Bergmann,
S. (1989). Discipline and guidance: A thin line in the middle
school. What at-risk student say about middle level school discipline
and teaching. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary
School Principals. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 309
333)
This
study was intended to assess student perceptions of school discipline
effectiveness, teaching strategies, and school climate. Two hundred
and twenty (220) middle school students (ages 11 through 16)
in twenty middle schools responded to the survey and represented
large, urban, suburban, and rural settings. Results showed a
more positive student perception of their schools than was expected.
Also, over 50% responded favorably regarding all three areas
of the study. In one area, school climate, students indicated
the desire to have more time for socializing with their peers
and for greater opportunity to have school personnel listen to
student problems.
Adams,
J. J., & Baker, L. T. (1993). The preparation of rural school
administrators. The Rural Educationist, 13 (2), 5-9.
The
survey of superintendents and principals in North Dakota, South
Dakota, and Nebraska suggests that many administrative preparation
programs place too much emphasis on the problems of urban areas,
ignoring many of the special problems of rural districts. Although
the authors acknowledge that textbooks are unlikely to be changed,
they suggest that institutions preparing rural administrators
move to a problem-based approach with emphasis on case studies
involving rural areas.
Anderson,
V. H. (1990). The overage student: Candidate for school failure.
Oregon: Portland State University.
Anderson
examines the effects of students that are overage for their appropriate
grade level. She discusses overage as being an indicator of increased
school failure as well as being a factor in drop-out rates. (p.
4-13)
"This study adds validation to the literature which overwhelmingly fails to support
retention or other interventions which leave students overage for grade." (p.
4-5)
"One such variable is in-grade retention, a common educational strategy for dealing
with students at-risk." (p. 11)
"In-grade retentions account for the vast majority of students above the modal
age for grade." (p. 14)
"A reaffirmation of rigorous academic standards and the establishment of promotional
gates as academic safeguards have failed to benefit the academically and socially
at-risk students." (p. 39)
"Retention is also frequently cited as a variable associated with student failure." (p.
40)
"Many researchers have stated the practice flourishes in the absence of any other
interventions which may be appropriate responses when students fail to achieve." (p.
48)
Dewey,
J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan.
Dewey
generalizes on many types of experiences with an emphasis on
the rural schools. "Sound educational experiences involves, above
all, continuity and interaction between the learner and what
is learned." (p. 5)
"Everything
depends upon the quality of the experience which is had. The
central problem of an education based upon experience is to select
the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively
in subsequent experiences." (p. 17)
Barth,
R. S. (1997). Forward. In M. Fullan, What's worth fighting for
in the principalship. NY: Teachers College Press, Columbia
University.
"Schools
and school systems are unsuccessful at many things. One area
in which they excel is in promoting a culture of dependency.
'What am I suppose to do?' the superintendent must ask of the
local and state boards. Then memos go out to principals who respond,
'What am I suppose to do?' Principals, in turn, put memos in
teachers' boxes--or in their e-mail. Teachers respond, 'What
am I suppose to do?' Teachers in turn put assignments on pupils'
desks which are greeted by students with, 'What am I suppose
to do?' And so it goes. This is a pathological pattern, Michael
Fullan persuasively argues, worth fighting against." (pp. vii-viii)
