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In 1977, a longitudinal study was undertaken to determine the effects of health curricula on children's knowledge level; their attitudes toward good health practices; and their smoking, drinking, and drug-use behavior. Knowledge and attitude tests and a student survey were administered to students who entered kindergarten in 1977. These children were followed longitudinally and retested from first through third grade. Starting in 5th grade, another group of children was added and all children were followed through 12th grade. One group of children received the "Growing Healthy" curriculum from kindergarten through sixth grade. A second group received the standard textbook approach through third grade, then Growing Healthy for fourth through sixth grades. A third group received the standard textbook approach from kindergarten through sixth grade. The findings provide much positive evidence that the elementary school curriculum that children receive has an impact upon their levels of knowledge about health and their attitudes toward health; in addition these curricula appear to have an impact upon present and future health practices of students. Early intervention (using the Growing Healthy curriculum) with children as they entered the school system, when compared with intervention only during the early onset years or compared with standard elementary school health curricula, had a positive impact on the level of children's health knowledge, attitudes, and reported behavior in the reported use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. (NB)

This study investigated the relationship of an organization's clear and focused mission and the role of the principal as a strong instructional leader to the academic achievement of students. Focus was on extending educators' understanding of the types of goals selected by instructionally effective schools and activities of principals in schools that were successful in promoting the academic achievement of students. The research, initiated in 1983 and completed in June 1986, used results of the California Achievement Test, school means on 18 goal statements generated as local school goals, and school mean scores on a questionnaire that assessed staff perceptions of the principal as a strong instructional leader. Of the original 67 schools involved, 32 had sufficient student achievement data to be included in the study. A total of 1,775 students, of which 712 were white and 597 were black, were included. Results of the study indicate that: (1) there must be fundamental changes in the preservice programs for prospective administrators; (2) candidate administrators must be recruited based on a commitment to the belief that "all children can learn"; (3) in-service programs must be developed by school districts and professional associations that will provide ongoing leadership training and support for practicing administrators; and (4) principals need to recognize the importance of their role as instructional leaders. Survey instruments are included. (TJH)

Officials representing 60 school districts contributed information to this assessment of the experiences of school districts that have closed elementary schools in the past few years. The data collected were examined and assessed according to five major topics: (1) criteria used for school closure decisions, (2) optimum elementary school size and methods of determining building capacity, (3) amount of cost savings resulting from closure of elementary schools, (4) disposition of buildings that had been closed, and (5) impact of elementary school closures on surrounding neighborhoods. The three criteria cited most often as reasons for closing schools were declining enrollments, age of building, and desegregation efforts. Closure is a simple solution to the problem of excess space, but it is also a source of other problems, problems far more intricate and complex and much more difficult and costly to solve. Once an elementary school is closed, the environmental forces of out-migration, population decline, and neighborhood deterioration are set in motion. Numerous charts and a review of the literature on optimum school size are included. (Author/IRT)

The purpose of this research was to investigate and describe the relationship of environmental change to superintendent-school board decision-making and superintendent turnover. Assuming the resource dependence model of organizational open system theory, researchers hypothesized that the amount of decision-making autonomy boards grant to superintendents and the mobility of superintendents would be related to the amount of turbulence in the community. To gather data for the study, two instruments were developed: (1) a 57-item questionnaire to measure superintendent-board expectations on the relative dependence or independence of the superintendent in various contexts; and (2) a commnity environment questionnaire with 12 questions illustrating important aspects of the relationship between community characteristics and environmental turbulence. A total of 273 school districts were surveyed with these instruments in 1979 and again in 1983. Data analysis suggests statistically significant relationships between the management process occurring in education (perceptions of superintendents and boards concerning the amount of discretionary authority in decision making that boards should grant to superintendents) and environmental turbulence within the community. (TE)

This 3-year study, part of the Effective Schools Project of the Seattle School District and the University of Washington, was undertaken to investigate the relationship between teachers' perceptions of the principal as instructional leader and average gain scores of students in 67 elementary schools in Seattle. Scores were disaggregated by student ethnicity and student free lunch status as a surrogate measure of socioeconomic status (SES). Data pertaining to teacher perceptions of the principal as instructional leader were obtained through the Staff Assessment Questionnaire, and specific attention was given to four general aspects of principal behavior: (1) mobilizing resources, (2) communicating, (3) serving as instructional resource, and (4) being a visible presence. These data were then correlated with school means for aggregated student improvement on Total Reading and Total Mathematics of the California Achievement Test (CAT). Individual gains for students were computed and aggregated for four groups: white, black, free lunch, and non-free lunch. Regression analyses were used to assess the relationships between the leadership of the principal and other effective school characteristics, while analysis of variance was used to assess the effects of leadership on student gain scores. The findings of this study suggest that teachers' perceptions of the principal as instructional leader are critical to the reading and mathematics achievement of students, particularly among historically low-achieving groups of students. (TE)

This paper describes research based on the Effective Schools Project, a collaborative project between the University of Washington and the Seattle School District. The research was undertaken to determine the amount of change that took place in two rural high schools over two years and to analyze the factors that contributed to those changes based on the responses of the staff in each school to a Staff Assessment Questionnaire; interviews with the staff, building administrators, and central office administrators; and archival information. Results of the questionnaire are discussed in a case study format for each school, interspersed with a series of tables showing selected items from the Effective Schools Characteristics. The ensuing discussion of these findings in both schools focuses on the following factors: the need for specificity in determining what is needed to implement an innovation; the need for appropriate strategies, such as inservice training, resource support, feedback mechanisms, and participation, to implement the innovation; and organizational climate, or staff perceptions of the motivating purposes behind organizational processes. The findings suggest that implementing changes in secondary schools is often the result of both planned and unplanned activities. References are included, and the the staff assessment questionnaire is appended, along with reliability estimates, a breakdown of the results, and assorted archival materials from the schools. (TE)

Two large, complex organizations (an urban school district and a neighboring college of education of a major State-funded university) have developed and applied a collaborative model of interaction and resource enhancement in response to resource contradiction and environmental turbulence. This paper (1) presents a conceptual framework of organizations interacting with their environments in a tight/loose coupling mode; (2) describes the background, development, processes, and outcomes of the collaborative relationship; and (3) presents an analysis of the collaborative relationship in terms of the conceptual framework. Five targets of change are analyzed: presumptions of logic, socialization processes, differential participation, constant variables, and corruptions of feedback. The case history suggests that both organizations had to move to protect their respective technical cores and, to do so, elected to adopt bridging strategies to enhance resources and thus increase organizational legitimacy. (Author/KH)

A study investigates the relationship between an activity-centered health program and positive health attitudes, future use of cigarettes, and changes in smoking behavior of parents. Results show that the experimental group posessed more positive health attitudes, and parents reported favorable changes in their own smoking behaviors. (Author/DF)