Supply teachers are playing a growing role in British and Welsh schools, because of staff shortages and in-service training demands. Using data from a comparative case study of cover arrangements in a local education authority and a district health authority, this paper identifies several major factors affecting the organization of supply workers.…

Site-based school management opens the possibility of problems in districtwide risk management and liability prevention programs. Describes a program to transfer prevention law and risk management strategies to individual school sites. Cautions that only duly authorized agents of local school boards can commit boards to contractual obligations.…

As seen in the proposed Maryland School Performance Program, need to synthesize data into meaningful information and ability to explore data relationships could be keys to improved student achievement. Montgomery County's School Based Instructional Monitoring System (SIMS) will permit its instructional leadership staff to examine and interrelate…

In 1984, the faculty of an Ohio inner-city high school was charged by district administrators with developing a school improvement plan to involve teachers in decision-making. The result was a faculty senate, complemented by a curriculum council. Yearly plans and five-year goals were also instituted, along with a changing role for the principal.…

A central office administrator describes her emerging role as coordinator and facilitator of professional development programs at Rochester (New York) City Schools. In a newly decentralized setting, she acknowledges and accepts responsibility for all district staff, responds to all staff members' identified and stated needs, and remains well…

Describes one Florida principal's pursuit of school-based management and shared decision making for the wrong reason--to escape from central office domination. Although chosen as the lesser of two evils, the new committee structure has worked well for Myrtle Grove School. Since giving up veto power to gain staff trust and commitment, teacher…

Describes the Dutch educational assessment system. Lists a number of critical remarks relative to the problems found in this assessment program. Suggests principles upon which a better examination system could be based. Points out ways in which this model would eliminate psychometric, educational, and political objections to the examination…

New York City's Dropout Prevention Program's success depended on more than the usual commitment of resources, shared ideals, and dedicated people. A flexible planning framework was needed to overcome collaborators' mutual mistrust, identify common ground, and gain the support of line staff and top leadership in schools and in community…

All organizations can be located on a complex continuum whose extremes are total self-management or total control by external agents. School self-management is measured by degree of local community control over inputs, structures, processes, and relations with the environment. Australian schools have significantly decentralized processes and are…

Individuals interested in derailing school-based management lurk in most school communities. Some stakeholders are against true decentralization and can play their cards to subvert the process. Illegitimate intransigence can arise at the exploration or commitment stages. A sidebar shows how to defend against sabotage by making critical choices…

Charter schools are independent legal entities empowered to hire and fire, handle lawsuits, and control their own finances. Charter schools require new relationships with school boards, utilize site-based decision making, and foster new teacher roles. Minnesota, California, and Massachusetts are experimenting with charter schools. A sidebar…

Prospective charter schools in California must address educational design, outcomes, assessment methods, governance, staffing qualifications, health and safety procedures, racial balance, admission requirements, retirement benefits, employees' rights, financial audit procedures, expulsion and suspension procedures, and attendance alternatives.…

The return of equity in the 1990s coincided with increased state court activity and a change in national direction. As the New York State Commissioner's Study Group found, there is now more focus on school-level and outcome equity issues. The group recommended that the state develop an outcome-based entitlement plan for all children. (MLH)

Discusses incremental SBM budgeting and answers questions regarding resource equity, bookkeeping requirements, accountability, decision-making processes, and purchasing. Approaching site-based management as an incremental process recognizes that every school system engages in some level of site-based decisions. Implementation can be gradual and…

Traces financial aspects of the Chicago Public Schools' reform effort, detailing the prereform growth of bureaucracy that prompted legislated reallocation of the system's funds. Data show that funds have been reallocated to reduce administrative bureaucracy and equalize funding between schools. Schools with many low-income students have more…