The problem of this study was the perceptions of Texas public school teachers and principals regarding recommendations for educational reform made in April, 1983, by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Purposes included determining those perceptions and investigating differences between them, differences among teachers1 perceptions, and differences among principals' perceptions relative to specific categories of recommendations and specific biographic variables. A random sample of 460 teachers and 180 principals, stratified equally among the state's twenty education regions, was selected from the population of public school teachers and principals on computer at the Texas Education Agency, Austin, Texas. The actual number of respondents included 224 teachers and 91 principals, or 49 percent and 51 percent respectively. The instrument used was an attitude scale developed by the investigator. The thirty-nine original recommendations made by the Commission were converted into 118 specific recommendations, more precise and easier to read according to a jury of experts. An. analysis of variance was calculated for hypotheses one, two, five, and six, and t values were calculated for hypotheses three and four. The study was organized into five chapters including the "Introduction," "Review of the Related Literature," "Procedures for Collection and Analysis of Data," "Analysis of Data," and "Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations." The Appendix includes a sample of the instrument used, the overall mean scores on each individual item for teachers, principals, and all respondents combined, and the total mean scores.

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship, if any, between the socioeconomic backgrounds of educators and their attitudes toward women as academic administrators, including a comparison of the attitudes of male and female educators toward women as administrators. The population consisted of all full time faculty and administrators in 25 colleges and universities holding membership in the Association for Higher Education (AHE) of North Texas during the 1984/1S85 academic year. This group of institutions consists of 10 community/junior colleges and 15 senior colleges and universities. Data generation was achieved through the administration of a research package mailed to a sample of 300 subjects selected by a proportionate random process from the defined population. The instruments consisted of a modified version of the Women As Managers Scale (WAMS) and the Hollingshead Factor Index of Social Status. Useable data from 209 respondents were subjected to multiple regression techniques. The hypothesis that socioeconomic background of educators will be positively related to attitudes toward women as academic administrators was not upheld. It was however determined that attitudes toward women as administrators are explanable by a combination of job and non-job related variables, with women having more positive attitudes than men. The findings that 1) younger subjects have more positive attitudes, 2) experience under a female superordinate, generated favorable comments, and 3) educators as a whole had a highly favorable attitude lead to the conclusion that opportunities for advancement of women into adminstrative positions are brighter than often reported. It is suspected that the legislative activities and the feminist movement of the 1960s may have had a positive influence.

The purpose of the study is to find answers to the following questions. 1. Is there a significant difference in any of the three simple pair-wise comparisons of the attitudes of the three groups of mathematics instructors of college preparatory courses toward teaching those courses? 2. Is there a significant difference in any of the three simple pair-wise comparisons of the attitudes of the three groups of mathematics instructors of college preparatory courses toward the MAA-NCTM recommendations? 3. Is there a significant correlation between the attitudes toward the MAA-NCTM recommendations and the attitudes toward teaching the college preparatory mathematics courses held by the mathematics instructors in each of the three groups? The data led to the conclusion that all three groups held the same favorable attitude toward teaching college preparatory mathematics courses. Also, there were no significant differences among the three groups' attitudes toward the MAA-NCTM recommendations. However, while no significant correlation was found for the high school instructors, there did exist a significant positive correlation between the two attitudes for each of the other two groups studied.

The purposes of the study were (1) to determine the perceptions of high school principals and special education directors toward the participation by mentally retarded (MR) and learning disabled (LD) students in extracurricular activities in small, medium, and large schools, (2) to compare the perceptions of high school principals and special education directors, (3) to determine the perceptions of high school principals and special education directors toward the mandates of Public Law 94-142 which deal with extracurricular activities, (4) to compare the perceptions of principals and special education directors in regard to those mandates, (5) to compare the perceptions of high school principals in the three school sizes, and (6) to compare the perceptions of special education directors in the three school sizes. Based on the findings of this study the following conclusions are presented. 1. It appears that working closely with the special education program may help to improve perceptions toward students and laws affecting them. 2. It appears that principals’ perceptions may be improved through a more personal relationship with and awareness of MR and LD students and the laws affecting their education. 3. Low scores in regard to Public Law 94-142 may indicate an intolerance and lack of understanding of the law or philosophical differences in regard to mandated programs. 4. Low scores by principals in particular on the law section may be due to lack of ample time available to study the law. 5. There appears to be no differences in perceptions of principals in Texas high schools regardless of school size. 6. It appears that smaller schools with fewer special education students have special education directors with more positive perceptions than the directors in other school sizes.