In response to a legislative request, this seminar convened to make a comprehensive study of ways to improve the governance effectiveness of the state's county boards of education and county school board members. Participants were county school board members, superintendents, principals, teachers, service personnel, parents, community leaders, and…

Intended for parents and community members, this pamphlet summarizes provisions of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA), outlines specific school improvement developments to watch for during 1991-92, and provides concrete suggestions for facilitating the process and obtaining further information. The updates are grouped according to…

The principal of a pre-K to grade 5 school in Arizona talks of ways to create responsive programs for special needs children. The school offers a special education preschool program and a totally integrated cross-categorical program for kindergarten through grade 5 which utilizes collaborative delivery systems and a consultative model of special…

This paper reports preliminary findings from a research project in progress which is based on a comparative case study of four elementary schools involved in site-based decision making legitimized by labor/management agreements. The study examines several issues: (1) how teachers exercise power in response to opportunities for affecting…

This study finds that the New York City version of school-based decision making, School-Based Management/Shared Decision Making (SBM/SDM), fails to bring school-based management or shared decision making to the schools. This report begins by describing the seriously dysfunctional structure of the New York City public schools and explains the…

This report presents the findings and recommendations of an examination of the implementation of a major form of school-based management (SBM). It is based on case studies of the science and mathematics departments of 10 high schools and 9 middle or junior high schools in 12 school systems, almost all of which are urban school districts. The study…

The parents' guide in English and Spanish versions, offers a synthesis of the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's (McRel) "A+chieving Excellence," a 480-page manual on educational decision-making and management. Four sections examine four broad areas in which policies must be established for improving student achievement--efficiency,…

This issue summarizes Marshall S. Smith and Jennifer O'Day's "Systemic School Reform," an analytic essay discussing research into the effectiveness of current education policies and policy system development in numerous states. The essay proposes a design for a systemic state structure that supports school-site improvement efforts and is…

The extent to which school-based management actually altered influence relations between a district office and schools and between principals and teachers is examined in this report. Five innovative initiatives implemented in the Dade County Public Schools--peer evaluation, different teacher roles, block scheduling, school-within-a-school, and…

Poor educational performance and the changing nature of work and workers have prompted calls for a major restructuring of American schools. The following broad categories of restructuring options are discussed and supporting research is reviewed: (1) decentralizing authority over schooling through school-based management, more professional…

Beginning in May 1987, a committee formed by the Connecticut Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development met regularly for over a year to identify and analyze the important trends in U.S. society that are projected to occur by the start of the 21st century. From the analysis, the committee selected and organized 10 trends that the…

A summary of the school restructuring movement and an outline of strategies for implementation are presented. The underlying principles of restructuring are included in four broad strategies, which include school-based management, teacher empowerment, voice/choice, and teaching for understanding. New responsibilities for state policymakers include…

Quality Circle/Site-Based Management (QCSBM) concepts were introduced into educational administrative structures during the early 1980s. The scarcity of comprehensive research that focuses on QCSBM implementation in public school districts was the catalyst for this exploratory study. Fifty-five of 100 administrators and consultants in 24 states…

This paper, by the President of the Detroit Board of Education, discusses aspects of the school choice issue, providing examples from recent developments in the Detroit (Michigan) public school system. The paper argues that freedom of choice in an educational context is a critical right of parents, and that schools of choice offer the best…

Parental choice is seen as a promising approach to school improvement. This report supports choice by suggesting answers to the following questions that reformers might ask: (1) is school performance poor enough to justify wholesale change? (2) what have schools done about troubling trends in student performance? (3) what do other researchers say…