1. Introduction

Nowadays, the necessity of continuous and permanent attendance of standard is felt in various fields of human life in general and in training and education field in particular because that standard is a ground for similar performance and an indicator for identifying the rate of individuals' success in designated works. (Nilly Ahamad Abadi, 2003).

Generally, one can study human resource standards in three aspects of knowledge, function and behavior.

Knowledge standards consist of the knowledge expected to be possessed by the individuals. In fact, they define scientific issues that should be learned by individuals. Performance standards consist of a qualitative performance shown by the individual in order to perform his/her duties and to provide expected services (Rahimi, 2003). Behavioral standards belonged to individual's values, beliefs and habits which can be derived from both scientific and performance aspects.

Previous studies

In 1994, a guide consisting of ISO 9001 international standard for standardization of educational institutes was developed in Australia/ New Zealand. Its introduction reads: "any educational complex should design a qualitative system compatible with organizational functions. Of course, the qualitative system depends on management method. It means that qualitative system does not determine applied programs in Education Organization. To educational complex, it may seem in some cases that one or more systems are not executable. In such conditions, the educational complex should define them in qualitative manual book. (Australian/ New Zealand Standard,1994).

In 1997, Mississippi State considered six standards for educational administrators. They included facilitating the development; execution and monitoring; supporting training and education as well as confirming the culture of the school and helpful training programs for students' learning and employees' professional growth; ensuring organizational management, functions and solutions to provide an efficient secure and learning environment' collaborating with families and meeting different interests and requirements; activities along with honesty, equity and ethics; and understanding and responding to political, social, economical, legal and cultural concepts. (Lewis1997).

In his article titled "standards for leaders", Ralph Waldo Emerson points to a center called "the consortium of certificate issuance for inter-state public schools' managers" for professional development and survival of the schools. He defines six standards for schools' leaders in 38 states. These standards are regarding training leadership, professional development, organized leadership, students' supporting services, collaboration and relation with parents and technology. Each one consists of details in three aspects of values and beliefs; knowledge; and performance indicators. (Emerson 2001).

In 2001, Technology Standards Society for Administrators (TSSA) developed standards to inform the administrators and to enable them to utilize the technology effectively. The society believed that the administrator plays a critical role in the school's success and such standards could the administrator in promoting the learning and activities in the school.

To hire the administrators, Pennsylvanian Education Ministry has a specialized training program and has defined criteria which evaluate the potential talent of administrative candidates to fill this position through training relationship skills, scientific readiness, backgrounds and organizational competencies (www.pde.state.pa.us/).

In Chicago, the requirements for accepting new administrators include managerial degree (preferably M.A.), at least six year experience of administration and management classrooms, participating in 70-hour training classes and courses, in-class training in the form of accommodation, one-month training in boarding schools and a 22-hour specialized professional growth training in per two years (Khanifar 2003).

In 2003, ANSI declared principles in which the administrator's role was simpler than older roles. They believed that a long list of responsibilities for administrators will make an incorrect understanding of the administration and will make the talents to refuse such responsibility. So, the number of suitable volunteers for accepting this responsibility will decrease.

National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) has defined 12 necessary characteristics in four categories:

A. administrative skills: analyzing the problems, judgement, organizational capability and determination

B. inter-individual skills: leadership, sensitivity, stress endurance

C. relationship: verbal or written relations

D. Other skills: different interests, personal motivation and training values (Tabatabaeei Bafghy 1999).

Training standardization Movement in Iran

From 1925, when Agriculture, Trading and Public Interests Ministry found "Weights and Amounts Organization" to 1984 when "Standard and Industrial Research Organization" began its operation under the supervision of Industries Ministry, training standards were not allocated special attention and the designed standards were highly trading-oriented. After all, a few standards were designed for equipment and buildings of the schools, but there is still no special document regarding human resources especially educational administration.

In 2001, some Tehran's educational centers tried to provide an appropriate workplace, design short/ long term development programs and plans and provide suitable facilities/ equipment. They established a scientific, comprehensive and widespread system and provided the possibility of standardization of their activities and programs. Finally, they received ISO 9000: 2000 Certification. In 2002, in order to develop human resources standard indicators in education and training as well as utilizing quality improvement methods and productivity promotion compatible with such standards and localizing them based on internal experiences, the Education Ministry established "the Office for Improving the Quality and Guiding the Standards." (Khanifar 2002). In 2004, the Office organized its first seminar in which different ideas regarding standardizing education and training were represented and some of them are provided here.

