THE STATE AND THE PROFESSOR
| Pages | 5-15 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009739 |
| Date | 01 January 1976 |
| Published date | 01 January 1976 |
| Author | ROALD F. CAMPBELL |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XIV, No. 1 May, 1976
THE STATE AND THE PROFESSOR
ROALD F. CAMPBELL
In this, the Walter D. Cocking Lecture for 1975, the author examines the emerging
relationship between the professor of educational administration and the state governance
of education in the U.S.A. The paper is developed around five critical issues, (1) increasing-
ly major decisions for education will be made at the state level, (2) educators will have less
autonomy in making these decisions, (3) many professors are essentially school district
oriented with little sense of state action, (4) professors need additional understanding and
appreciation of state level policy making, and (5) this increased understanding and ap-
preciation should lead to revised programs for research and training in educational ad-
ministration.
INTRODUCTION
I appreciate the honor you have extended in inviting me to give the 1975
Walter Cocking lecture.1 I was fortunate to have been included in that
group of 70 professors convened by Walter at Endicott, New York in
1947,
a meeting which proved to be the beginning of NCPEA. With you, I
am pleased to honor the leadership and the memory of Walter Cocking.
My topic is the State and the Professor. With the change of one word
this title could become the state of the professor but I do not wish to
engage in that kind of self-examination today. Rather I propose to talk
about the relationship professors of educational administration have with
the state governance of education. During the past few years I have been
associated with two studies which have some bearing on this topic. In 1972
Jack Newell and I completed a study in which we dealt with the problems
and prospects of our field as reflected in responses from over 1300 profes-
sors.2
In 1974 Tim Mazzoni and I completed a two and one-half year study
in which we examined state policy making for the public schools in 12
states,
did a comparative analysis across the 12 states,3 and also developed
a number of alternative models for the state governance of education.4
While it is not my purpose to report these studies, my experience with
them affects some of the observations I shall make.
My thesis is a simple one and runs as follows:
1.
increasingly major decisions for education will be made at the state
level
ROALD F. CAMPBELL is Emeritus Professor of Educational Administration at Ohio
State University. Immediately prior to his retirement, Professor Campbell published three
important books on educational administration relevant to this article: A Study of Professors
of Educational Administration (with L. Jackson Newell) and State Policy Making for the
Public Schools: A Comparative Analysis and Slate Governance Models for the Public
Schools (with Tim L. Mazzoni).
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