One of the most visible and widespread of the current educational reforms is the attempt to decentralize authority to schools and to involve teachers and others in shared decision making. Often occurring together as site-based shared decision making (SBDM), this reform is turning out to be more difficult to implement than once thought. Few noted…

This practical guidebook is designed for managers and leaders who have responsibility for the creation and success of teams. First, a team is described as a workgroup whose members are dependent upon one another for the completion of a given task, and whose members possess different but complementary skill sets. A team manages its own work within…

In 1990, the Leon County Public Schools (FL) implemented a voluntary school-based, decision-making (SBDM) council. This paper presents findings of an evaluation of the SBDM system in the school district conducted after 5 years of activity. Data were obtained from interviews with 61 principals and 34 site-council chairs and from a survey of 206 out…

This document discusses Los Angeles City College's (LACC) (California) Shared Governance Model. In response to California Assembly Bill 1725, LACC set forth a plan to implement the statutory requirements of shared governance. Shared governance is a concept grounded in the idea that decision-making is a process that affects the entire campus…

Despite its growing prominence as a political reform strategy, it is still unclear whether deliberation, with its emphasis on an inclusive process where citizens and politicians listen to each other and are open to persuasion, is a feasible strategy for engaging citizens in public education. This paper explores the feasibility of practical…

The concept of the principal as the sole instructional leader of a school is quickly changing. Substantial evidence from schools with successful instructional programs indicate this responsibility has been spread among many staff members. Teachers who have been trained in the functions of leadership, instruction, and student learning are becoming…

This fastback document examines the strategic-planning process. Intended for school administrators, the booklet offers practical advice on strategic planning, and the importance of such planning in those districts that experience high turnover. When conceptualizing a strategic plan, administrators should begin with an end in mind and then develop…

The school counselor as a team member has a leading role to play in inservice education of the teaching faculty. The counselor has considerable contact with students and has valuable information on developing a quality inservice education program. Inservice education has the goal of improving the curriculum for students. This paper presents a…

The advent of advisory councils presents a promising opportunity for schools to maximize a largely untapped resource for increased educational effectiveness. This modular training guide, which supplements "Developing Quality Schools: A Handbook," shows practitioners how to set the context for and apply the consensus decision-making…

This report describes how schools can draw on multiple voices to create a comprehensive portrait of important events in a school's history. In this "mapping" process, participants create a map that portrays the collective history of the school, facilitating an increased awareness of past actions and their connection to current conditions.…

The processes of educational leadership are educative when they both educate constituents and are informed by feedback from constituents; when they are conducted as an ongoing exercise of participatory problem solving. In short, educational leadership is educational when both its ends and its means are educative. John Dewey provided a theoretical…

This participant's manual provides materials related to a national teleconference on the next generation of independent living leadership for people with disabilities. Introductory material includes the conference agenda, information about the trainers, and information about the sponsoring organizations, the Independent Living Research Utilization…

The possible utilities and limitations of computer-assisted career guidance systems (CACG) have been widely discussed although the effectiveness of CACG has not been systematically considered. This paper investigates the effectiveness of a theory-based CACG program, integrating Sequential Elimination and Expected Utility strategies. Three types of…

This manual is intended as a resource guide for school councils in Arizona. The state created school site-based councils to bring together parents, the community, administrators, teachers, and students to form a decision-making body that can empower all stakeholders. The guide details the process of school councils as it relates to Arizona…

This paper reports on a study that investigated a top-down leadership approach that gradually shifted to a collaborative paradigm. It focuses on one junior high school's efforts to increase academic and social success for all its students. The restructuring process began when, for the first time, a female principal was hired in this 35-year-old…