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The Sex Equity in Educational Leadership (SEEL) Project was initiated to test several strategies for increasing the number of women in public school administration in Oregon. This book is a description of the various activities carried out and their results. The historical context of women's representation in school leadership is summarized, and SEEL strategy for change is described. That strategy includes efforts to change (1) individual attitudes, behaviors, and understandings; (2) organizational policies and practices; and (3) local school district hiring practices. The Oregon Network was SEEL's effort to conduct research on how various forces influence hiring patterns and practices. A chapter describes the research and service functions of the network, the findings of the research, and SEEL's advice to others who wish to replicate the network functions. Evaluation data are presented about the SEEL project's success, and the final chapter is written as a series of questions to help others translate the experiences and results in Oregon to other states and settings. The appendixes include copies of forms, several "how-to" descriptions, and other materials relevant to those attempting to achieve sex equity in educational leadership. (MLF)

While there is near parity in Oregon between the numbers of men and women in education, within the profession men and women are segregated by sex. It is clear that sex, more than age, experience, background, or competence, is the major determinant for the occupational role an individual will hold within the profession. The purposes of this paper are (1) to explain the concept of sex role stereotyping and how it guides the behavior of men and women, (2) to illustrate how one's sex has directly affected men's and women's career paths in the field, (3) to explain how sex segregation is perpetuated, and (4) to describe the possible consequences of sex inequity in school management for the functioning of schools. (Author/MLF)

Two recent reports show girls' performance in math and verbal skills is lower than boys' and that the gap steadily increases during the high school years. Girls' self-esteem also erodes during late adolescence. An extensive study of small-town high schools disclosed glaring gender inequities and lack of principal awareness. Principals must eliminate overt and subtle discriminatory attitudes and practices. (MLH)

The Oregon Network, a research and service activity of the Sex Equity in Educational Leadership Project, was created in 1977 to perform four functions: 1) to document job vacancies and the processes of administrative hiring in Oregon; 2) to help school districts find qualified female applicants; 3) to affect hiring practices that stand as barriers to women; and 4) to establish procedures for institutionalizing improved hiring practices. Integrating information from such sources as school districts, university placement offices, and job applicants, the network created two directories--one of vacant positions and one of available applicants (including males), both favorably received. An analysis of the relationships between the applicant pool, the vacancies, and the applicants eventually hired indicates that women have a better chance of being hired than men. In general, higher proportions of female applicants were hired at the elementary level than at secondary levels, more were hired in staff than in line positions, and more were hired in subordinate than in unit head positions. Based on preliminary data, these findings may be skewed by several variables, including the tendency of men to send out more applications than women and the relatively low number of female applicants generally. (Author/PGD)

The Sex Equity in Educational Leadership Project (SEEL) was funded by the Office of Education in 1976 to change the processes that typically deter the entrance and advancement of women in educational administration in Oregon. The effectiveness of the SEEL Project is evaluated by presenting data about progress in the last three years in (1) the proportion of women administrators in Oregon, (2) the number of women in preparation programs, (3) attitude changes, (4) administrative training programs, (5) school district hiring practices, and (6) endurance of positive changes. Some of the data used in this report are quantifiable; other data are impressions gathered from testimonies, letters, and staff notes. The second section of the report addresses a concern raised by some Oregon educators about a special advocacy group for women in administration, Oregon Women in Educational Administration (OWEA), that was formed to continue work regarding women in administration. A listing of SEEL published products and papers concludes the report. (Author/MLF)

Preparing school leaders should not be a dispassionate, value-free journey that produces administrators who are technocrats with neither objective curiosity or passion. Lewis & Clark, a small liberal arts college near Portland, Oregon, initiated an administrative certification program in 1981. The curriculum of this program focuses on holistic clinical education through the integration of various concepts including looking at administrative practices in context and building a strong liberal arts educational foundation by studying educational history, philosophy, and ethics. The document also emphasizes gaining a new respect for the practitioner's knowledge and realizing that administrative education should help students to be creators of knowledge rather than consumers of the ideas. Students in the program are encouraged to keep a learning journal, contribute to the agenda for their education, teach what they have learned, and develop student cohort relationships to facilitate future peer consultation, networking, and independence. The pedagogy respects students as mature, experienced adults when emphasizing conceptualization during field observations, practitioner contacts, and student presentations of synthesized theory and research. The transformation from didactic frontal teaching to providing experience leading to conceptualization has begun. (KM)

Today there are more female administrators than a mere 15 years ago, yet these women who have risen up through the ranks to a position traditionally dominated by men tend not to advocate equity in their schools. Nineteen female principals from Arizona, California, and Oregon were interviewed using the critical incident technique. Results show that while the women principals tended to be more concerned with instructional leadership, classroom teaching, and intensive interaction with the faculty than their male counterparts, only modest passive gestures were made toward initiating equity programs or activities within their schools. Although female principals face unique problems of identity and integration, they fail to translate their own experiences into action to ensure greater equity; instead, they take a personalized view of their experiences. Preservice programs fail to educate prospective administrators on the theory that schools themselves perpetuate gender/race inequality. Thus, women administrators have not been trained to be sensitive observers of inequality in school organizations. It cannot be presumed that simply because a woman is in a place of administration in the school, issues of equity will be addressed. A lack of understanding of the concept of gender leads a female administrator to insensitivity and inattention to equity in school ideology and practice. (33 references) (KM)

