Few studies exist dealing with the career development of women to senior academic officers positions in higher education. As more women pursue these senior level administrative careers, there arises a need to better understand how they develop them. What is this phenomenon of career development? How do women develop careers in hierarchical organizations? How do traditional gender-roles influence career choice? The review of the literature comprises three sections: an exploration of the literature on the organizational structure of higher education and the career paths taken to senior academic administrative positions; an examination of the career development literature; and a review of the literature on the influence of role models and mentors on occupational choice. The methodology for this study was Naturalistic Inquiry. In Naturalistic Inquiry, a priori theory is used as guiding theory to help the researcher generate questions and search for patterns. To gain an understanding of the career development of the women chosen for this study, research questions focused on above questions. Six women participated in in-depth interviews. The analyses and synthesis of the data into assertions is presented in case studies. Many common themes as well as differences emerged from the data. These women labored to gain a depth of knowledge and breadth of experience in higher education administration. Much of their inclination to hard work was grounded in their desire to serve; they are committed to community college education. The dominant culture which places women in the private domain and men in the public domain significantly influenced the career lives of some of these women. Mentors were key to helping these achievers gain self-confidence and choose a path up the academic administrative career ladder. Finding the right fit, and positioning oneself were instrumental to developing a career in a hierarchical institution. Finally, obtaining the doctorate, while simultaneously growing intellectually and professionally, was also key to success. This study increases our knowledge on women's career development in the community colleges. Not every woman who pursues a career as a senior academic officer will act as these women. However, what we have learned can be applied to similar contexts.

The silence and invisibility of gay and lesbian educators has perpetuated the oppression of heterosexism in our schools. Some affected areas are educational policy, curriculum, and the school environment itself. Gay and lesbian students and educators are at risk in most schools because safe working and learning environments do not always exist for those who are not heterosexual. In 1992, Massachusetts Governor William Weld created the nation's first Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth to investigate the epidemic of suicides by gay and lesbian adolescents. School environments, with regard to homophobia, were outlined. Students and teachers testified of verbal and physical abuse of gay and lesbian students. The Safe Schools Program was created to address these issues and to promote safe and supportive school environments to assist gay and lesbian students in realizing their full learning potential. Through in-depth interviewing, data was gathered from "explicitly out" (Griffin, 1992) gay and lesbian educators who work at Massachusetts schools participating in the Safe Schools Program. From the interview data, portraits of each participant were shaped and common themes identified, to answer the question, "What is it like to be a gay or lesbian educator working in a Massachusetts school participating in the Safe Schools Program?" Data was viewed through the lenses of oppression theory, heterosexism and identity theory. Participants stated their negative experiences were tied to homophobia, mostly internalized, which paralleled past studies. Their positive experiences were related to being "out." They described reaching a level of self-acceptance to be "out" at school and in their daily lives. For the participants, working in the Safe Schools Program was a positive experience. For the schools they work in, there has been forward motion toward a safer environment. Gay and lesbian educators make the Safe Schools Program a success and the Safe Schools Program gives them the social and legal permission to do the work. Future research could study experiences of gay or lesbian educators who are closeted and work in participating schools, who are "publicly out" (Griffin, 1992) and working in Safe Schools Programs, or who reside in other states.

The problem explored in this study is that African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students have a tendency to experience much lower levels of academic success in United States public schools than do European American and Asian American students. With such a problem defined, the purpose of the study becomes clear; to facilitate increased academic success of African American, Hispanic American, Native American, and other minority youth not experiencing academic success. The problem is shown to be pervasive by examining indicators of academic success and ethnic group membership on both the national level and on the level of the researcher's data from some of his teaching experiences in multicultural classrooms (N = 39) and from surveying experienced ESL teachers in a MAT program (N = 23). A survey was also given to middle and high school teacher interns being trained at a major U.S. university (N = 62). It was found that although these interns were well aware of how ethnic differentials in academic success were manifest in the U.S., they had little factual knowledge as to why these differentials exist and are a serious problem in need of speedy solutions. Hence, this study proposes that one way to facilitate minority academic success is to educate future teachers about the true reasons for ethnic differentials in academic success and about why these differentials are indeed a serious problems. Also generated from the teacher intern survey were data identifying some proposed teacher, school administrative, and teacher training program initiatives that were seen by the teacher interns as being potentially highly effective in facilitating the academic success of minority youth. The study concludes with suggestions for teacher, curriculum, school administrator, and teacher training program initiatives to facilitate increased academic success of African American, Hispanic American, and Native American youth, mainly by reducing the need to adopt alternation models of behavior in order to do well in school. It is proposed that such a goal can be accomplished through the inclusion of minority cultures and knowledge in the curricula, pedagogy, evaluation, and governing of schools.

