(1995). Constructing a Feminist-Inclusive Theory of Leadership. There are some who argue that the existing theoretical paradigm used in leadership training programs should be modified to include the feminist perspective. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated male and female perceptions of effective leadership skills. Indepth interviews were conducted with 120 executives–60 men and 60 women. Half of the male and female respondents were leaders from business and government; the other half was comprised of educational leaders. Both male and female respondents perceived women as giving more attention than men to detail; men were seen by both genders as delegating detail to others. Both genders perceived men as relying on their past experiences to solve problems; women were viewed as more emotional than men and apt to seek input from others. Both men and women perceived male leaders' authority to be automatic and based on gender; women's authority was viewed as being earned over time and through hard work. The majority of… [PDF]
(1996). Moving Mountains: Reform, Resistance and Resiliency in an Appalachian Kentucky High School. This dissertation, which won the Dissertation of the Year Award, examines how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform. Set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this ethnographic study describes the challenges of effectively coupling top-down state mandates with bottom-up advocacy and engagement. Prominent in the local response to KERA was resistance to state-mandated policies. Resistance fueled state threats of punitive action to encourage compliance with standardized goals, but paradoxically, these threats engendered greater resiliency among stakeholders to make the high school reflect local priorities and ways of working together. Drawing on over a year of participant observation at "Central High School" and extensive interviews in the school and community, the research examines six interwoven themes that are critical for understanding local paradigms and paradoxes:… [PDF]
(1993). The Freshman Seminar: Developmental Reading-Writing Students Evaluate Goals Set by Administration, Faculty, and Prior Students. At the end of the fifth year of a successful, ever expanding freshman seminar program, students in selected sections of the course, who were also enrolled in developmental reading/writing, were asked to evaluate the worthiness of the goals in terms of their own freshman year experience. The fifth year was a new pilot year for the program. Some sections of the freshman seminar were integrated with writing courses. The two sections of students, members of the class of 1995, evaluated the goals as part of a final writing assignment, knowing that what they wrote would be used to help plan the course for next year's freshmen. Students evaluated goals set by prior students, administration, and the faculty member of the course. Results indicated that: (1) students' goals for the course remained stable over time, but there was a new priority of 9 of the 10 goals compared to the goals for the 1991-1992 course; (2) students supported the administration's goals and had little difficulty… [PDF]
(1990). Kw'atindee Bino Community Teacher Education Program: Program Outline 1990-1992. The Kw'atindee Bino Community Teacher Education Program provides field-based teacher training for Dogrib paraprofessionals who presently work in northern Canadian schools in program support positions, but who are unable to leave their home community to attend a traditional college program. The program addresses the failure of the current public school system which is staffed by white, transient, urban teachers who do not know the Dene culture (Dogrib is a tribe of the Dene Indian nation). The program emphasizes: (1) the school's responsibility to address social problems; (2) partnerships between parents and teachers; (3) meeting the individual needs of the learner; (4) the holistic nature of learning, which mirrors Dogrib teachings; (5) the integration of theory and practice through a field-based program; and (6) that interns are equal partners with instructors in the teaching and learning process. The program consists of coursework undertaken in three major content areas over a…
(1983). Helping Behavior: Effects of Stress and Commonality of Fate on Females. Research has suggested that people not sharing a common fate lack a sense of group identity, thus decreasing the tendency for helping behavior. To study the effects of stress and commonality of fate on helping behavior, 60 female college students participated in a replication of an earlier study which used male subjects. Participants were assigned to one of four conditions: (1) high stress/common fate (both subject and confederate were told they would be participating in a shock experiment); (2) high stress/dissimilar fate (subject and confederate were told they would be participating in a shock experiment or a word association experiment, respectively); (3) low stress/common fate (both subject and confederate were told they would be participating in a word association experiment); and (4) low stress/dissimilar fate (subject and confederate were told they would be participating in a word association experiment or a shock experiment, respectively). While filling out a participation…
