Educational Administration Quarterly

This article examines reform debates in educational administration training programs using a theoretical framework derived from Thomas Kuhn 's notion of paradigm. Most educational administration training programs in the United States are characterized as hybrid/preparadigm departments, unlikely to undertake fundamental changes. Based on an example of a collaborative school leadership preparation program, it is argued that true restructuring as called for in the American reform debates is most likely in developing or emerging settings. Based on the assumption that fundamental reconceptualization of educational administration training is necessary today, the article derives implications from the theoretical argument for means to actualize the kinds of changes depicted by reformers critical of current training.

With Clinton's election to the presidency, the neoliberal wing of the Democratic party came to power. This change has important implications for education policy. This study, based on a content analysis of neoliberal political communication, concludes that the policy values most emphasized by neoliberals are economic growth and community. Equity, with a focus on class issues, is also an important neoliberal value. An analysis of the Clinton administration's education policy in 1993 and early 1994 suggests that it generally reflects these neoliberal values. This represents a shift away from both the recent conservative emphasis on efficiency and liberty and the earlier emphasis on equality which characterized the liberalism of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Three conditions distinguish the work of school administrators from that of their colleagues in nonschool contexts: the uniquely moral character of schools; a highly educated, autonomous, and permanent workforce; and regular and unpredictable threats to organizational stability. The resultant demand environment requires school administrators to rely more extensively on leadership than routine administration to influence teachers and to negotiate the complex interplay among the five situational imperatives of school administration: moral, instructional, political, managerial, and social! interpersonal role demands.

Interviews were conducted with 26 classroom teachers from five school districts to investigate their beliefs and attitudes about implementing integrated special education services for students with moderate and severe disabilities. These teachers' views toward integration focused on four aspects of the change: its purpose, the clarity of its implementation methods, the effort it would require of teachers, and its rewards. The ways teachers' beliefs and attitudes affected the manner in which the change was implemented and the way those beliefs and attitudes were altered through experience are described. Steps administrators could take to ensure that this complex change is broadened and sustained are discussed.

This article briefly describes research on learning and teaching and discusses its implications for the field of educational administration. The author argues that the field of educational administration should pay more attention to issues of learning and teaching in its programs of teaching and research, and he discusses some promising directions for the reform of these endeavors based on recent cognitive approaches to the study of learning and teaching.