The geographic landscape of this study is the Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic, also known by its French name Laos. Located in Southeast Asia, the Lao PDR is one of the six remaining socialist countries in the world. During my fieldwork in the Lao PDR, I facilitated a process of action research with a group of Lao INGO workers. I used qualitative research methods to capture the perceptions of the Lao development workers who collaborated with this study. This dissertation is primarily based on the data documented through interviews, participant observation, focus group discussion and reflective story writing. The core educational problem is to examine the historical reasons for the modest educational infrastructure in the Lao PDR and its impact on the growth of the development sector. The other related issues I explored include the limitations of mainstream development and educational models as well as the opportunities emerging as a result of the country's integration with the globalization process. Within the backdrop of the problem mentioned, the main purpose of this study is to explore an alternative strategy that has potential to facilitate the growth of local human resource capacity. The rationale for this exploratory endeavor is to generate functional knowledge that will potentially assist the policy makers and practitioners to develop an appropriate approach for the local human resource capacity building process. The research method I adapted in the field was a combination of action research and phenomenological inquiry. The key question that I pursued was “What is the process of collaborative capacity building that includes an alternative educational approach and model which have the potential to help Lao INGO staff to increase their capacity as development workers and, in the longer term, develop skills for self-management?”. I employed four techniques of data collection, which included interviewing 26 individuals, documenting action research process through the participant observation method, assisting Lao INGO staff to write reflective stories and conducting three focus group discussions. During the data analysis stage, I tried to incorporate the voices of the participants of the action research project to allow them constructing their way of knowing.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze principal behaviors and leadership characteristics that positively influence the organizational coherence and capacity of schools and subsequently, positively influence student achievement. This was achieved through the use of an in-depth, exploratory multi-case study design that examined the leadership of two principals of urban elementary schools who had led their schools from being underperforming to performing. The two findings of this study are that 1) instructional leaders engage in work that either directly or indirectly: focuses on learning for students and adults; communicates high expectations for student achievement and instruction; uses data to inform the work of the school, and develops a community that is unified around one vision and one mission for the school; and 2) the actions of principals that demonstrate the leadership traits of being carried by strong professional will and being personally humble and modest influence the level of effectiveness of the work of the principal in positively influencing student achievement. The findings of this study were the result of analysis of data that was gathered through a review of relevant documents, interviews with principals and teachers, and the identification and observation of artifacts that were identified through the interview as being the most important to improving student achievement. Based on these findings, the following conclusions were made: the construct of instructional leadership is defined by two elements—the work of the principal and the leadership of the principal. The principal's influence in each of the elements of the work of the principal may be direct or indirect. The leadership traits of principals who are instructional leaders are defined as carried by strong professional will and being personally humble and modest. These leadership traits are not necessarily balanced—one may be stronger than the other—but they are necessary for the development of shared ownership of outcomes on the part of teachers. The findings of this study provide clarity. Instructional leadership is not a one size fits all idea whose existence is linked to a single measure of student achievement but is instead a framework to be implemented and defined in practice by individual principals based upon their personal strengths and the needs of their schools.

This study examined graduate experiences among Black, female, doctoral students and degree completers, and how they perceived the effect of individual and institutional factors in relation to their persistence at a predominantly White institution. Research indicates that graduate students are not typically leaving because of academic failure (Baird, 1993; Moody, 2004; Nerad & Miller, 1996). Instead, a combination of individual and institutional factors best explain causes of attrition among graduate students in general and among Black, female, graduate students at predominantly White campuses in particular (Hinton-Johnson, 2003; Lovitts, 2001). The theoretical framework of this study was drawn from Vincent Tinto's (1987) Model of Institutional Departure, Rendon, Jalomo, and Nora's (2000) conceptual framework on minority student retention and Black Feminist Epistemology (P. H. Collins, 2000). The research methodology focused on the analysis of qualitative data gained from direct interviews and a focus group to determine common themes (factors). Data were collected from four Black, female, doctoral students and four degree completers from one major research university. The results of this study will extend the limited literature on the persistence of Black, female, doctoral students at predominantly White institutions of higher education.

