The future role of the school administrator

The paper suggests that there is currently a good deal of uncertainty over the role of the principal, which is frequently described as one of educational leadership. This notion seems obsolete. Currently, there are pressures on principals to substantially modify this role, and these pressures seem to push the principal toward the definition of his role as that of administrator. On the basis of the beliefs of those involved in training programs for educational administrators, it is possible to predict that the future role of the school principal will, in fact, be that of building or school administrator. The role can be defined as that of administrative leader, as opposed to instructional leader. Administrative leadership involves at least the following elements: purpose-definding for the organization; coordination of the work of specialists, including decision-making; and responsibility for external relationships. The paper concludes by pointing out that this redefinition of the role of the school administrator, or administrative leader, has significant implications for in-service training for administrators, collective negotiations, and affiliation with teacher associations.

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Résumé D'après cet article, il y aurait actuellement une bonne dose d'incertitude quant au rôle du principal, rôle assimilé fréquemment à celui d'un leader en éducation. Or cette notion semble être périmée. De nos jours, les principaux d'écoles sont soumis à des pressions pour modifier considérablement ce rôle et ces pressions semblent pousser le principal à considérer son rôle comme celui d'un administrateur. D'après les croyances entretenues par les responsables des programmes de formation des administrateurs scolaires, il est possible de prédire que le rôle futur du principal d'école sera, en fait, comparable à celui d'un administrateur d'école ou d'immeuble. Ce rôle peut être assimilé au rôle de directeur administratif qui se distingue du directeur pédagogique. La direction administrative implique, au minimum, les éléments suivants: définition des objectifs d'organisation, coordination du travail des spécialistes, y compris la formulation de la politique et enfin responsabilité des relations externes. En conclusion, l'auteur souligne que cette redéfinition du rôle de l'administrateur scolaire ou du directeur administratif a des répercussions considérables sur la formation pratique des administrateurs, les négociations collectives et l'adhésion aux associations d'enseignants.

     

Evaluation of the initial effects and implementation of Success For All in England

Success For All is a comprehensive programme for restructuring primary schools where students are ‘at risk’ of not developing functional literacy by the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7 years). The programme was developed at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, and uses research-based approaches to curriculum, instruction, assessment and classroom management, with one-to-one tutoring being provided for those students falling behind in their reading. This paper reports on the initial implementation (September 1997 – March 1998) of the Success For All (SFA) reading/school improvement programme in a family of inner city primary schools in Nottingham, England. The purpose of the research was to provide empirical evidence on the process of implementation of SFA in England, and to assess how such an innovative programme could contribute to the British government’s National Literacy Strategy (DfEE, 1998). The main findings suggest that as a result of initial involvement in the SFA programme, students appear to have made as much progress in one term in reading as they would normally have been expected to make in one year, their motivation, behaviour, attitude to and skills in learning have also increased. Furthermore, teachers claim to have learned a great deal from SFA, particularly about the effective teaching of reading, co-operative teaching strategies and their own professional development.     

Leadership in an international collaborative writing groups (ICWG) initiative: implications for academic development

This article presents the results of research examining an innovative initiative designed to build capacity for international, collaborative scholarship of teaching and learning: the development of international collaborative writing groups (ICWG). The study focusses particularly on the role of leadership within the groups as a significant factor in the effectiveness of the initiative. Results from an online survey of 30 former ICWG-participants reaffirm the significance of leadership to the ICWG’s success. In particular, respondents emphasise the value of leadership approaches that foster community and encourage members to take responsibility for tasks. Implications for leadership in related academic development contexts are considered.     

Recent Changes to Reference Services in Academic Libraries and Their Relationship to Perceived Quality: Results of a National Survey

ABSTRACT

A national survey of academic librarians was conducted to examine relationships among reference service staffing changes, reference service innovations, adoption of reference technology, library type and size, and service quality. Analysis of the 606 response sets reveals trends toward reduced use of librarians and increased use of student staff at in-person service points, widespread increases in appointment-based and self-service reference, intensive efforts to reduce demand for reference by improving library instruction, and general improvements in reference service quality. Factors strongly associated with decreases or increases in quality are discussed in detail and implications for reference managers are provided.     

Broadcasting

Jack Lyle's The People Look at Public Television: 1974 (Washington: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1975—$1.00, paper)

Ken Coleman's So You Want to be a Sportscaster (New York: Hawthron Books, 1973—$5.95)

Joseph Fletcher Littell (ed.) Coping with Television (Evanston, Ill.: McDougal, Littell, 1973— cost not given, paper)

Joseph Julian's This Was Radio: A Personal Memoir (New York: Viking, 1975—$8.85)

Dick Cavett and Christopher Porterfield's Cavett (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jevanovich, 1974—$8.95)     

Photography

The Portfolios of Ansel Adams (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1977—$19.50)

Kelly Wise's Still Points (Addison House, Morgan's Run, Danbury, N.H. 03230—$8.95, paper)

Jeffrey Weiss and Herbert H. Wise, Good Lives (New York: Quick Fox, with distribution by Hyperion Press of Westport, Ct., 1977—$6.95, paper)

The Best of Photojournalism 2 (New York: Newsweek Books, 1978—$16.95/9.95)

Marious B. Peladeau's Chansonetta: The Life and Photographs of Chansonetta Stanley Emmons 1858-1937 (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Morgan and Morgan, l977—$8.95)

A.D. Coleman's The Grotesaue in Photography (New York: Ridge Press/Summit Books [Simon and Schuster], 1977—$10.00 1 paper)