Nadir Gholy Ghorchian indicates some of standard development models as follow:

Mechanical Model of Developing Standard: a few people address to standards development by using guardianship method and formal decision-makings. In fact, a mechanical plan based on standards is designed for several generations and some bodies and organizations are designated to implement it. The most important problem regarding this program is that it creates a stereotype nation.

Model of Standard-Driven Teaching and learning: in this model, the standards are driven and developed based on achieved activities and experiences in teaching and learning.

Accredited of Standard-Based Education Reform: in this model, balanced and validated national and international standards form the basis of education reforms.

Developing Standard Based upon System Approach: in such model, the standards are finalized and developed by compounding inputs, processes, mediate outputs, final outputs and outcomes.

Standard Model of Human Capital Development: in this model, standards are developed through global education standard and paying attention to global economy.

Clinical Model for Developing Standard: in this model, because of weakness and, a special standard is developed and such standards are used as treatment and crisis resolving factor (such clinical treatment regarding a patient and his/her certain disease).

Standard-Driven Research: in such model, the standards are developed based on research and participation philosophy.

Virtual Model: in such model, the standards are designed on the basis of experiences beyond certain time/ place and these standards are considered as the factors of qualitative promotion and success.

International Standard: standards are formed globally and finalized via comparative studies. Then, others apply them by validating and localizing them.

Eclectic Model: the standards are developed and applied based on combination, integration and summing up other models with a technical language.

Seyed Mahdi Alvany summarizes main human resource management steps in three entrance, maintenance and exit periods. He believes that the standards have an important role in these periods and they can help the administrator to manage human resources effectively.

Some people believe that formal/informal structures especially relations among them are very important in human resource standardization and pay attention to informal group perspectives, the relations among such group in/ out of the organization, social/ material incentives and the collaboration between environment and organization (Etzioni 1994). Connoisseurs such as Karl Weick believe that in qualifying human resources, making an opportunity for effort and mistake as well as chance and ambiguity is important factor in promoting administrators' performance to meet technical and social needs. (Karol Weick 2003)

In the other hand, the beliefs created in social and professional (individual with role) interactions are considered and important models are developed to guide behaviors in various social situations. Mayer and Rowan (1997) and Dimaggio and Powell (1991) claim that a group of inter-organizational agents (especially Parliament, government and local councils) are developing the cultures and standards of human resources.

Based on researches and polling the connoisseurs, the following model was developed:

2. Materials and methods

The general objective of the present research is to provide an appropriate model in order to develop scientific and performance standards for educational administrators of Tehran's high schools.

All administrators in Tehran's high schools such as public high schools, vocational schools, work and knowledge schools and pre-university schools have been worked in 2628 institutes in educational year 2003-2004.

By applying layer sampling method, Tehran was divided into four geographical areas namely north, south, east and west. One region was selected in each area and then 140 administrators were chosen as research sample based on the number of administrators in the areas and the gender portion.

Since we couldn't find any questionnaire which met the research needs, the authors designed a questionnaire. To determine the reliability, some questionnaires along with a preliminary model were prepared and distributed among some teachers, connoisseurs, statistical advisors, students and administrators. After reviewing the ideas, some changes were made, some were reformed, some were omitted and the final questionnaire was designed. To determine the validity, alpha Kronbach was applied and the validity coefficient of scientific indicators and performance indicators were calculated 0/81 and 0/90 respectively.

3. Results

As shown in table 1, the average rate of scientific standards is 89/02 for female and 45/54 for male administrators. Since the smallest amount is considered as rate 1, the rate of male administrators is smaller than female administrators. Since a meaningful level is observed, both ranges are lower than 0/0001. So we can reject this zero hypothesis that says there is no difference between male and female administrators regarding scientific standards. Therefore, one can conclude that female administrators develop scientific standards and choose/apply administrators' assessment methods more than male principals.

