This monograph provides guidelines to help those school districts considering a more decentralized form of management. The authors discuss the levels at which different types of decisions should be made, describe the changing nature of the educational environment, identify different centralization-decentralization models, and suggest a flexible…

Centralization, coordinated bargaining, and multi-unit representation are not the inevitable consequences of changes in school finance. Rather, bargaining structure continues to be a result of a complex interaction that includes many factors. (Author)

The author suggests that, as public agencies make more of our decisions, we lose our power. Soon citizens will no longer be able to continue to make their own choices in education, and large portions of our population will be deprived of fundamental political freedom by the year 2000. (KC)

A research program at Trinity College in Ireland is reported that focused on the decision-making process, particularly the committee structure. Described are the role of individuals within committees, centralized versus decentralized decision-making, costs, sources of rigidity, and problems of the concentration of power. (Author/LBH)

Provides a brief account of the role of district boards of education in Western Australia, especially during the years 1871 to 1895. Discussion is within the context of other discussions of the early development of centralized administration in the eastern colonies and in Australia generally. (Author/IRT)

The San Mateo County (California) Community College District has developed an effective cooperative working relationship among the three colleges and the central office. The effect of updating the district's educational program master plan on institutional autonomy, coordination, and general renewal is examined. (LBH)

Administrators, faculty, and staff should have electronic access to records needed to perform their jobs, and students should have access to their own records--course registration and addresses. User-directed analysis and reporting are discussed and the security and audit issues are examined. (Author/MLW)

The process and experiences associated with strategic planning in a recently decentralized administrative information systems environment are described. Background information on why Virginia Commonwealth University decentralized the authority, responsibility, and accountability for the delivery of administrative information services to major…

Using surveys of the professional staffs of 41 secondary schools, this study examines the relationship between two aspects of bureaucratic structure (centralization and formalization) and two sorts of alienation (from work and expressive relations). It then compares the results with similar studies of social studies of social welfare agencies. (JW)

Western impressions of Japanese education are examined. Various aspects of Japanese art education--e.g., government control, a centralized school system, and standardized curriculum--and Japanese attitudes toward conformity are discussed. (RM)

In 1991 Australia's National Industry Education Forum released a policy statement that suggested ways to improve Australian schools. This report, an outgrowth of that statement, contains a blueprint for the decentralization of management for Australian schools. Studies were undertaken in 11 companies to draw lessons from business and industry.…

Based on a report to the President's Commission on School Finance, a 14-page compilation of methods school districts can use to trim budgets without sacrificing quality. (Author)

The computing and information systems at the University of Missouri are described. All computing activity was centralized beginning in 1973 with the formation of the university computer network. Administrative data processing, financial systems, student systems, and office automation are discussed. (MLW)

The merger of a traditional counseling center with a traditional comprehensive student health center at Indiana University, Bloomington is described. Important variables, costs and benefits, suggestions for similar mergers, and the outcome of the Indiana University program are discussed. (CJ)

Centralized collective bargaining has increased teachers' salaries and provided better working conditions and benefits in Quebec. But it has also spawned a number of troublesome consequences that promote conflict. (Author)