DOCUMENT RESUME ED 304 7E9 EA 020 761 AUTHOR Cuban, Larry TITLE The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools. SUNY Series in Educational Leadership. REPORT NO ISBN-0-88706-594-5 PUB DATE 88 NOTE 311p. AVAILABLE FROMPublication Sales, State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12222 ($16.95). PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Viewpoints (120) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EMS. DESCRIPTORS *Administrator Role; *Educational Administration; Elementary Secondary Education; Foundations of Education; *Instructional Leadership; Leadership Responsibility; Organizational Climate; Organizational Communication; *Teacher Administrator Relationship LBSTRACT This book reexamines the organizational experiences that bond teachers and administrators; reaffirms the enduring legacy that teachers, principals, and superintendents jointly inherited once they entered classrooms; and, finally, argues that reconstructing that sense of common purpose about the role of schooling is essential to improving what happens in classrooms and schools. The introduction presents the argument of the book: that schools as presently organized press teachers, principals, and superintendents toward managing rather than leading, and that this managerial imperative largely precludes significant change in the status quo. Part 1, "The Crucible," describes the three conflicting images of teaching and administering from the earliest days of both occupations to the present: political, managerial, and instructional. Chapters 1, 3, and 5 explore how these images arose, how they flourished, and how they created a set of constant tensions that continue to inspire and plague both occupations. The intervening chapters, 2, 4, and 6, illustrate this discussion by drawing on the author's personal experiences in teaching and administering. Part 2, "Meanings" (chapters 7 and 8) distills the argument and explores the significance of seeing teachers and administrators as sharing common experiences and performing similar functions within different settings. Notes are included, along with an index. (TE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools 3 SUNY Series in Educational Leadership Daniel Duke, Editor 4 The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools LARRY CUBAN State University of New York Press We acknowledge excerpts from The Real Tea(hers by Philip Sterling. Copyrights 1972 by Philip Sterling. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1988 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part t.f this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cuban, Larry. The managerial imperative and the practice of leadership in school. (SUNY series in educational leadership) Includes index. 1. Teacher-administrator relationships.2. School management and organization.I. Tit lc.II. Series. LB2831.5.C831987 371.2 87-6512 ISBN 0-88706-593-7 ISBN 0-88706-594-5 (pbk.) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 6 To my brothers, Norty and And to my oldest friends, Yus Marty, who mean so much to Merenstein and Dave Mazer; me. Separated by years and each has given and received the distance, the bonds remain love of a friend. strong. Contents Figures and Tables ix Preface xi Introduction xiii Part L The Crucible 1. Teaching: Images and Roles 1 2. Drifting into Teaching and Staying Awhile 41 3. Principaling: Images and Roles 53 4. Perverse Incentives: Moving Back and Forth 85 Between Classroom and Administration 5. Superintending: Images and Roles 111 6. From High School Teacher to Superintendent 149 to Professor VIII CONTENTS Part II. Meanings 7. From Images and Roles to Leadership 179 8. Summary and Implications 219 Notes 251 Index 287 Figures and Tables Fig. 1 Conceptions of Teaching in Public Schools. 3 1800s to Present Fig. 2 A Model of Teacher Thought and Action 6 Fig. 3Core Roles of Thelma Katz, Kindergarten 39 Teachei Fig. 4Conceptions of Principaling in Public Schools, 55 1850s to Present Fig. 5Relationship Among District, Principal, and 68 Teacher Functions; Student Entering Behavior, Classroom Behavior, and Year-End Achievement Fig. 6Core Role Patterns Among Principals 83 Fig. 7Conceptions of Superintending, 1870s-1950s 117 Fig. 8Core Role Patterns Among Superintendents 146 Fig. 9Organizational Commonalities Bonding 181 Teachers and Administrators Fig. 10Organizational Leadership: Elements, 195 Relationships, Settings, and Outcomes nfible 1 How Principals Spend Their Time in Schools, 62 1911-1981 10 X FIGURES AND TABLES Table 2Percentages of Superintendents Holding Three 121 Major Conceptions, as Drawn from Department of Superintendence and American Association of School Administrators, 1871-19.7) Ttb le3Percentages of Superintendents Holding Three 122 Major Conceptions, as Drawn from the Writings of 251 Big-City Superintendents, 1881-1950 "'able4Distribution of Superintendents' Time De %wed 127 to Various Functions as Reported by City and Rural Chiefs, 1950 nble5A Comparison of School Superintendents' 130 Activities and Contacts 11 Preface Over the last decade and a half,Ihave been fortunate enough to pursue what Rebecca West said of her work. "I suite books to find out about things." Of the books that I have written, I found this one the most exhilarating and tiring.I do not know why. In talking with Dan Duke, the editor of this series, he suggested that I might be bringing to a close a period of my life. Perhaps. Between 1955 and 1981, I either taught high school history, or administered school district programs. Since 1981 I have taught and administered in a unisersity and have had the good fortune to think, study, and suite. In writing I have had the time to rework the meaning of the last thirty years as a teacher and administrator. Both are compel- ling activities that I have combined in one career. I have come to see that teaching in a conventional and larger sense is central to thoughtful administration. They are wedded together, although few policy makers or practitioners might see them as I do. In writing this book, I have wrestled with the issues that bind and separate these two essential tasks in schooling. I discovered new insights about my life and my career by writing. This book is the product of that reflection. Every author piles up debts. Mine are many and I w ish to recog- niLe the colleagues and friends that helped me work through the ideas in this book. Mike Atkin gave me the idea of alternating scholarly and practitioner chapters by lending me a book that contained the germ of that idea. I prevailed on a number of practitioners, scholars, and my xi 12 xii PREFACE students to read either the whole or parts of the first draft, and they were kind enough to share many comments; Beverly Carter, Todd Endo, Elisabeth Hansot, Milbrey McLaughlin, Scott Pfeifer, Paul Sakamoto, Steve Swerdlick, and Day id Tyack. A number of the ideas in this book emerged from two classes I taught in the Stanford Univer- sity School of Education. The intense discussions in Education X290 renewed my excitement for teaching and the ideas in this book. It is not modesty that impels me zo declare that I learned a great deal from my students; for me, it is simply saying what is true. 13 Introduction No longer are teaching and administering viewed as one career. They are divorced from one another. Feu see these occupations anchored in a common history- sharing core roles. I do. I begin with this assertion because exploring itis vital to any understanding of why, over the last century, periodic designs for school improvement and calls for more leadership have persistently disap- pointed well-meaning reformers. So many reforms in the twentieth century have tried to alter what teachers and administrators do. Planned changes have been thrust upon schools. Most teachers and administrators complied at some level. Many did so because they believed in the mandates. Others complied because it made little difference in their work lives. Some fearless teachers and occasional principals voiced ..omplaints for being the objects of changes that were misdirected, ill -ads ised, or simply inappropriate, fearful teachers and principals swallowed their objec- tions and ignored or adapted the designs aimed at them. In short, most teachers and administrators had little room to shape the content or packaging of reforms. In a word, they had little chance to lead. To explore the splitting apart of teaching from administering, then, is also to probe at the basic premises of reforms aimed at improv ing what happens in schools and why management rather than leadership has dominated schools. xuI 14 XIV INTRODUCTION The separation of teaching from principaling and superintending is evident at every turn in the world of practice. Fewcommon bonds tie them together now. Finger-pointing dominates much ofthe discus- sion about public schools. Divisions between teachers andadministra- tors, reformers' efforts to improve schooling, and social scientists'