School councils, a school-based decision making (SBDM) form of governance, are mandated for Kentucky public schools by the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Commonly composed of the principal, three teachers, and two parents, the school council is designed to be a form of democratic or shared school governance. The missions of school councils…

This report examines West Virginia's education-reform efforts. It focuses on the relationship between a school's level of inclusion and the participatory characteristics of the faculty senate's site-based management. Based on four case studies, the report asks whether the fundamental principles implied by West Virginia's effort to shift to…

A case study exploring the relationship between local leadership and the school-community partnership was conducted in a small, isolated Australian mining town. Data were generated from written materials such as the local newspaper and interviews with 8 school staff members and 11 community members involved with the schools or representing…

School-reform efforts in recent years have stressed, and expanded, the leadership role of the principal. But in the view of many analysts, the task of transforming a school is too complex for one person to accomplish alone. Consequently, a new model of leadership is developing: distributed leadership. This Research Roundup summarizes five…

Teachers at every grade level and in every setting are trying to manage and teach students with an increasing diverse range of needs. This paper describes a collaborative study to observe, record, and assess the impact and outcomes of an integrated approach for teaching skills of self-discipline to students considered to be academically at-risk.…

This work provides school change leaders with tools, techniques, tips, examples, illustrations, and stories about promoting school change. Tools provided include histograms, surveys, run charts, weighted voting, force-field analysis, decision matrices, and many others. Chapter 1, "Introduction," applies a matrix for asking questions…

This study examined teachers' attraction to school council service and factors that impacted that attraction. Participants were randomly selected public school teachers enrolled in graduate education courses at three Kentucky state universities. They performed three tasks. First, they completed a biographical form that yielded descriptive…

This article analyzes the effects of senior secondary-education reform in The Netherlands and the effects that these changes have exerted on teachers. It focuses on the way that changes, such as profiles, new exam programs, and alterations in "study house," interacted with and influenced teachers' tasks. The paper provides an overview of…

Historically, participation in school affairs gave rural people a working knowledge of how democracy functioned. In the late 19th century, power shifted from the voice of the many to the voice of a few, as "expert" opinion increasingly influenced state legislators, governors, and national political leaders. The push to consolidate…

Advocates community control of urban schools through the fair representation of minority and low income groups on local school boards. Holds that schools must reinforce and support the culture, values, and identities of minority children if they are to prepare these groups for success in the world. (GC)

Motivated by the increasing prevalence of shared decision making and distributed leadership in restructured schools, six teams of Canadian secondary teachers were interviewed to explore their collective learning and the conditions influencing it. Qualitative and quantitative evidence identified numerous conditions to explain across-team learning…

The common ground process is an ongoing effort for inviting, scrutinizing, debating, and selecting ideas or making decisions about improving schools. Superintendents should assign a full-time communications person to executive staff, create a communications team, conduct a full-scale communications audit, listen better, urge the silent majority to…

Describes the design and impact of an inquiry-oriented professional development course on South Carolina teachers' perspectives of homeless children and families. Notes that multiple perspectives, participant involvement in goal setting, and opportunities to apply knowledge in community and school settings led to changed attitudes toward the…

Describes five characteristics of community college administrators who have successful interpersonal relationships. Suggests that they exhibit positive thoughts about colleagues, develop openness in interpersonal relationships, use a team approach, employ a wide decision-making base, and are concerned about how things appear to others. (AJL)

The Tribal Issues Management System was adopted in 1990 by the Comanche tribe to end internal conflict and promote participative decision making by the tribal community. Such a return to community- and tribal-wide inclusive consideration of public concerns results in action, restores trust and harmonious relations, and recreates feelings of…