Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the current practices and perceptions of public high school principals in California with regard to school assemblies. It also investigated the relationship between each school's frequency of assemblies and the variables: school enrollment, dropout rate, minority enrollment, and school performance. Procedure. Principals of all public comprehensive high schools in California with a student enrollment of 1,100 or greater were surveyed by mail. Data collected were statistically analyzed to yield frequency, rank, means, and standard deviation. The variables were analyzed by a Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Findings. Analysis of the data indicates that students in California public high schools, as reported by 88.3% of the respondents, are interested or enthusiastic about school assemblies. According to the respondents, an average of four assemblies per year and one pep/sports rally per month were held. Principals indicated that building school unity/enhancing student and faculty relationships was ranked first among the purposes of the assembly program, and the greatest benefits of school assemblies were to provide student recognition, build relationships, increase multicultural appreciation, and develop good audience behavior. The lack of money, time, and assembly facilities was reported to be the greatest obstacles in presenting assemblies. Principals confirmed that there has been a trend towards fewer assemblies. Conclusions and recommendations. School assemblies are a valuable administrative tool for promoting school unity, recognizing students, and extending classroom learning. The obstacles of time, assembly funding, and inadequate assembly facilities can be overcome with skillful planning and by the utilization of resources within the school and community. School assembly development should be an integral part of teacher and administrator training at the universities and in the school districts. Recommendations for future research include: development of a school assembly model for implementation, organization, presentation, and evaluation of a yearlong school assembly program; a comparison study between schools that have well-designed assembly programs and schools that do not; the replication of this study for elementary and middle schools; a similar survey of students' and teachers' perceptions of school assemblies.

The perceptions of college and university program directors and practicing administrators regarding the university field experience requirement for the Professional California Administrative Services Credential were investigated. The study included the perception of the needs, roles, responsibilities, and dilemmas of the professional administrative services program supervisors and the credential candidates. The results indicate that both groups perceive field experience at the professional level of the credential process to be beneficial. It was determined that collaboration between the university, the school district, and credential candidate was essential to an effective program and that the most beneficial field experiences are those which allow flexible direct "hands on" projects for the candidate. The most significant barriers to effective programs were the amount of time required to complete the field experience and the attitude of the credential candidate toward the two-tier California credentialing requirement. The findings support the continuation of a flexible, collaborative individually designed field experience requirement with the option of professional development activities to substitute for part of the field experience unit requirement.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine what reciprocal relationships existed among three core themes (the school culture, the principal's leadership, and the school innovations) and how they contributed to the systemic nature of seven Northern California model continuation high schools. It examined the complex influential forces of key interventions, paradoxes, and relationships that were conducive to the creation of effective learning systems for at-risk students. The study's conceptual framework, created by the researcher, investigated a triad of reciprocal relationships. Various scholarly works influenced the development of the researcher's focus. Among them were Thomas Sergiovanni's (1992) "head, heart, and hand" premise for moral leadership, Peter Senge's (1990) principles for creating learning organizations, and Howard Gardner's (1993) multidisciplinary investigation on creativity. Also influential in the development of the researcher's Triad of Reciprocal Relationships Model was the literature on change leadership and the "new science" principles used to understand and describe natural phenomenon. The naturalistic inquiry method was selected because it is considered more amenable to the multitude of diverse realities found within complex systems. Six major research questions were examined concerning the three reciprocal relationships. The data gathering tools utilized were: (a) a structured interview with the principal, (b) a staff questionnaire, (c) an observation of the school environment, and (d) various available school documents. The seven model continuation high schools developed systems that emphasized autonomy and empowerment of staff and students, focused on building relationships to enhance student participation in their education and welfare, provided students with opportunities for academic and social growth within a safe, structured, and nurturing environment, and had fluid and collaborative communication systems. Process took precedence over content in their learning interactions. The schools' successes and imperfections, contributed new perspectives on how educational systems, at any scale, may create necessary and effective beliefs, structures, and processes for student success.

The purpose of this study was to examine self-disclosure, self-esteem, and solidarity in the mentoring relationship and the subsequent impact on academic achievement regarding African and Hispanic American college students. The Faculty Mentor Program is a component to meeting the challenge of improving retention and graduation rates for African and Hispanic Americans at California State universities. There were 287 subjects of which 83 responded to the survey. The subjects were members of a Faculty Mentor Program at a California State University. The survey consisted of the Wheeless Solidarity Scale, the Wheeless Five-Factor Disclosiveness/Disclosure Scales, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories (Adult form). The hypotheses stated that there is a significant positive relationship between the amount of interpersonal contact and the protege's self-disclosure; between self-disclosure and self-esteem; between self-disclosure and solidarity; between protege solidarity and protege self-esteem; among the variables self-disclosure, self-esteem, solidarity, amount of contact, and academic achievement; between the amount of time the protege has been in the Faculty Mentor Program and level of academic achievement. Statistical procedures used for analyzing data were analysis of variance, content analysis, multiple regression, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, summary-comparison analysis, and t-test. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation disclosed a significant positive relationship between self-disclosure and solidarity and no statistical positive relationship for self-disclosure and self-esteem, solidarity, and self-esteem, and grade point average and time with the mentor program. A multiple regression revealed a statistical significance between self-esteem and grade point average. A summary comparison analysis disclosed that the proteges found the mentor relationship helpful and the program to be helpful.

Often it is the case unified school districts do not have optimum internal communications. "'Today school personnel, including administrator, often 'confound' their own language by failing to communicate adequately and effectively or by communicating unintentionally in a manner that is detrimental to them and the schools with which they are associated." Each district has its own unique instruments and channels by which internal communications take place. Knezevich states~, "Communications is one of the least understood areas in administration." This study provides information about successful communication techniques and presents a viable model that should have positive practical implications for unified school districts. NOTE: Both physical copies of the manuscript held in the University of the Pacific library were missing page 87.

