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THIS INVESTIGATION WAS TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND ITS ELEMENTS (AS DEPICTED BY THE CENTRAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE PERFORMANCE TEAMS IN SELECTED SCHOOL DISTRICTS OF THE STATE OF OHIO) ON THE INNOVATIVENESS OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT. THE "ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE DESCRIPTIVE QUESTIONNAIRE," WHICH SERVED AS THE MAIN DATA-GATHERING INSTRUMENT, HAD BEEN DETERMINED IN SEVERAL PREVIOUS STUDIES TO BE A USEFUL INSTRUMENT WHEN WORKING WITH INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL STAFFS. FROM THE SCHOOL DISTRICT SAMPLE OF THE 1964 OHIO INNOVATIONS SURVEY, 13 PREDETERMINED NONINNOVATIVE DISTRICT AND 11 INNOVATIVE DISTRICTS WERE SELECTED FOR DATA COLLECTION. THE MAJOR FINDINGS WERE AS FOLLOWS--(1) INNOVATIVE SCHOOL DISTRICTS EVIDENCED A MORE OPEN CLIMATE THAN NONINNOVATIVE DISTRICTS, (2) INNOVATIVE DISTRICTS WERE FOUND TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS DISENGAGED AND EVIDENCED A HIGHER ESPRIT. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE OBTAINED FOR THE ELEMENT OF HINDRANCE, (3) NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND WITH RESPECT TO THE GROUP BEHAVIOR ASPECT OF INTIMACY, (4) SUPERINTENDENTS IN INNOVATIVE DISTRICTS WERE PREDICTED TO EVIDENCE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER ALOOFNESS, LOWER PRODUCTION EMPHASIS, HIGHER TRUST, AND HIGHER CONSIDERATION, ONLY THE COROLLARY INVOLVING HIGHER TRUST HELD, AND (5) FINDINGS ON SUCH OTHER ASPECTS AS RESEARCH EMPHASIS, BIOGRAPHICAL TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS, AND FINANCIAL PROGRAMS WERE ALSO OBTAINED. (JH)

This document analyzes some of the aspects of the trend toward educational regionalism and cooperation. Educational cooperatives are designed to provide the flexibility and service associated with large districts while allowing for local control and school district autonomy. Types of educational cooperatives discussed include intermediate education districts, voluntary education agencies, school study councils, industry and education coordination, shared personnel arrangements, and centralized facilities. The legal arrangements necessary for educational cooperatives are explained and some examples of administrative organization under the various consortium programs are provided. (RA)

The objective of this research was to determine the relationships between organizational climate and innovativeness. Investigators used the Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire to determine the organizational climate for 24 Ohio school districts. An open climate is defined as one in which there is attention to both task achievement and social needs, whereas in a closed climate members receive little satisfaction from either. Findings indicate that innovative districts foster the open climate whereas noninnovative districts are characterized by the closed. Implications for the role of the principal as a change agent are also given. (RA)

The rural community is characterized by a decreasing population and an eroding of local taxable wealth which contribute to the ineffectiveness of community agencies or institutions to serve citizens' needs. The rural community resists widespread effort to change existing conditions since rural people are generally conservative and often do not have the financial resources to solve indigenous problems. Although local boards of education are delegated the authority to determine educational policy, they rarely make decisions that might raise the ire of the local power structure. To a large degree, local educational programs are determined by the attitudes of local administrators, teachers, school board members, parents, and other adults in the community. Most administrators and teachers in rural areas are themselves products of the rural subculture and reflect the attitudes of the community in which they work. Education continues to be viewed as an expense rather than an investment, with the school being an agency for passing on the eternal verities rather than an agency for social change. The recent move toward the educational cooperative and an emphasis in administrator and teacher preparation programs on educational change and innovation are seen as constructive efforts to improve rural schools. (JH)

Several explanations are proposed for community attitudes about the school system. The author claims that the most important factor affecting these attitudes may be the school's failure to develop effective ways of carrying on continuous dialogue with its community. The author specifies that an educator should subject his community to a regular examination rather than assume that the community decisionmaking structure is a stabilized constant. A model for examining the influence structure in a community presents four major categories: a consensual elite structure, where few citizens participate and a small group rules; the competitive elite structure, characterized by two or more ideological groups attempting to rule, but where few citizens participate; a consensual mass power system, implying general ideological unity with broad effective participation by a substantial number of citizens; and the competitive mass structure, analogous to the consensual mass but having some conflict because of the varying ideological base. A selected bibliography is included. (Author/WM)

A program was conducted to train 20 experienced teachers and administrators from school districts in Southern Appalachia as agents of change in entry-level administrative leadership positions in the districts from which they have been recruited. Leading to a master of science degree with a major in educational administration and supervision, the program covered 15 months full-time spanning a summer, a full academic year, and the following summer. Included were a human relations laboratory (sensitivity training), selected field problems, simulation, an intensive humanities "live in" seminar, an academic year-long behavioral science seminar, and seminars in change agency, decision making, and group processes. Other experiences included two short-term internships in the home district during the 15-month period, an organized program for the development of strategies for implementing needed changes in the home district. Results of a test battery administered before the program indicated a group well above average in academic potential and ability with a slightly better than average achievement record, a reasonable competence in general English skills, a strong conceptual ability, with a tendency toward dogmatism in its attitudes. Reaction to the program by both staff and fellows was "overwhelmingly favorable," with the "live in" humanities seminar and human relations laboratory ranked as major strengths. (JS)