Francesco Scavullo, et al. Scavullo on Men (N.Y.: Random House, 1977—$15.00)

Barbra Walz and Bernadine Morris's The Fashion Makers: An Inside Look at America's Leading Designers (N.Y. :Random House, 1978— $15.00)

Charles Klamkin and Matthew Isenberg's Photographica: A Guide to the Value of Historic Cameras and Images (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1978—$15.95)

Genoa Caldwell, ed. The Man Who Photographed the World: Burton Holmes Travelogues, 1892-1938 (New York: Harry Abrams, 1977—$25.00)

Peter Pollack's The Picture History of Photography: From the Earliest Beginnings to the Present Day (New York: Harry Abrams, 1977—$8.95, paper)     

A Review of: “CODE: Collaborative Ownership and the Digital Economy,edited by Rishab Aiyer Ghosh. Cambridge,MA: MIT Press, 2005. x + 345 pp. $37.50 (cloth). ISBN 0-262-07260-2.”

Various distributed work arrangements have been enabled by advances in information system and communication technologies. To date, these new arrangements have met with varying success, and it is unclear what outcomes society, organizations, and individuals expect from such new work settings. Moreover, we do not understand how aspects of the work environment, tasks, employees, management, and technology might interact to result in different outcomes. This article attempts to provide an integrative view of research on distributed work arrangements and provides a framework for exploring the impacts of these arrangements.     

A novel method for the performance of isometric exercise in the home

There is a paucity of research on devices suitable for home-based isometric exercise. Our aim was to compare cardiovascular responses to isometric exercise using novel and established methods. Ten individuals (age 34.0?±?8.5 years, mass 68.2?±?10.4?kg, height 1.72?±?0.09?m; mean?±?s) performed three different isometric exercise protocols with 48?h between each. Each protocol involved four repeated exercise bouts of 2?min at 30% maximum voluntary contraction force using alternate legs (transducer), alternate arms (transducer), or alternate arms (novel device). Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate were measured every 30?s. The highest (peak) values during each 2?min bout of exercise were recorded (peak systolic blood pressure, peak diastolic blood pressure, peak mean arterial blood pressure and peak heart rate). At the end of each 2?min exercise bout, the participants rated their perceived discomfort using Borg's CR-10 scale. There was a statistically significant difference in peak systolic blood pressure between isometric arm flexion using the force transducer and the novel device [158.1?±?10.8 vs. 149.1?±?13.9?mmHg (mean?±?s); P = 0.02]. Further analysis showed that peak systolic blood pressure was on average 9?mmHg higher using the force transducer with limits of agreement of –?15.97 to 33.97?mmHg. Analysis of the peak diastolic blood pressure, peak mean arterial blood pressure, peak heart rate and CR-10 data revealed no statistically significant differences between the three protocols. These results suggest that this novel, home-based method elicited similar cardiovascular responses during isometric exercise to those of established laboratory-based methods. However, the lower peak systolic blood pressure using the modified scales warrants further investigation before this method is used widely in the home.     

Landing techniques in volleyball

Abstract

Knee injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament lesions and patellar tendonitis are very frequent in volleyball, and are often attributed to micro traumas that occur during the landing phase of airborne actions. The aim of the present study was to compare different jumping activities during official men's and women's volleyball games. Twelve top-level matches from the Italian men's and women's professional leagues were analysed. The jumps performed during the games were classified according to the landing technique used by the player (left or right foot or both feet together), court position, and ball trajectory. Chi-square analyses were performed to detect differences in landing techniques between the sexes, court positions, and trajectories when serving, attacking, blocking, and setting. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found between the sexes for block, set, and spike but not for the jump serve. The frequency of landings on one foot was related to court position and the trajectory of the sets: when spiking faster sets, the players were more likely to use a one-footed landing. The present results should help coaches and physiotherapists to devise appropriate training and prevention programmes, and reveal the need for further detailed biomechanical investigations of the relationships between landings and knee injuries.     

A three‐dimensional cinematographical analysis of the volleyball spike

The objectives of this study were to describe the volleyball spiking actions used by players in top‐level competition, and also to examine the interrelationships between upper limb, lower limb and whole body kinematic variables, and post‐impact ball speed in the spiking technique. Two Photosonics Biomechanics 500 cine‐cameras operating at a nominal frame rate of 100 Hz were used to film the spiking actions of 10 male senior international volleyball players at the XVI Universiade (1991 World Student Games). Three‐dimensional object space co‐ordinates of digitized image co‐ordinates were obtained using a DLT algorithm and an array of calibration points in the filmed volume. Relationships between lower limb angular kinematics at take‐off, centre of mass vertical velocity at take‐off and centre of mass vertical displacement (jump height) were examined. Relationships between angular kinematics of the hitting arm and post‐impact ball speed were also determined. The mean (± S.E.) centre of mass vertical velocity at take‐off was 3.59 ± 0.05 m s‐¹ and the mean height jumped was 0.62 ± 0.02 m. As expected, a significant correlation was found between the square of the centre of mass vertical velocity at take‐off and jump height (r = 0.78; P <0.01). No significant correlations were found between lower limb angular kinematics and centre of mass vertical velocity at take‐off or jump height. The mean post‐impact ball speed was 27.0 ± 0.9 m s‐¹, and this was significantly correlated to maximum right humerus angular velocity (r=0.75; P< 0.01). Trunk rotation angular kinematics and right elbow angular velocity did not correlate significantly with post‐impact ball speed. It was also noted that the majority of players filmed did not fit into any of the spiking categories identified in earlier studies.