| Two relatively new concepts, mindfulness and enabling school structure, were tested in their prediction of school effectiveness. Mindfulness is conceptualized as a nearly perpetual scrutiny of school operations in which administrators and teachers look for flaws in the school, let colleagues know the state of the school, and respond to school problems usefully. Enabling school structure describes the effect of hierarchy and rules on the teachers' accomplishment of their tasks. Both concepts were operationalized in a survey measure. Effectiveness was defined as the internal perception of effectiveness by the faculty and by Iowa tests. Regression and correlational procedures were used to analyze the 112 schools, representing some 1330 teacher respondents, and test the theoretical relationships of mindfulness and enabling structure to effectiveness. Both mindfulness and structure were related to each other and to effectiveness. Both measures had weak relationships to mathematics achievement. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. |