Table 1: the average rate of administrators' scientific standards

Question	administrators' scientific standards	Average rates among women	Average rates among men	Meaningfulness
1	Familiarity with planning principles and self-upgrading about new planning methods	71/11	69/97	0/804
2	Being aware of organization/ school's general aims in order to plan correctly	76/16	65/60	0/015
3	Familiarity with theoretical basics and processes of organizing	82/10	60/45	0/000
4	Familiarity with budget basics and financial processed	80/68	61/68	0/002
5	Enough familiarity with administrative affairs	81/86	60/65	0/001
6	Familiarity with various leadership style in order to utilize effective leadership styles	77/74	4/14	0/027
7	Familiarity with decision-making process in order to find the best solutions	81/61	60/87	0/001
8	Familiarity with creativity and innovation process	73/45	67/95	0/371
9	Familiarity with psychological skills in order to cooperate with teachers, employees, students, parents and others.	74/88	66/70	0/136
10	Understanding the importance of relationship and the outcomes of disability in making effective relations	79/66	62/56	0/006
11	Familiarity with assessment principles and directing training process in line with designed objectives	82/86	59/79	0/000
12	Familiarity with health and safety principles	84/88	58/03	0/000

As shown in table 2, the average rate of performance standards is 84/29 and 58/55 for female and male administrators respectively. Since the smallest amount is considered as rate 1, the rate of male administrators is smaller than female administrators. The meaningful level for both ranges are lower than 0/0001. So we can reject this zero hypothesis that says there is no difference between male and female administrators regarding performance standards. Therefore, one can conclude that female administrators develop performance standards more than male principals.

Table 2: the average rate of administrators' scientific standards

Question	administrators' scientific standards	Average rates among women	Average rates among men	p-value
1	High school training planning skills	77/45	64/48	0/010
2	Continuous and critical evaluation of programs and making changes if necessary	80/59	61/75	0/002
3	The capability of prioritizing first educational three months	77/99	64/15	0/002
4	Controlling the activities in order to achieve the aims	80/14	62/15	0/022
5	Balancing between administrators and their designed activities and making professional teams	82/45	60/15	0/001
6	The capability of detecting conversions in the activities	77/95	64/05	0/000
7	The capability of making crisis management and task force in crisis conditions	75/46	66/20	0/026
8	The capability of using resources and opportunities appropriately	74/73	66/83	0/130
9	The capability of utilizing new technologies and methods such as Internet and applying IT system	77/85	64/13	0/195
10	The capability of applying effective forces by using standard hiring methods	77/33	64/58	0/029
11	Attracting, supplying and allocating effective resources	81/19	61/23	0/045
12	Correct leadership of collaborating teams and directing the efforts	76/61	65/21	0/002
13	Appraising the successes made by teachers, students, employees and others	74/22	67/27	0/046
14	Reviewing various options before decision making and emphasizing on key issues	80/47	61/86	0/216
15	Commitment to implement the decisions	73/94	67/52	0/002
16	The capability of imaging the efficiency of conclusion resulted from decisions	81/48	60/98	0/212
17	Seeking new ideas actively	75/16	66/6	0/001
18	Strong imagination and seeing beyond the problems and situations	87/62	63/4	0/149
19	Creating effective cooperation models with parents and others	80/00	62/27	0/015
20	Non-irrational treatment against opposite ideas and attitudes	75/15	66/47	0/004
21	Authorizing school affairs to employees with regard to their competencies	75/78	65/92	0/156
22	Linking with other organizations to use their facilities effectively	77/54	64/40	0/100
23	Trying to make collaboration spirit in others and doing the affairs collectively	78/39	63/66	0/032
24	The skill of applying information resources and multi-evaluations	74/23	67/27	0/014
25	Non-involving biases and feelings and multi-evaluations	76/69	65/13	0/268
26	Representing rational thinking and self-analysis during assessment	74/43	67/09	0/049
27	The skill of describing and analyzing assessment results and using them in decision making	76/40	65/39	0/201
28	Analyzing managerial weak/ strength points in the school	68/58	72/17	0/061

As shown in table 3, high school administrators believe that among 12 scientific standard priorities, "Being aware of organization/ school's general aims in order to plan correctly" has the highest and "familiarity with health and safety principles" has the lowest importance. On the other hand, %57/1 of administrators believes that this is a necessary model and %32/9 considers that it is very important. Therefore, one can conclude that more than %90 of high school administrators believes that represented model is highly suitable for scientific assessment.

