This paper summarizes an ethnohistorical study of the way in which a medium-sized suburban school district's implementation of site-based, shared decision making interacted with attitudes and procedures created by earlier district reforms. A second focus is on how the adoption of a new curriculum framework, based on a whole-language philosophy and…

American River College's (ARC) Human Resources Development (HRD) plan for 1991-92 marks the third year of implementation of HRD funding at the college. Funds for HRD were received as part of Assembly Bill (AB) 1725 and activities have included computer training, multicultural awareness, shared governance, and "flexible calender" (paid non-teaching…

This quarterly report, covering July 1 through September 30, 1990, summarizes problems with Project Creating a New Approach to Learning (CANAL), part of a court-mandated desegregation plan in Chicago (Illinois). CANAL's goal is to train the constituent representatives of the public schools to engage in shared decision-making and to develop…

The Leda Study, a research project, examined Sweden's team teaching system. The working conditions of teacher teams in different types of school organizations are described, with a focus on group decision-making and problem-solving processes. Methodology involved observations of teacher teams in four schools; interviews with teachers, team…

This study examines economic development in Third World countries and the use of portable video systems in development projects. The study, conducted in 1985, attempts to measure the level of effectiveness of videotape programs as a communication tool for training rural subsistence women in Honduras in technical aspects of pig-keeping. Classical…

The strong emphasis on staff development stems, at least in part, from studies of innovation that profilerated in the wake of "A Nation at Risk" (1983). Current guidelines for staff development provide specific information about instructional strategies that promote student achievement, and the kinds of interventions that help teachers…

Given that faculty advising plays an important role in college level retention, this paper examines three possible forms of faculty advisor-student relationships--paternalism, agency, and contract--and found the contract form to be superior. The paternalistic model in which the advisor assumes responsibility and authority for decision making was…

This two-part document reports on the summative, district-level evaluation of 33 Dade County (Florida) schools that participated in a 3-year pilot School-Based-Management/Shared Decision-Making (SBM/SDM) program, and describes the operation and impact of selected innovations operating in some of the schools. Evaluation information was drawn from…

This study compares parent participation in a suburban New York school district with parent participation in five Chicago city schools. Section one provides an overview of the study, which was based on an examination of external innovations (such as laws, court orders, and new programs) that created new bases for parents to become involved in…

This document defines contrasting assumptions about the labor force--theory X and theory Y--and shows how they apply to the pyramid organizational structure, examines the assumptions of the two theories, and finally, based on a survey and individual interviews, proposes a merger of theories X and Y to produce theory Z. Organizational structures…

Options and suggestions for setting up successful study commissions were gathered from 10 commissions that had recommended revisions of state educational policy on a variety of issues. Composed of respected citizens from across the state, each task force was created by the governor or legislature for a fixed duration. Some recommendations for…

The empowerment of teachers through collaboration, a supervisory trend currently receiving much attention and emphasis, employs variability and encourages cooperative decisionmaking. Despite its apparent popularity, collaboration can be viewed as unwieldy and difficult to manage with teachers who are already working under less than desirable…

A class council can collectively decide what components will make up the instructional system in an elementary school class. A class council is a friendly assembly made up of the students and the teacher; it meets to discuss and make decisions about all aspects of the instructional system, including objectives, grading, and materials. Each student…

A description is given of a faculty development program that is run by the faculty of the McCallie School, a private secondary school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three principles guide the program: (1) the quality of the educational program is the responsibility of the entire school community; (2) faculty that shares the responsibility for the…

For all students to become responsible citizens and productive workers, the nature of "effective learning" and the characteristics of schools providing it must change. This report reviews the value and potential of various proposals to change the instruction of at-risk students from a pedagogy of minimal basic skills to a pedagogy of…