This book examines school-based management and provides strategies to implement management changes. The 14 chapters examine the components of good schools, including clarity of purpose, leadership, professionalism, lack of bureaucratic control, competition, and choice. The text describes the components of school-based management and the need for…

This book examines how the shift toward school-based management affects the relationship between principals and superintendents. The 11 chapters were written by 5 pairs of superintendents and principals who were asked to reflect on these changes in education. The contributors were instructed not to focus on the particulars of an individual but to…

Describes the successful use of the Delphi Dialog Technique (a goal-setting process) at East High School, Anchorage, Alaska, where it was used to obtain consensus among staff members about school-growth targets. (JW)

Describes how Superintendent George Bailey, now retired, improved students' mastery of learning objectives in Adams County School District No. 12 in Northglenn (Colorado) using management by objectives, management agreements specifying administrators' responsibilities, performance-based salary increases, inservice teacher training, and a…

Misunderstandings about power flourish amid unintellectualized notions of democracy, fairness, and idealized realities. To possess power, individuals and institutions must develop, take, exercise, and assert it. They empower themselves. It took a revolution for the Americans to secure independence from the British Empire. In school management…

Syntheses of research findings from major studies of school-based management (SBM) generate eight elements of schooling associated with successful SBM: An active vision, meaningful decision-making authority, distribution of power, development and use of knowledge and skills, collecting and communicating information, rewards for progress, shared…

Traces evolution of the charter school movement from the author's initial proposals in the early 1970s to today's unprecedented opportunity for educators and citizens to revitalize their schools and vastly improve educational quality. Chartering all schools would truly decentralize schools and strengthen school-based management. (MLH)

Examines the need for new financial reporting and analysis, starting with rethinking the school finance field, retooling the management information systems for school finance, and re-evaluating knowledge about school-site management, accounting, and reporting. Demonstrates a new reporting methodology, the Financial Analysis Model, that traces…

Corporate America is changing the shape of school-business partnership. Offers tips to board members on how to open the door to two-way partnerships with the business community. Summarizes a number of existing programs and describes a proposed computerized information system--"Wordlink"--that reports student achievements to employers. (MLF)

Educators embarking on school-based management/participative decision-making report changes in relationships not only between administrators and teachers and between management and unions, but also between teachers and their union. Decentralization means teacher empowerment at the local level, collaborative bargaining, union involvement with…

Since March 1989, Boston has attempted to implement three elements deemed successful for successful school choice programs: fair assignment procedures, an effective parent information system, and interventions to help certain schools become more competitive. The Boston experience shows the difficulties involved in reforming a monopoly governed by…

After principals have involved all stakeholders in developing a school mission and identifying critical success factors, the planning team must analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within and outside the school; establish strategic goals (outcomes) to support the future vision; and develop objectives and target dates. Includes…

To implement shared decision-making, a Colorado school district needed three years to venture through the cage door, scare the cat away, and experience an increase in involvement from district constituents. Blocking can occur because of outdated policies reflecting centralized control, perceptions of the principal as prime manipulator, master…

Today's principal still faces many of the control issues of the 1960s and 1970s, due to subtance abuse, child abuse, gang violence, dropouts, and other problems. Emerging technology is making curriculum obsolete. The principal can emerge as a community hero by involving parents and community leaders in creating an instructional improvement plan.…

To move high schools into the twenty-first century, school leadership must undergo massive restructuring. Four reasons for schools' inability to change are cited, and characteristics of effective and efficient school are identified. An eight-step process of school restructuring and a school-design statement with three basic components and eight…