Achievement scores drive much of the effort in today's accountability system, however, there is much more that occurs in every school, every day. School Centered Evidence Based Accountability can be used from micro to macro giving School Boards and Administration a process for monitoring the results of the entire school operation effectively and…

The challenges of implementing the Common Core State Standards and Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) provide momentum for facilitating teacher learning far beyond the capacity of current formal and informal professional development in most school districts. The implementation of the curricula that substantially increase the learning…

For 70 years, the Union City School District used a line-item budget system, a top down approach that was regarded by many as "deaf, dumb, and blind." This antiquated central administration process gave school leaders and staff little, if any, input into the distribution of resources for their schools, resulting in a redundancy of allocations,…

In Singapore, "decentralization" and "school-based reforms" are key words within the current education reform agenda. This article argues that a key success factor in this agenda is transformational leadership in school. With more autonomy given to the school, transformational leadership at the school level will facilitate the…

Site-management designs generally fail to establish structures and processes that help school communities work through cultural change. The Comer School Development Program succeeds because it supports a change in school culture and focuses on children's development, not just their speech, language, and intellectual capabilities. Lessons from…

During the 1987-88 school year, the notion of school-based management (SBM) was introduced in selected schools in the Dade County (Florida) Public Schools. The paper discusses the changes that are occurring in the shared decision-making (SDM) body of the SBM project over time. In June 1989, schools participating in the SBM program completed a form…

University of Southern California researchers found that schools using school-based management most effectively organized themselves to restructure curriculum and instruction. Stakeholders had genuine authority over budget, personnel, and curriculum and used this authority to introduce changes affecting teaching and learning. Effective SBM schools…

Describes a typical "good" school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that was transformed into an exceptional learning environment by a highly motivated principal and her staff. Audubon School's principal succeeded because she created a climate of high expectations; exposed teachers to professional growth activities; encouraged faculty…

Paul Norton Elementary School in Bettendorf, Iowa, was one of 27 schools chosen to participate in the NEA's Mastery in Learning Network project to empower teachers through site-based management. This article describes the school's ongoing progress at pursuing community-school partnerships, creative fund raising, and time management. (MLH)

When embarking on school/community-based management, nine Hawaii elementary schools trained their staff in facilitative leadership and received technical assistance from district offices. Schools can involve more parents by reaching a shared understanding about parental involvement, developing appropriate involvement strategies, providing parents…

The 1988 Chicago reforms require the school system to raise its student achievement levels to national norms in five years, reallocate resources away from the administration and toward schools, and establish local school councils as the basis for school-based management. So far, this reform implementation has not significantly affected student…

The education profession in Hong Kong has been experiencing waves of educational reforms since the early 1990s. A system of school-based management has been imported from Western countries without undergoing thorough discussion about the roles that teachers might play in facilitating it. The purpose of this article is to suggest a strategic mix…

The Mary Reynolds Babcock Project (MRBP) is a school improvement effort implemented at the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools during the 1990-91 school year. A total of 24 elementary school teachers, called visiting teachers, visited designated lab sites within the system for 2 weeks each to observe exemplary instructional programs and be…

The principal of a partly restructured elementary school describes effective tactics for starting the process. These include teaching and demonstrating change, making change pay (by rewarding teachers for making risky changes), picking a focus or mission, and involving everybody. Although the process is not complete and some costs are unknown, the…

To implement shared decision-making, a Colorado school district needed three years to venture through the cage door, scare the cat away, and experience an increase in involvement from district constituents. Blocking can occur because of outdated policies reflecting centralized control, perceptions of the principal as prime manipulator, master…