Table 3: the value of knowledge indicators by administrators

Question	Administrators' knowledge standards	Value
1	Familiarity with planning principles and self-upgrading about new planning methods	3/79
2	Being aware of organization/ school's general aims in order to plan correctly	3/83 ( the highest)
3	Familiarity with theoretical basics and processes of organizing	3/42
4	Familiarity with budget basics and financial processed	3/37
5	Enough familiarity with administrative affairs	3/42
6	Familiarity with various leadership style in order to utilize effective leadership styles	3/38
7	Familiarity with decision-making process in order to find the best solutions	3/45
8	Familiarity with creativity and innovation process	3/37
9	Familiarity with psychological skills in order to cooperate with teachers, employees, students, parents and others.	3/66
10	Understanding the importance of relationship and the outcomes of disability in making effective relations	3/36
11	Familiarity with assessment principles and directing training process in line with designed objectives	3/47
12	Familiarity with health and safety principles	3/11 ( the lowest)

As table 4 shows, high school administrators believe that among 28 performance standards, "Analyzing managerial weak/ strength points in the school" has the highest and "Representing rational thinking and self-analysis during assessment" has the lowest importance. %55 of administrators believes that this is a necessary model and %35 considers that it is very important. Generally, one can conclude that more than %90 of high school administrators believes that represented model is highly suitable for performance assessment.

Table 4: the value of performance indicators by administrators

Question	Administrators' performance standards	Value
1	High school training planning skills	3/75
2	Continuous and critical evaluation of programs and making changes if necessary	3/49
3	The capability of prioritizing first educational three months	3/45
4	Controlling the activities in order to achieve the aims	3/65
5	Balancing between administrators and their designed activities and making professional teams	3/30
6	The capability of detecting conversions in the activities	3/36
7	The capability of making crisis management and task force in crisis conditions	3/43
8	The capability of using resources and opportunities appropriately	3/46
9	The capability of utilizing new technologies and methods such as Internet and applying IT system	3/32
10	The capability of applying effective forces by using standard hiring methods	3/22
11	Attracting, supplying and allocating effective resources	3/23
12	Correct leadership of collaborating teams and directing the efforts	3/61
13	Appraising the successes made by teachers, students, employees and others	3/62
14	Reviewing various options before decision making and emphasizing on key issues	3/42
15	Commitment to implement the decisions	3/70
16	The capability of imaging the efficiency of conclusion resulted from decisions	3/27
17	Seeking new ideas actively	3/47
18	Strong imagination and seeing beyond the problems and situations	3/33
19	Creating effective cooperation models with parents and others	3/31
20	Non-irrational treatment against opposite ideas and attitudes	3/39
21	Authorizing school affairs to employees with regard to their competencies	3/50
22	Linking with other organizations to use their facilities effectively	3/10
23	Trying to make collaboration spirit in others and doing the affairs collectively	3/51
24	The skill of applying information resources and multi-evaluations	3/23
25	Non-involving biases and feelings and multi-evaluations	3/50
26	Representing rational thinking and self-analysis during assessment	3/06 (the lowest)
27	The skill of describing and analyzing assessment results and using them in decision making	3/54
28	Analyzing managerial weak/ strength points in the school	3/78 (the highest)

4. Conclusion

Since there has been no research in this field in the country, so the conclusion is based on its results. For the same reason, the indicators mentioned in this research and indicators existed in foreign resources are compared and their similarities are summed up in a table.

The table of similarities

Research items	Australia/ New Zealand	Mississippi	ISLLC	TSSA	Missouri	Elise	Pennsylvania	Chicago	NASSP
Planning	*					*
Organizing		*	*			*	*	*	*
Mobilizing facilities and resources	*	*		*	*	*
Conducting and leading		*	*	*					*
Decision making	*								*
Innovation and creativity			*		*		*
Communications		*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Monitoring and assessment	*	*		*		*

By reviewing the questions, one can argue that scientific and performance standards of male/female high school administrators have a meaningful difference between single and married administrators as well as their gender. Married female administrators obtained higher standards. Therefore, such a difference among female administrators is higher than males and regarding the value of indicators, females achieved higher rates than males in both scientific and performance standards. In other cases, there observed no meaningful difference regarding scientific and performance standards between male and female administrators.

5. Recommendations

§ This research and similar studies are considered as good starting point for determining the standards and executing them in human resources of the Education Ministry if we accept that after one decade of standardization of human resources in the world, we must also address to this matter.

§ Since standardization is not limited to Tehran and administration position, it is suggested that such researches would be executed in other provinces or even the districts of one city separately as well as for different positions in the Education Ministry.

§ In the case of determining standards for other provinces, we can achieve more applicable results via comparing the results of such researches.

§ By evaluating the schools received ISO Certification and comparing them with similar schools, we can determine whether receiving ISO Certification would increase the qualitative level of training environments or not.

§ Since benchmarking is represented after standards development in standardization field, addressing this issue could result in helpful conclusions.

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