This study examined issues faced during implementation of school-based management (SBM) in New Jersey's special needs or Abbott districts, using a literature review, surveys of K-12 schools, and focus groups with central office administrators. The study examined forms of SBM, team operations, local autonomy versus state power, skills required to…

One of the most visible and widespread of the current educational reforms is the attempt to decentralize authority to schools and to involve teachers and others in shared decision making. Often occurring together as site-based shared decision making (SBDM), this reform is turning out to be more difficult to implement than once thought. Few noted…

Describes the successful use of the Delphi Dialog Technique (a goal-setting process) at East High School, Anchorage, Alaska, where it was used to obtain consensus among staff members about school-growth targets. (JW)

During 3-year period, Arizona junior high school's site-based team developed and implemented 10-step process for becoming middle school. They assessed the school and community, researched school reform, built a team, developed a mission statement, set goals and empowered staff members, established teaching teams, trained staff members and parents,…

This paper discusses the concept of a dual cultural and political perspective for analyzing interaction. It also illustrates how this dual perspective can explain how senior management teams (SMTs) operate in English secondary schools, in which senior faculty profess commitment to teamwork. Methodology included: (1) case studies of six secondary…

An SBM team chairman of a middle school-college collaboration explains ongoing problems, including teachers' discomfort with student and parent participation, teacher-administrator power struggles, the push for immediate results, and communication issues. Despite setbacks, the group has some tangible outcomes: improved safety procedures, a…

Trust is a significant factor in collective action. A composite case illustrates the value of trust as a critical element of effective teamwork in a self-managed school context. Trust depends on individuals' predilections, intensive communication and interaction patterns, team composition, guiding principles, and teammates' emotional bonding.…

Many schools across the United States are attempting to implement some form of decentralization and shared decision making. This paper identifies some of the challenges associated with implementing school-based decision making and describes ways in which some schools and their principals have dealt effectively with them. Three particular…

The reports included in this annotated bibliography of 11 publications on school improvement teams suggest that ownership and commitment to improvement are natural consequences of shared planning and decisionmaking, that overcentralization has severely limited the scope of teachers' professional discretion, and that quality circles--stressing…

Because schools must still respond to federal reporting requirements while exercising greater responsibility for funding and administering local programs that were once under state and federal administration, and because of the increased public outcry for local accountability, many school districts have maintained large central administrative…

Adults participating in a Los Angeles "school family" network will be engaged for the next several years in the Annenberg Challenge--a national reform initiative aimed at improving student performance. Participation offers opportunities to develop a coherent K-12 education plan, access extra resources, and pursue collaborative…

Whereas participative management and quality circles have foundered in American schools, teacher and principal empowerment, a more focused process, has great potential for facilitating significant, long-lasting school improvement. For empowerment to succeed, educators must be trained to take risks and be exposed to challenging conditions. (MLH)

Many school districts and schools find that they have an incomplete understanding of site-based management (SBM). This guidebook provides a systemwide approach to site-based management, using SBM as a strategy for school improvement and increased student success rather than for managing the status quo. It identifies nine essential perspectives and…

Site-based decisionmaking programs offer important opportunities for school systems; however, the risks involved are significant and the decision to embrace the concept at the local level is a highly complex one. With site-based decisionmaking programs, teachers are directly involved in making decisions that affect the whole school, not merely…

Examines how schools currently interpret shared decision making (SDM), discussing how one district uses SDM to assess student outcomes, coordinating it with other changes in the district designed to create educational change. The article explains what happens when good theory from business makes bad practice in education, presenting possible…