Research has shown that among the obstacles to success in implementing shared decision making is finding ways to negotiate the inherent power differentials and traditional role expectations among the various stakeholders. This paper describes the methods developed by district-level planning teams to "even the playing field" and to promote…

A study was conducted of the educational role of the principal in elementary schools under two educational policy alternatives. The study joined perspectives on the role of the principal with policy initiatives to strengthen schooling along two lines: common high student performance standards for all and redesign of the connection between the…

This report describes the first year of implementation of the 5-year Accelerated Schools Project (ASP) at Blanche Pope Elementary School in rural Oahu (Hawaii). ASP trains school staff and community members to transform governance, curriculum, and instruction in schools serving predominantly at-risk and minority, low-achieving students. In…

This book focuses on the requirements for leadership in self-managing schools. It contains 9 chapters divided among 3 main parts. The first part is entitled "A New Context and a Refined Model for Self-Management." Chapter 1 uses the concept of megatrend to describe developments in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.…

In 1988, as part of the Education Reform Act, the United Kingdom government allowed schools to opt out of local education authorities (LEA) and become grant-maintained (GM) schools, funded directly by the government. It was contended that the program would diversify education, free schools from local bureaucracies, and, consequently, make schools…

Findings of a study that examined the implementation of school-based management in an elementary and a secondary school are presented in this paper. The study attempted to identify certain phenomena that might be directly linked to attitudes or perceptions generated specifically by the differences inherent in elementary-secondary school settings.…

In December 1988 the Illinois State legislature passed the Chicago School Reform Act, which sought to replace traditional bureaucratic control of the schools with a complex system of decision making by local schools. The act promotes three distinct sites of power in school communities: (1) parent-dominated local school councils (LSCs); (2)…

This paper presents a retrospective view of how a school district implemented Site-Based Management (SBM). A pilot study examined the historical development of the site-based decision-making process so as to gain a better understanding of how a large urban school district implemented the process and to assess teachers' understanding of their roles…

A number of researchers and national commission reports have recommended increased autonomy of public schools through school-site management. School-based management entails focusing the full resources of the system at school level and allowing decisions to be make at that level where faculty and principal constitute a natural management team.…

This paper examines the contributions of the two dominant theories of school improvement--effective schools and school restructuring--to education. The first section reviews effective schools theory; the second section reviews the school restructuring literature, with attention to its extension of tenets of the effective schools paradigm. Each…

Findings of a study that examined successful high school principals' strategies for implementing school improvement visions are presented in this paper. Methodology involved case studies of four Georgia high school principals with reputations for effective school improvement. Interviews were conducted with the principals and 10 teachers from each…

This directory supplement provides information about 211 schools (in British Columbia, Department of Defense Dependent Schools--Panama, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, Pacific Jurisdictions, Washington, and Wyoming) working with the school-based management process Onward to Excellence (OTE), which seeks to…

Ways in which strategies drawn from the local change process literature can enhance the broader implementation of a new approach to site-based management (SBM) are described in this paper. The first section presents a new conceptual framework for SBM that is based on decentralizing power, knowledge, information, and rewards within systemic…

In 1987, the State of Maine encouraged schools to make fundamental organizational changes necessary to ensure that all children are successful in school. This booklet reports on the progress of 10 Maine schools that are wrestling with fundamental questions about the purpose, content, and organization of schooling. Each school is profiled with a…

Existing literature on school-based management (SBM) policy and research is reviewed in this paper, which also highlights several themes related to both why school-based management does not work and how it can be designed to be more effective. The literature review suggests that past studies have tended to be general and descriptive in focus,…