Discusses the results of a three-year collaborative research project documenting the effectiveness of the school reform process. The study describes efforts of the Consortium for the Advancement of Public Education in Southeast North Carolina (CAPE) to support schools as they change. Areas showing the most improvement included participative…

To remain viable, classrooms must be transformed into learning communities wherein deep ideas are developed. A Pennsylvania superintendent (Owen J. Roberts School District, Pottstown, PA) describes how discussions of great literature among administrators, faculty, and board members have helped forge shared understandings as they tackled thorny…

A survey of students in 125 randomly selected public high schools in Kentucky revealed minimal student involvement in school decision making. However, 77% of respondents would like to be involved. Principals surveyed closely supported students' views. Recommendations for principals and school councils are discussed. (MLH)

This study examined the role of senior public relations administrators in institutional decision making through a survey of presidents and senior public relations officers at the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (SSHE). Findings indicated that SSHE senior public relations administrators are often not included in…

Describes how camp counselors can foster camaraderie among campers through participative decision making, name games, listening, adventure courses, storytelling, spending time in nature, decorating cabins, avoiding favoritism, setting rules, admitting faults, setting group goals, and praising sincere efforts. (TD)

Study develops an instrument to investigate the relationship between the perception of full-time, in-house campus attorneys and chief student affairs administrators concerning their influence in institutional decision-making. Based on results of the study, makes recommendations for collaborative decision making. (Contains 27 references.)…

Building capacity in schools means developing a new understanding of leadership capacity--broad-based, skillful participation in the work of leadership. Leadership capacity can be seen as a complex, interactive framework, with four types of schools and school communities. Leadership is everyone's work, but it does not require extraordinary…

Challenged to increase leadership opportunities for teachers, an El Paso elementary school principal appointed two master teachers to a vice-principal vacancy, increased teacher collaboration time, and experimented with vertical-team representation, teacher input for hiring decisions, and creative scheduling. Only the principal can actually…

Discusses the articles in this special issue on classrooms that are democratic communities. Outlines a democratic classroom model and then discusses that paradigm in practice. Offers a list of selected readings and resources, containing 53 professional readings, six professional resources, and 38 books suggested by members of the author team. (SR)

Describes adapting an organizational technique used by cartoon animators to camp planning. A story board is a bulletin board on which are posted tasks on file cards. Columns for "to do,""doing," and "done" make it easy to track progress, add and save information, involve other staff members, set priorities, organize…

Discusses the problem of a democratic state facing multiple educational reform movements and establishes an outer boundary for what forms of school initiatives ought to be permissible. Included are claims of certain fundamentalist parents and the racialist "Christian Identity" religion that undergirds much of the militia movement. (GR)

Reviews 77 empirical and case studies of school-based management (SBM) implementations reported between 1985 and 1995 to determine typical obstacles and promising ameliorative strategies. There is no firm evidence of SBM's effects on students. Administrative-control SBM would probably produce the least amount of school change. Community-control…

Explores the role and importance of faculty governance based on personal experience at the University of California, Berkeley (which has one of the country's strongest faculty governance systems) and the University of Michigan (with a weaker system more representative of national norms). Discusses the increasing market-related obstacles to…

Inadequate school facility planning carries fiscal, human, and academic costs. Building a responsive school requires that future inhabitants participate in the planning process. The accommodation of various building-use patterns, teaching methods, and learning styles reflects how satisfactorily a school building performs for its users. New…

When embarking on school/community-based management, nine Hawaii elementary schools trained their staff in facilitative leadership and received technical assistance from district offices. Schools can involve more parents by reaching a shared understanding about parental involvement, developing appropriate involvement strategies, providing parents…