Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/Administrative Theory (Dan Calhoun)/Course description

Course description
The issues that educational institutions confront in today’s dynamic environment require that educational leaders equip themselves with strong theoretical knowledge to better understand educational practices. Indeed, contrary to what some critics presume, theory for educational leaders is not a luxury, a distraction from the real task, but it is a tool that allows them to develop fresh insights —“a set of glasses” for looking at the world differently and for crafting innovative and original solutions for the many complex problems educational leaders encounter in their institutions. By exposing candidates to diverse sets of classical and current theories in educational administration, this course builds competencies that educational leaders need to understand, interpret, critique, and integrate theory with practice and develop strategies for confronting today’s multifaceted educational problems. Major topics to be covered include the Interdependence among Theory, Practice, and Research in Educational Administration; Genesis of Administrative Thoughts and Classical and Current Systems Theories; Understanding Schools as Learning Organizations; Theories of Motivation; Organizational Culture and Climate in Schools; Power, Authority and Politics in Educational Organizations; Theories of Conflict Resolution and Management; Schools as Open Systems; Constructs for Measuring School Effectiveness, Accountability and Improvement, and Classical and Modern Theories of Decision Making, Organizational Communication, and Leadership.

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