The Governor's Institutes of Vermont are summer programs for Vermont high school students. The students are chosen for their strong personal motivation and interest in art, science and technology, and international affairs. Coordinated with the Institutes, the Lead Learner program is designed to enhance teacher and school efforts in restructuring.…

Recommendations for implementing school-based management and shared decision making are presented in this educational policy bulletin. Based on a literature review and reported experiences of educational practitioners, four recommendations include: transformation of authority at district and school site levels; development of a systemwide…

The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA) requires the implementation of school-based decision making in all Kentucky schools by July 1996. The school-based decision making process offers the opportunity for parents, teachers, and principals to use their knowledge and judgment in deciding how to best help children learn in their schools. A…

This paper attempts to interest principals considering site-based management to examine community education as a model for their implementation efforts. The paper first examines the evolution of the community education movement, focusing on major directions and levels of maturity. Next, the unchanging principles of community education…

Restructuring is a reorganization that replaces central planning, control, and supervision with a deregulated, decentralized system in which the "bottom line" counts most. Seven explanations for restructuring are outlined, each reflecting a particular position or perspective : (1) a crisis in legitimization involving the dimensions of the…

The general aim of this book is to provide a focussed discussion on decentralization and school-based management. In part 1, chapter 1, some problems, anticipations, and a recommendation concerning decentralization are presented. In part 2, chapters 2 through 6 review literature about the structural view of organizations, rationality and…

As part of its school restructuring work with states, the National Governors' Association commissioned the Center for Policy Research on Education to conduct case studies of several local school districts experimenting with new structural arrangements. This case study is based on visits to four such districts: Jefferson County Schools (Louisville,…

This ERIC digest focuses on school restructuring as the central issue in the school reform movement by answering five questions: (1) What is "restructuring?" (2) What characteristics of the current educational system are the objects of reform? (3) How can restructuring attend to new skills students will need? (4) How can individual…

Reviews the recent history and impacts of the reorganization of English comprehensive secondary schools. Maintains that curriculum and management have emerged as the dominant means of viewing what is happening to the system rather than the more established perspectives of psychology, sociology, philosophy, and history of education. (JDH)

Describes a Dade County (Florida) Schools pilot program to decentralize the district's schools and adopt teaching professionalization as a primary goal. Using various committees and task forces, the district formulated goals, developed a shared decision-making model, addressed management/labor issues, and provided team training opportunities. (MLH)

The author argues that adult students should participate in decisions relevant to their education and that adult education should be learner centered. (CH)

Reviews the literature on assistant principals. Concludes that from a sociological perspective, the existing knowledge base has contributed little to an understanding of the social character of the school setting, the internal and external careers of administrators, and problems associated with training and developing professional administrators.…

Presents a strategy for reconceptualizing the role of the high school assistant principal in order to: (1) make the job more professionally satisfying; (2) better prepare assistants for subsequent responsibilities as principals; and (3) develop a capacity for problem-solving activities, pursued cooperatively by teachers and administrators, to…

Districts can encourage school improvement through policy statements that promote local autonomy and ownership. (MLF)

Discusses the changes in administrative structure in the Lunenburg Public Schools (Lunenburg, Massachusetts), including the new management of professional personnel, pupil services, and special need programs, as well as the roles of key administrators. (JW)