Principals' use of the curriculum council to develop the professional management function and establish a position of educational leadership is recommended. Additional benefits would include improved communications with staff and increased professional collegiality. (MJL)

The authors emphasize that, although the "Education for All Handicapped Children Act" provides for inclusion of students in the individual education program (IEP) meeting, few parents and students are aware of the possibility. Suggestion are made for parents and school personnel about ways to include students. (MC)

Reviews the concepts and assumptions underlying the Scanlon Plan, an approach to organizational development based on participatory management. The approach is summarized using four concepts (identity, participation, equity, and managerial competence) which can create a climate of mutual respect and confidence. (JAC)

Examines practical and ethical arguments which support the trend of allowing teachers increased participation in decision making. Concludes that both the practical arguments, based on the promise of increased educational productivity, and the ethical arguments, based on the doctrine of workplace democracy, must be considered in policy formation.…

For agricultural educators, the key to quality programs in adverse times lies in creative and participatory management. (SK)

A study of 55 New Jersey schools revealed that 35 principals shared none of the decision-making authority with subordinates. In 17 of the schools, half or fewer of the decisions were made by subordinates. Teacher contracts and recent legal rulings were cited as factors discouraging delegation of authority. (MLF)

An alternative conceptual framework to the traditional hierarchical bureaucratic picture of organizations is the "organized anarchy." How collective decisions are made, what university administrators can do to influence the input, process, and outcome of anarchic decision making, and points of leverage are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Explores educational facilities issues from the personal perspective of being both an educator and an owner. Topics discussed include aligning curriculum and instruction with facilities design, green school rating systems, the relationship between facilities and achievement, longitudinal facilities research, post-occupancy evaluation, and…

Discusses how student affairs needs to be an active participant in campus decisions about corporate outsourcing partnerships to ensure that the effects of these relationships on student life are considered. (Contains 24 references.) (GCP)

Describes three lessons school districts have learned about the use of small groups to provide feedback from parents and other community members on major decisions involving education policy and practice: Encourage truly broad-based, large-scale participation; provide structure for small-group discussions; and ask participants to take action, not…

Summarizes a 1992-93 qualitative study examining how three private elementary schools used a shared-governance structure for involving participants in school-improvement efforts. Since private schools must solve their own problems and define educational directions, they benefit from autonomy. They survive by establishing a voluntary community with…

After two semesters of using the four-block schedule, a Wisconsin high school experienced academic growth, improved grades and discipline, reduced stress, and a more personalized school environment. Interested schools should gain support, create a site-level decision-making model, demonstrate the need for change, clearly define restructuring…

Uses survey methodology to investigate elementary and middle school teachers' actual, preferred, and deprived participation in 16 areas of school-level decision-making involving New Jersey's whole-school reform program over 2-year period. Finds, for example, that teachers had less than preferred participation in all 16 areas and high levels of…

New York's Johnson City Central School District adopted the teacher support. Includes seven references. (MLH)

Whereas the laissez-faire approach merely tells each teacher to do what he or she thinks best, the principal moving toward empowerment charges a group of teachers with devising the best decision for all. A Maryland elementary school used the Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement staff development plan as a big step toward preparing teachers…