(1989). Studies of Special Education Administrative Involvement in Computer Implementation. Final Report–Phase I. The study reported in this document examined how special education administrators and staff in 100 school districts were involved in the adoption of new educational technology. The sample was drawn from the known population list of operating school districts from the Common Core of Data of the National Center for Educational Statistics. Selection procedures were designed to ensure coverage for the widest distribution of the population elements in the sample. Two survey forms were developed, one for special education administrators and the other for computer coordinators and special education teachers. Respondents included 100 administrators, 93 special education teachers, and 89 computer coordinators. Findings showed that administrative involvement in the decision making processes related to computers is high. Involvement in committee processes was reported by over half of the administrators; about two-thirds reported working with other administrators at the district level and half… [PDF]
(1985). Intermunicipal Cooperation: A Survey of Local Governments. A Rural Resources Special Focus Report. Local governments in rural areas of New York State, as in many other states, are struggling to keep up with the demands of a changing society and an increasing rural population. Relative poverty, increasing costs of essential community services, frequent turnover of elected and appointed officials, insufficient training, geographic isolation, and lack of timely information and legal advice are all problems for rural local governments. One answer is intermunicipal agreements that allow participating governments to provide services through joint funding and administration. This document reports on results of a survey conducted by the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources of over 1,000 municipalities in New York State on the subject of intermunicipal cooperation. Responses were received from 100 towns, 57 villages, 12 cities, 5 counties and 2 unknown places (municipal names were missing). The report also discusses the legality of intermunicipal agreements in New York State. Such… [PDF]
(1989). Analysis of Poverty in 1987. Census data on poverty in 1987 indicate that the economic recovery has been uneven, with the poor sharing less fully in the gains than in prior recoveries. Despite a drop in the national unemployment rate from 7 percent in 1986 to 6.2 percent in 1987, the poverty rate of 13.5 percent has remained essentially unchanged. Although 1987 represented the fifth year of economic recovery, the poverty rate was higher than in any year in the 1970s, higher even than during the major recession of 1974 and 1975. Although the unemployment rate was about the same in 1987 as in 1978, poverty rates were substantially higher in 1987 than in 1978, when the rate was 11.4 percent. The data are especially disturbing for blacks, whose poverty rate rose significantly in 1987 to 33.1 percent, and for young black children, whose poverty rate rose to 49 percent. The income gap between rich and poor families reached its widest point in 40 years. In addition, the average poor family fell further below the… [PDF]
(1977). The Implementation of the East Shore Career Education Center. Final Report. Implementation activities for a one-year period are reported for the East Shore Career Education Center (ESCEC), designed to implement a continuous career education program for grades K-12 in the communities of Branford, North Branford, East Haven, and Guilford (Connecticut). Goals and objectives of the project included the following: to provide a career resources center as the focal point of career activities; to assist elementary and middle-school teachers in infusing career education concepts, techniques, and activities into the existing curriculums; to provide career awareness and exploratory activities for middle-school students; to provide career exploratory activities and experiences for high school students; to provide shared career preparation activities (vocational training) supplemental to existing programs based on sharing local facilities and resources; and to plan and develop K-12 career education programs and services for special needs (handicapped) students. Specific…
(1977). University Reform in Quebec: The Strike at Laval 1976. Yale Higher Education Research Group Working Paper. Quebec colleges remained firmly entrenched in the pure classicism of prerevolutionary France until well into the twentieth century. Formal Roman Catholic Church control of Laval University, a Jesuit university, ceased in 1965 at a time when the institution and its administration were expanding greatly, and the faculty quickly began to resent the rule of bureaucrats over their affairs. Major changes had already been set in motion by the 1963 royal commission of inquiry into education in the province. Access to education was democratized, faculty was expanded, and budgetary economies and accountability were imposed. One result was the lowering of Laval's previously high faculty salaries. Unionization occurred, but in a haphazard fashion. There were several faculty concerns at Laval: the absence of collegial governance, the extremely precarious position of untenured faculty, and the lack of a fixed salary scale. A faculty union was established in early 1975 at Laval, but collective… [PDF]