This study seeks to understand the effects of HIV/AIDS on the education sector in Malawi, Africa and to assess its capacity to be an effective safeguard against the spread of HIV/AIDS. The study fills in gaps in the literature by analyzing the perspectives of educators at six levels of the hierarchy—from schools to the Ministry of Education—and assessing their professional, as opposed to personal, HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). This study benefits international education and health specialists in the preparation and implementation of HIV/AIDS strategies. The study utilizes a sequential, mixed-methods design in which qualitative data were obtained from 31 participants through interviews and focus group discussions and quantitative data were obtained from 207 respondents through a survey. The data were collected from representatives of the six levels of the hierarchy: teachers, head teachers, zonal advisors, district managers, division officers, and Ministry personnel. Teachers and head teachers represented 32 primary and secondary schools divided between one rural and one urban district in the southern region of Malawi. Descriptive statistics and cross tabulations were used to analyze the data. The study shows that Malawi's education system is weak, with HIV/AIDS greatly affecting supply, quality, and psycho-social well being. To a lesser degree, demand and management are affected. The effects are strongly felt at all levels of the hierarchy. It was found that the sector is weakened through sickness and death, difficulty of replacing deceased teachers, the enormous financial burden of paying for educators' funerals and lengthy sick leave, and depression. Education personnel—especially those at the school level—are knowledgeable, have positive attitudes about their capabilities, and demonstrate a strong desire to provide teaching and counseling services to their students. Although HIV/AIDS has severely weakened the education sector, the self-reported high levels of confidence amongst Malawi's educators could enable them to take positive steps to change their own behavior and to influence behavior change in others, thus allowing them to play the role of "doctor" to help cure the rest of society of the ills of HIV/AIDS.

No description available.

This study presents information from in-depth interviews with seven African-American female administrators of public schools in New England. Their experiences and socially constructed meanings for their lives and work provide both personal and organizational insights into creative and sustaining leadership roles for minority women. Participants were interviewed in homes and offices. They are well-educated, have traveled, live in middle class sections of the cities or towns, and engaged in social, educational, charitable, and spiritual activities in their communities. Interviews took place from November 1986 through February 1987, spaced three days apart for each participant. The audio tapes were listened to, transcribed, and examined. Interviews concentrated on historical experiences, factors which influenced the participants to enter the field of education, and the meaning of work. These interviews gave voice to an often ignored segment of school leadership, especially in New England. Several common themes and patterns emerged in this study: (1) historical; (2) oppression, discrimination, and racism; (3) determination and stamina; and (4) pride and self-esteem. The participants spoke of obstacles and biases, as well as their own pride and self respect. They described the importance of strong family support and high expectations from family, teachers, and friends. They cited positive role models and early educational experiences that encouraged and inspired them. Despite the oppression, discrimination, racism, and sexism they encountered, these women maintained determination and positive self-esteem. They also acknowledged the importance of mentors, networks, and collegial support systems in sustaining them throughout their careers as administrators in public education. The study concluded with recommendations (1) for African-American women employed in public school administration in New England, (2) for researchers, and (3) for schools of education and inservice programs of public school systems.

Dropout rates are of increasing concern because of issues of equity, the social and economic consequences of dropping out, and changing demographics which are bringing increasing numbers of poor, immigrant and minority students into our schools. A growing body of research suggests that schools, as currently structured, do not address the needs of today's students. Alternative programs have had little if any impact in changing the institutions that cause the students they serve to become at risk. Systemic school changes are needed to create learning environments that meet the developmental needs of all students. The seventh and eighth grade restructuring efforts of the Cambridge Public Schools were examined in three schools--representing first, second and third tier schools in the implementation phase. Students, staff and parents were surveyed in each school; oral interviews were conducted; team meetings were observed; and materials were reviewed. The study documents the impact of a systemic change effort, and to determine enhancing and impeding factors to change. Data indicated that substantial activities have been implemented in all three schools, with positive impacts around teaming, student support, school climate, and bilingual and special education integration. There was a varying degree of implementation and integration between schools, reflecting differing amounts of staff development and common planning time each school received. The project had lesser impact in addressing more complex areas of middle grades reform--that of changing how and what we teach; of exploring strategies to raise the achievement and self-esteem of minority students; of transitioning to shared governance; and of increasing parental involvement. Enhancing factors of change included a commitment by central office administration to the change process; creating a shared governance body at the district level; increasing collaboration with community institutions; giving teacher teams common planning time; and empowering key school staff to act as change agents. Impeding factors included the lack of a written mission statement and school plans, adequate orientation and planning time for third tier schools, a staff development plan, and training for key administrators. The study confirms, though, that a systemic school change approach can significantly improve middle grades education.