjects were administered the Teacher Characteristics Q Sort, a ninety-item sort of adjectives. The results were factor analyzed, and four significant factors emerged. Factor A was the major factor of agreement and received significant loadings from subjects in each of the four occupational roles. This factor was characterized by such attributes as understanding, friendly, responsive, stimulating and enthusiastic. The factor corresponded significantly to Kerlinger's description of the "progressive" notion of a good teacher. The four occupational roles were also represented in Factor B. Respondents who loaded on this factor indicated concern for administrative interests. Factor B emphasized such attributes as dependability, punctuality, efficiency and cooperation. Factor C was a mixed factor combining interpersonal relations attributes with administrative concerns. Each occupational role was represented on this factor. The respondents who loaded on Factor D also indicated a mixed factor pattern. Interpersonal relations were again combined with administrative interests, although the majority of items expressed concern for interpersonal relations. Respondents who loaded on this factor also represented the four occupational roles. The fact that subjects from each occupational role clustered on the same factors suggests that there was significant agreement among the groups concerning important teacher characteristics. The conclusion drawn from the correlational analayses was that occupational role was not a differentiating factor in the determination of important teacher characteristics.

The low academic achievement among Latino students in many inner city high schools leads to higher failure, dropout, and absenteeism rates, as well as lower standardized test scores and graduation rates. The purpose of this study was to explore whether Latino parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement may be linked to this low student achievement. The theoretical framework for this study was Epstein's parental involvement model. The research questions investigated the relationship between Latino parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement and student academic achievement. Fifty-eight parents participated in a parent survey for this mixed methods study. Ten parents were interviewed to obtain the qualitative data. Based on Pearson's product-moment correlation, the survey data revealed that there were no statistically significant relationships between Latino student academic achievement and parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement. Parent interview data identified parent work schedules, the inability to communicate in English, and parents' lack of education as potential barriers to their involvement. Parent recommendations to overcome these barriers included adjusting school office hours, providing bilingual school personnel, and offering parenting classes that may make high schools more accessible for Latino parents and, by extension, may challenge school personnel to better understand and address the needs of their students' parents in an attempt to promote educational equity.

Existing problems identified in the literature on teacher retention and resilience include (a) a gap in understanding factors influencing urban teacher retention; (b) lack of clarity on multiple factors swaying teachers' decisions to remain despite challenges; (c) overlapping definitions of teacher retention, attrition, and resilience; and (d) absence of a theoretical framework for a potential relationship between retention and resilience. This embedded-case study sought to identify factors influencing effective teachers' decisions to remain in an urban setting and to examine the role of teachers' resilience, retention, and effectiveness with respect to this decision. Fourteen core-area secondary teachers, identified through criterion reference sampling by National Board Certification status and administrators' assessment of characteristics derived from studies on effective urban teaching, participated in a focus group and individual interviews and supplied archival data. Line-by-line coding and data grouping revealed that (a) passion for students, dedication to reflection, a sense of spiritual calling, and dedication to social justice influenced both retention and resilience; (b) professional development increased resilience but had little influence on the decision to remain; and (c) teacher community influenced resilience at varying levels. The findings indicate a relationship between retention and resilience, yet they are not synonymous, suggesting caution when using resilience studies to create retention models. Outcomes suggest professional development that emphasizes reflection on one's purpose and practice and the linkage of reflection, pedagogical changes, and student achievement. This study contributes to positive social change by providing insight into retention of effective urban teachers and a foundation for further research on urban teacher retention and its impact on student performance.

The problem of this study was that, with the impact of new media and delivery systems, principals and librarians must respond to copyright issues in order to remain informed about the copyright law and the legal use of media. The purpose of this study was to gather and evaluate educator response to issues related to copyright. The study was conducted with a sample of regionally accredited secondary schools in the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. A total of 1008 questionnaires were mailed to the principal and the librarian of the 504 schools of the sample. The data of the study were provided by 546 (54%) questionnaires. The first twenty items of the questionnaire provided the variables used to organize, test, and report the data. The second part of the questionnaire was a multiple choice copyright test used to determine the copyright knowledge of the respondent. The t test was used to test the mean copyright test scores of educator groups for significant differences. Groups were defined by professional position, years of experience, involvement or no involvement in job related litigation, and law class or workshop participation since the enactment of the 1976 Copyright Law. Chi-square was used to test the frequencies of reported exposure to the 1976 Copyright Law between professional groups, experience groups, and law class or workshop participation groups. Seven null hypotheses were tested at the.05 level. The mean copyright test score of the librarian group was significantly higher than the mean score of the principal group. The mean test score of the law class participation group was significantly higher than the mean test score of the non-participation group. Responses of exposure to the 1976 Copyright Law provided a five category hierarchy. There was no significant difference in the exposure reported by the principal and librarian groups. The difference of exposure reported by the law class participation group and the non-participation group was significant. Fourteen research questions, which comprised the periphery of the study, were reported. The findings of the study provided the basis for the conclusions and recommendations.