The meanings and roles of democracy and education, and the interaction of the two, are some of the most difficult questions society faces. The definition of democracy varies widely from a political mechanism to an ideal. Past efforts to infuse democracy into schools have generally been of two types. One is requiring a greater role for teachers in…

In 1990, the President's Task Force on College Governance was created at Grant MacEwan Community College (GMCC) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to survey college staff about their attitudes and expectations regarding their involvement in college decision-making processes and to make recommendations for improvement in these processes. The first…

An ongoing 5-year study of Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA) implementation in four rural Kentucky school districts explores the establishment of school-based decision making (SBDM) in the 20 schools in the districts. In the 3 years since KERA took effect, 10 of the 20 schools have adopted SBDM. The paper focuses primarily on the seven…

The Chicago Public Schools have experienced major reforms since the late 1980s. This has resulted in increased power to local school communities and the creation of local school councils (LSCs) that employ its principals. This paper presents findings of a study that examined principals' perceptions of their changing roles under Chicago's school…

This paper describes school restructuring efforts undertaken since 1991 in the Virginia Beach Public Schools (Virginia). These efforts are based on a resolution adopted by the school board in December 1991, which supported the implementation of school-based management and shared decision making. Several common restructuring themes were shared by…

Aimed at central office administrators, school board members, staff developers, and state-level policy makers, this document is about restructuring the educational system and the two most prevalent restructuring strategies--school-based management and shared decision making. The document attempts to create awareness of the current system's…

Changes in shared decision making as a result of the implementation of school-based management in the Dade County public school system are described in this report. Background information on the school system and its restructuring plan, implemented during the 1987-88 school year, is presented, followed by a discussion of changes in participative…

The development of a comprehensive training model designed specifically for school-based decision making is discussed in this report, with a focus on teaching relevant skills and when to utilize them. Loosely based on Vroom and Yetton's 1973 model of participative decision making, the model is characterized by a general-to-specific continuum and…

Results of a study of the efforts of three Texas school districts to develop school-based management are reported in this paper, which discusses project development and progress in implementation. Fifteen schools--2 senior high, 6 junior high/middle schools and 7 elementary schools--from three districts--one predominatly Hispanic, one suburban,…

The key to producing professional quality documents is the dialogue between writers and editors. Such a dialogue should include six major components: genuineness, accurate empathetic understanding, unconditional positive regard, presentness, a spirit of mutual equality, and a supportive psychological climate. Such an atmosphere was created at one…

A case study describes how a rural local education agency (Allegany County, Maryland) developed a comprehensive staff development system. It presents some contextual and theoretical background information, summarizes the problem as perceived by key actors, and then describes a series of activities resulting in the development of the comprehensive…

This English-language-only bibliography cites 346 items concerning agricultural and farmer cooperatives. Some citations are annotated, and all contain full title, author, publisher, and reference numbers to the AGRICOLA database. Works were entered in the AGRICOLA database between January 1979 and March 1989. Materials are available through…

This document is intended to answer the questions most frequently asked by vocational instructional program (VIP) advisory committee members. The foreword states that VIP advisory committees are being promoted and enhanced because studies have found that one of the most common characteristics associated with high quality vocational education…

Quality circles have proliferated in organizations throughout the 1980s, but their success depends on careful planning and monitoring, and on an awareness of social psychology and group dynamics. This presentation accordingly evaluates some of the assumptions of the literature on quality circles and suggests ways in which social psychology…

The College of Marin has adopted a model of collegial governance that involves the entire campus community in recommending policies and procedures that determine the rules by which employees and students live. The model, which was designed by a task force representing faculty, staff, and students, is based on the U.S. Government model of…