Examines the role of ethnography as a resource in the process of needs assessment in a multi-ethnic, low-income section of Philadelphia. Analyzes the relationship between the targeted neighborhood's socioeconomic characteristics and human service environment and discusses the work done with neighborhood leaders in developing a plan based on the…

An analysis is presented of a resolution made by the Council of Europe's Ministers of Education regarding upcoming challenges for teachers and how teacher education can help teachers to face them. The analysis focuses not only on the resolution, but also on the decision-making structure of the council and its use of commissioned background papers…

Sets forth key principles in the management of educational reform: (1) educational decision-making based on explicit philosophical statements; (2) enhancement and extension of teacher professionalism; and (3) sense of ownership among participants in educational development. Considers national and local issues. (SV)

This article examines the problem of maintaining an effective balance between the bureaucratic and professional models of school management in the context of teachers as constrained decision-makers. (TE)

This article argues that collective bargaining has affected, and has been affected by, pressures from the educational reform movement to include teachers in the formulation of educational policies and programs. (TE)

Four tenets should guide curricular decisions for young gifted children, aged three-six: (1) young gifted children have special learning needs; (2) curriculum should be drawn from their special interests and needs; (3) curriculum should emphasize exploration and play; and (4) children should be engaged in the curricular decision-making process.…

The School Development Program, conceived during the 1960s, is a collaborative process designed to enhance school climate through shared decision-making and guided problem-solving approaches. Basic components are the school management and planning team, the mental health team, and the parents' program. This evaluation of Cleveland (Ohio) Public…

The article examines four basic elements of staff development needed to manage the changes in educational systems today and in the future: multidimensional professional development for all staff, decentralized performance-based systems, understanding and implementing the change process, and the changing role of the staff developer. (SM)

Comments on major issues in Canadian teacher education; describes a trend toward structural collaboration in British Columbia's (BC) teacher preparation. The BC College of Teachers, an independent professional organization, removes government control of the teaching profession and places it in the hands of teachers and administrators in public…

The Eight-Year Study was a landmark attempt to design, implement, and evaluate democratic secondary schools. Reexamining this 1930s initiative allows us to consider how democratic priorities can transform educational practice, evaluation, and policy analysis. The norms, values, and technologies that currently guide mainstream analysis are poorly…

Provides an overview of a six-year collaborative literacy project. Discusses several key elements, processes, and beliefs that played a crucial role in the transformation of literacy practices in a small K-8 school district. Discusses time for growth, literate and thoughtful inservice sessions, imaginative expansion of roles, ongoing support and…

School-based development and self-evaluation were introduced at 16 Scottish schools. After 15 months, 5 schools had made substantial progress toward their chosen priorities, whereas 2 had hardly begun. Conflicts were evident between the collegiate style of self-evaluation and the hierarchical power structure in most schools. (SV)

The curriculum conference is a specific, practical strategy for deliberative curriculum problem solving at the district or national level. This article explains the deliberation method and its two important characteristics, argumentation and interaction. An analysis of all three decision-making processes in one such conference showed that…

Rejecting the voucher concept for promoting unequal education, this article endorses the "public/private partnership" model of reinvented school governance. Under this system, teachers and administrators remain public employees but are managed by a private company. Jay P. Goldman's sidebar criticizes privatization schemes as unworkable…

A Michigan high school abandoned its coercive school management practices for a system actively involving students in decision making. To help students feel they could make a difference, the Reaching Success through Involvement format was used to identify six workable student-involvement areas: extracurricular activities, school governance,…