This paper describes the roles that women have played in the public schools of the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries and analyzes changes in their status and level of participation during this period. After an introductory section addressing the purposes of the international symposium at which the paper was read, the second section provides a historical review of women's role and status in schools: as elementary and secondary teachers, as administrators, as school board members, and as federal employees. The third section addresses three issues directly related to women's role in public schools: (1) the relation between women's position in the educational hierarchy and the rise of feminism, (2) the organizational structure of schools and how women's experience in these organizations differs from men's, and (3) the legal remedies of the 20th century women's movement. The fourth and final section provides a feminist perspective on the neglect of women's ideas and experiences by most educators and historians of the American educational experience. Topics include the "universalist bias" (ascription of universality to male experience and perspectives), the "machismo bias" embedded in the methodological structures of inquiry, the "devalue of education bias," and the "contemporary school marm bias." Statistical tables are appended, along with a six-page bibliography. (TE)

Educators' disenchantment with administrative training has prompted a critical reappraisal of the knowledge base used to prepare school leaders. This paper urges the inclusion of the gender concept in discussions of research agenda for school administrators. With gender serving as an effective sorting mechanism for both clients and professionals, one might ask how school leadership will be transformed by paying attention to gender and to the developing scholarship about women. This new scholarship can help determine the psychological and institutional factors deterring women from pursuing administrative positions, disclose sex differences in leadership performance, explain workforce segregation, and develop new critical analyses on leadership. This paper explores "feminist phase theory" as a useful developmental model. The five phases are (1) exclusionary or androcentric thinking (excluding gender and applying generalizations about men to women); (2) compensatory thinking (seeking female counterparts to male success); (3) women as deficient (psychological thinking, or focusing on sex differences and viewing women as exceptions to the male norm); (4) women as oppressed (system thinking, or exploring organizational and institutional processes that treat women differently from men); and (5) the new scholarship (focusing on gender, including women and men as subjects for and objects of study, and offering a corrective and transformative viewpoint). Several research and teaching considerations are summarized. Included are 49 references. (MLH)

Because of their visibility at the center stage of community life, small-town superintendents have a greater opportunity to act as participatory managers and instructional leaders. This paper reports the results of surveys with 25 small-town school superintendents to discover rural/urban differences, work patterns, and exemplary practices in instructional leadership. The prototypical superintendent was a white male in his early 50's with coaching experience, working in the same geographical region where he grew up, with nearly 30 years' experience in professional education. Superintendents' management styles differed, with some using collaborative, one-on-one, or laissez-faire methods. When asked to reflect on accomplishments in their current position, superintendents most often mentioned erecting or remodeling facilities, fiscal saving, initiating curriculum development, and hiring and firing personnel. Almost all were preoccupied with bonds, budgets, and buildings. Unlike urban administrators, small-town superintendents were not preoccupied with interpersonal conflict. Rural administrators have to be generalists to a greater degree than their urban counterparts. Exemplary practices include the following: (1) meeting with staff to uncover district problems; (2) making desegregation work; (3) using the management team; and (4) leading for school improvement. (DHP)

Small town school boards are made up of conscientious, hardworking, and caring citizens who face arduous economic challenges and difficult educational dilemmas. The changing economy of small towns has led to fewer professionals and business owners participating in boards of education, a rift between educators who are bureaucrats and board members who tend to be entrepreneurs, and a fear of consolidation destroying the identity and cohesiveness of the community. Because of economic insecurities in rural America, small-town school boards must strive to be an anchor for American democracy. They retain the responsibility of keeping communication open and accurate among educators, students, and citizens. Based on material collected via interview and observation, this paper describes these aspects of the current situation for school boards in rural America, and identifies five exemplary practices of small-town school boards: (1) administrative action for school desegregation; (2) parent action for superior schools; (3) teacher- administrator-board communication; (4) student participation in school board meetings; and (5) board-to-board cooperation, encouraging cooperation with neighboring districts in purchasing materials, holding specialized classes, and sharing teacher. (DHP)

A comparison of adolescents views about school, based on data gathered 26 years apart, shows remarkable similarities. Students interviewed in 1963 were from Detroit schools while 1989 interviews were conducted in small-town schools of Texas, Missouri, and Minnesota. viewed poor teachers as lacking respect for students, unwilling to try to establish rapport, lacking a sense of humor, not caring much about teaching, and playing favorites. Student councils had little influence on academics and were mainly a perfunctory demonstration of representative democracy. Small-town students enjoyed their friends in school, small classes, extracurricular activities, and the caring attitudes of teachers and administrators, but deplored the lack of electives and advanced courses, indifferent teachers, alcohol abuse, gossip, closed campuses, and restrictive dress codes. Observation of classes in 1989 showed teachers talking 75% of the time, with 75% of their talk being unidirectional lecturing. Reform movements focus on the academic performance of teachers, but students focus on teachers' empathy and respect. American adolescents who live today in small towns do not have very different attitudes toward school and teachers from their urban counterparts of more than a generation ago. This report suggests that adolescents should be engaged in the selection and evaluation of teachers. Administrators should put greater emphasis on student councils and seek ways for students to serve their communities as part of the secondary school experience. (DHP)