School-based management/shared decision-making (SBM/SDM) in New York City rests on the conviction that schools can be improved by giving school professionals and parents the flexibility to develop local solutions for local problems. Accountability is critical to this approach; a school system cannot ask school staff to accept responsibility for…

This manual is designed to help teachers organize vocational student organizations (VSOs) as part of vocational education courses. The manual is based on modern business/industry personnel management theory and practice, using personnel management techniques usually referred to as organizational development. The manual provides teachers with the…

The effect of quality circles at Iowa State University on absenteeism, performance evaluation, perceptions of the organization climate, job satisfaction, and perceived opportunities for professional and personal growth was measured in this study. The process of quality circles is designed to promote job fulfillment and organizational productivity…

The Professional Growth and Staff Development Program of the Mehlville School District in St. Louis, Missouri, is comprehensive in nature and has four distinct but complementary components. (1) The districtwide instructional improvement component focuses upon research-based teaching, and provides teachers and administrators with a common body of…

Findings are presented of the responses of over 800 teachers to a questionnaire seeking opinions on (1) working conditions; (2) support and assistance from peers, administrators, and parents; (3) participation in decision making; and (4) reform proposals. Responses to the survey indicated that the majority of teachers (1) support many reform…

This study explored the relationship between the setting of a teacher center and the ways in which the center is used by persons who participate in the activities offered there, focusing on the Workshop Center for Open Education of City College, New York. A description is given of the facility itself--the physical plant, location, educational…

School site management, a decentralized approach to decision-making and school governance, is intended to help parents and teachers share increased accountability for student learning and provide a broadened leadership base through teacher empowerment. This approach involves a shift of decision-making responsibility from the school district to…

Teachers frequently need assistance in meeting the needs of students with behavior and learning problems. Contacts with peers and other staff usually are informal and do not allow thorough analysis of the problem. The Building Support System model used in some North Dakota schools provides prompt, accessible support to teachers through peer…

The Dade County (Florida) Public School system has had various types of school-based management (SBM) procedures in operation since 1974. During the 1985-86 school year, a committee of principals and other administrators reviewed the concepts of SBM from a different viewpoint, using various materials that addressed the professionalization of…

Existing schooling structures cannot produce the changes necessary for substantial educational improvement. Although school-site management literature offers no procedural recipes, experience suggests that a certain configuration of concepts, processes, and enabling conditions can produce substantial and sustained school improvement. This paper…

An overview is provided of the 1985-86 activities of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC). After citing the section of the California Administrative Code establishing the ASCCC and listing the officers and members of the organization, the annual report presents a statement by the ASCCC president, Mark Edelstein, regarding…

The school reform movement which has accelerated over the last two years provides a point of departure for this discussion of where educators stand today in the battle to preserve and strengthen the public schools and of directions that need to be taken toward democratic school reform, particularly in the social studies. Much of the discussion is…

The Goal Based Education Program of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory has been engaged since 1981 in profiling secondary schools and/or secondary programs practicing goal based education. Profiles are presented of 17 of these schools representing different geographical areas and diverse student populations. The profiles describe the…

This paper describes the Responsible Living Environment (RLE) which has been used to promote a community atmosphere within the University of Wisconsin--Whitewater residence halls consistent with the educational mission of the university. It includes the university's housing mission statement, a definition of Responsible Living Environment, and a…

In education, action research is research carried out by practitioners with a view to improving their professional practice and understanding it better. This paper concentrates particularly upon classroom action research by inservice teachers, although the approach can also be embodied in preservice training courses and can embrace a very wide…