(1997). Employer-Assisted Dependent Care in Texas: A Report. By offering benefits that assist workers in attaining a better balance between work and family, employers can improve the quality of work produced for their companies and the quality of life for employees. This report discusses the benefits of dependent care programs, describes the process involved in selecting appropriate programs, and discusses common concerns and issues. Also discussed are demographic trends influencing the growing conflict as employees try to juggle work and family concerns. The report concludes with the findings of an independent survey study on the state of employer-assisted dependent care in Texas and a comparison of Texas with the rest of the country. Out of 6,500 employers surveyed, 1,331 employers returned a mailed survey (22.6 percent response rate). The findings indicated that firms were more likely to provide informational dependent care benefits than they were to offer direct service or direct financial subsidies for care. Flexible work arrangements…
(2000). The FE College and Its Communities. This book reports findings of research to explore the changing relationships between British further education (FE) colleges and the communities they serve. Chapter 1 outlines changes in FE over the past 10 years to provide a context. It deconstructs and conceptualizes the term "community" within the context of this project, and explores communities' incomplete, outdated views of FE. Chapter 2 examines why both 16-19 year-olds and adults choose to study at FE colleges. Motivations identified include: positive experiences of family members; word-of-mouth from friends or colleagues; adults' desire to advance in the workplace or to change careers, and young people's avoidance of a boring job. Chapter 3 contains students' reflections on their experiences with FE, and reports that adults were daunted and nervous at the start, not knowing what to expect. Many were critical of induction programs. There was a mismatch between employers' expectations and those of lecturers… [PDF]
(1999). Reflections on the Study of Adult Learning. NALL Working Paper. A common pattern in all studies of adult learning is that informal learning seems to be a very normal, very natural human activity. A 30-year old study and the 1998 Livingstone study show parallel findings. One of the most important findings is that about 90 percent of people had done some sort of intentional learning in the last year. The 10 percent who had not are content with their situation. Other findings are that people are learning a whole range of things; about 20 percent of all major learning efforts are institutionally organized, while the other 80 percent are informal; and informal learning is a very social phenomenon. In the 1977 Penland survey, the four top reasons for preferring to learn on one's own are a desire to set one's own learning pace, to use one's own learning style, to keep the learning strategy flexible and easy to change, and to put one's own structure on the learning project. The three reasons cited least are dislike of a formal classroom situation with a… [PDF]
(2001). Report on the American Workforce, 2001. This volume traces broad outlines of the economy in the 20th century, its impact on the American worker, and evolution of statistical tools needed by policymakers, workers, employers, and researchers in a new century. An introductory essay (Donald M. Fisk) outlines the economic, technological, social, and business developments of the 20th century. Chapter 1 (N. Clyde Tucker, et al.) describes the evolution of collection of data on minorities, including a history of immigration to this country, early efforts to collect data on minorities through the decennial census, changes made to the Current Population Survey to help monitor the status of minorities in the labor force, the current labor force situation of minority workers, and current efforts to meet demands for better data on minorities. Chapter 2 (Thomas Moerhle, et al.) chronicles evolution of compensation practices in the 20th century and continuing efforts to capture them in useful statistical data. It discusses how variable… [PDF]
(1998). Coming Together: Collaboration as a Tool for Change. This booklet provides technical assistance for those interested in the collaboration process for early childhood programs and is based on the experiences of Collaborative Partnerships in Florida. Section 1 of the document describes the collaborative grant process in Florida with the goal of improving early childhood services and outlines eight key components of collaboration: (1) formalized partnership agreements; (2) collaborative staff development; (3) simplified system of entry; (4) outreach initiatives to increase family access to comprehensive services; (5) sharing of funding sources; (6) effective transitions; (7) inclusion of children with disabilities; and (8) use of validated information to enhance quality. Part 2 of the booklet presents a rationale for the collaboration process and discusses benefits and difficulties of collaboration. Part 3 examines the five factors critical to program success: the interagency council role, the partnership coordinator, quality,… [PDF]