Interviews with staff and students explore the purposes of Puget Sound Community School (Seattle, Washington), which offers self-directed and community-based learning for students aged 12-18. Since its inception 7 years ago, the alternative school gradually became more scheduled, until the students initiated a restructuring to restore flexibility.…

To ensure that students recognize themselves as stakeholders in their education, they must participate in planning and executing their education. This can include making decisions regarding course selection, curriculum, and independent learning. The Internet provides one avenue for independent learning. It is important for students to reflect on…

This paper reports on an ethnographic study of 25 teacher leaders in five schools within a large midwestern city school district. Data was collected through unstructured interviews and observations of teachers. Three central themes appeared repeatedly, and explain the presence of and support for teachers as leaders, including: (1) specific school…

Over the last few years there has been increasing interest in process-based approaches in higher education administration, including "business process modelling" for development of information systems, "process redesign" to remove duplication and bottlenecks, and "process management" to improve operational…

Proponents of school restructuring often promote the purported benefits of professional forms of management that call for staff cooperation and collegiality, teachers' participation in school decision making, and supportive leadership by school principals. A theoretical perspective on organizations known as contingency theory refers to such…

In addition to classroom activities, teachers provide personal and instructional supports meant to facilitate the developing sense of student autonomy. In this article, we offer a way of thinking about autonomy-supportive practices that suggests that such practices can be distinguished at a featural level and that different practices may in fact…

Historically, adult education has focused on civic and social responsibility, participatory democracy, liberatory social action, and equity. Colin and Heaney (2001) claim that democracy in education requires an environment in which students are free to discuss their varied experiences and "confront intellectual censorship," often disguised as…

The question addressed in this article and one that has been the focus of the author's research is: how can colleges and universities have greater success with collaborative work? The author argues that to foster group and cross-divisional activities that have trouble succeeding in a context structured to support solo work, academic organizations…

The desirability of parents and professionals in special education working in partnership continues to be expressed through Government policy and legislation and through voluntary sector initiatives. Moreover, partnership working attracts significant financial investment. Yet effective, working parent-professional partnerships often remain elusive…

In searching for a new budget formula for the College of Business at California State University at Long Beach, a major university in the west, several rational budget formulas were explored. This report develops an explanation in quantitative terms of the reasoning process pursued by the department chairs in arriving at the compromise budget…

One of the most difficult questions facing any enterprise, including colleges and universities, is where to invest limited information technology resources for the maximum benefit of customers, constituents, and institutional mission. Now, compounding this difficulty, constrained and shrinking IT budgets are colliding with increasing demand for…

The paper examines the views of students regarding the extent of their participation in the management of their university and their satisfaction with the degree of this participation. After an examination of the literature on student participation in university governance, the author presents the results of a survey based on data collected from…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a management tool that helps to achieve the objectives of the plan for info-tech systems and communications of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for the 2003-2006 period. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology used in this case is nothing if not practical. The chosen tool involved…

With a culturally diverse student population of nearly 500 students in grades 6, 7, and 8, Black River Falls (Wisconsin) Middle School is no stranger to the effects and influences of bullying. This year, however, a group of dedicated staff members, along with an unusually mature group of eighth-grade students, took great strides toward minimizing…

Recognizing the considerable significance of schools' ability to create an environment of trust and mutual respect, the Center for Teaching Quality--in collaboration with the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission and with generous support from the Karen and Christopher Payne Family Foundation--conducted two focus groups with…