There was a need to determine if there was any evidence that people in official music leadership positions in school districts had performed a service which had demonstrated effects on various elements of the music program. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not school districts WITH music leaders, as compared to those districts WITHOUT music leaders, have more (1) music students, (2) music classes and performance group opportunities, (3) music staff and development opportunities, (4) adequate financial support and adequate inventories for music, and (5) goal orientation in music. Also, the study was to determine if students, teachers, administrators, and parents in districts WITH music leadership had more positive attitudes toward school music. A review of the literature was conducted to locate studies relevant to the effects of music leadership. Historical background to educational supervision and music leadership was reviewed along with trends in music education. One hundred one out of 136 school districts responded to the survey which was designed to collect information concerning music programs. There were 36 districts WITH and 65 WITHOUT music leaders. An opinionnaire was submitted to gather data for analyzing opinions of students, teachers, administrators, and parents concerning their music program. The 705 responses represented twenty school districts. The instruments were field tested and were deemed reliable and valid. Cross validation and randomization was used in order to allow for generalizations. Comparisons were made between districts WITH and WITHOUT music leadership. The data were tested to determine differences between the two district types. Districts WITH music leadership were found to have significantly (1) more students involved in music, (2) more music performance group opportunities, (3) more staff development opportunities and more outside help, (4) more adequate musical instrument inventories, and (5) more goal orientation. Respondents to the opinionnaire in WITH districts had more favorable attitudes concerning their school district music programs. There were no differences in per capita expenses or student/staff ratios. The study indicated that WITH districts displayed more expansive music opportunities. Causation was not determined. The data suggested that music leadership was a useful factor in the education of children. These findings have not been associated with higher per capita expenses or student/staff ratios. School districts might benefit from utilization of music leaders. Studies are needed (1) to isolate factors of causation per the above findings; (2) to determine more effective roles and methods of music administration; and (3) to give more in-depth analysis to various parts of music programs which might be affected by music leadership.

Problem. There has been no definite conclusions in the literature as to the benefit or harm of retaining students in grade. With the California Legislative Mandate of SB 813, school districts are now required to have policies in effect for the promotion or nonpromotion of students. This study reviewed retention characteristics currently used in retention policy, those mentioned in literature, and the perceptions of administrators and teachers as to the value of these characteristics in retention. A model retention policy was developed from the study. Purpose. The purpose of the study was to determine if there were differences between teachers and administrators regarding their perceptions of the importance of specific characteristics used in retention policy. Based on the available research, a model policy that suggests guidelines for determining the retention of a student in grade was developed. Procedure. Questionnaires were sent to 93 California school districts. Ninety-three administrators and 372 teachers were surveyed. Three hundred and five questionnaires were returned. The survey results were analyzed to compare administrator and teacher responses to the importance of retention characteristics. Comparisons were also made between urban, rural and suburban school districts. The Chi Square statistics were used for all comparisons with the .05 level of confidence chosen for all inferential tests. Findings. Administrators and teachers consistently agreed on the five most common reasons that should be considered in a retention policy. These were academic achievement, teacher evaluation of student progress, emotional maturity, previous retention and parental support to the recommendation for retention. Overall, there was no significant difference between teachers and administrators in their perceptions of the importance of individual retention characteristics. The items that had significant differences were low importance items. There was no significant difference between teachers and administrators by districts. Recommendations. This study should be replicated since many teachers did not indicate their grade levels on the questionnaires. A study should be made to help classify educational terms such as academic achievement and emotional maturity. Long term studies should be done to follow up students who have been retained to determine if the retention was beneficial. A study should be done to better determine the entry age of students and the effect entry age has on retentions.

The problem was to determine the status of computer-related elective courses in public secondary schools in Tennessee. A descriptive research design was used for this study. A search was made to locate public secondary schools which housed grade twelve and whose curricula were in keeping with State requirements for a diploma. A search of Preliminary Reports was made of identified schools to determine those which offered a computer-related elective course. A questionnaire was sent to teachers of computer-related course electives. The data were examined and presented in narrative form with the use of appropriate tables. The following findings emerged: (1) There were 306 schools in Tennessee in 1979-80 which housed grade twelve and whose curriculum was reflective of State diploma requirements. Twenty-four of these schools (8 percent) offered one or more computer courses. There were twenty-one computer math courses and six computer programming courses. There were thirty-two total class sections of computer-related courses. (2) There were 568 students enrolled in computer-related courses for the first semester of the 1979-80 school year. The average school enrollment was 1254 and the average student-teacher ratio was 1:19.5. The teacher-student ratio in computer-related classes was 1:17.5. (3) There were twenty-seven certified persons teaching computer courses in 1979-80. One held a specialist degree, two held master's plus forty-five hours, fourteen held master's and ten held bachelor's degrees. Twenty-four were endorsed in math, two in science and one in business. Twenty of the twenty-seven held multiple endorsements. (4) The majority of schools awarded both a minimum and a maximum of one-half unit of credit with a range of one-half to two. (5) Computers and terminals were available for student use in computer courses and were primarily housed in the classroom where the course was taught. (6) Software was produced primarily by staff and/or students. (7) No decreases were reported for the 1980-81 offerings of computer-related courses. Increases were reported by less than 25 percent of the respondents in the study. (8) Objectives of computer-related courses were "awareness" and "introductory" in nature. Simple programming was included in schools which offered more than one-half Carnegie unit credit as maximum. (9) In comparison with information gained from opinion survey to forty-nine State Departments of Education, Tennessee ranks in the lower 18 percent of states where less than 10 percent of the secondary schools offer one or more computer-related courses.

No description available.

No description available.