This study examined the extent of teacher participation in school management. Participants were 260 teachers and 40 principals from random samples of schools in each of three education districts in South Africa. Researchers administered a closed questionnaire that asked the teachers and principals to indicate their actual and desired participation…

Suggests that authority in educational decision making in Canada is simultaneously moving to the provincial level and to the individual school, thus making the school board an increasingly anachronistic and powerless body. Discusses contextual changes affecting perceptions and values of educational leadership, representation, and competence. (SV)

Each Oregon school is required to have a council responsible for developing a staff development plan, improving the instructional program, and coordinating school-reform efforts. During the Eugene district's implementation phase, central-office administrators played a key role in providing organizational development training and in allocating…

Reviews four areas of change (resource allocation, organizational framework, governing systems, and market structure) providing a framework for understanding dynamic schools and their leaders. Today's principals must become resource mobilizers capable of forming business and private foundation partnerships, linking with social-service agencies,…

Presents major conclusions from a 1990 report "Unusually Effective Schools: A Review and Analysis of Research and Practice." Guidelines for multischool improvement projects include providing substantial staff development time and technical assistance, focusing on instructional improvement, avoiding faculty overload and overreliance on bureaucratic…

Ways to encourage wider adoption of technology education include school-based management, more choice of schools and curriculum providers, greater use of instructional technology, alternative certification for teachers and administrators, and structural changes in time schedules, performance-based funding, and state and federal regulations. (SK)

Explores policy formation in school councils and its implications for the future of educational decision making in Victoria, Australia. Focuses on the importance of agenda construction, utilizing theoretical works of Giddens, Bachrach, and others. Results suggest that human beings produce, reproduce, and transform the social realities enveloping…

Describes Boston's efforts to abandon adversarial bargaining in favor of a reform-oriented contract establishing a shared decision-making model of school-based management. The model includes significant parent involvement, a mentoring program for new teachers, a voluntary peer-assistance program for veteran teachers, and collaborative…

Describes the structure of finance in the English education system; and examines the significance of the local management of schools legislation in terms of the following concepts: (1) formula; (2) delegated finance; (3) staffing delegation; (4) open enrollment; and (5) performance indicators. (18 references) (MLF)

Whereas schools are organized around stability, uniformity, tradition, and ceremony, business operates on a more Darwinian "adapt or perish" ethic. Although business and public education have different goals, educators should look to successful companies for clues to size, assessment, leadership, and accountability. Includes nine references. (MLH)

Defines school-based management (SBM) as a program adopted by schools or school districts to improve education by increasing school staff autonomy in making building-level decisions. Analyzes SBM's key objectives, benefits, and limitations. Budget, curriculum, and staffing decisions are commonly decentralized under SBM. Staff communication is…

Although 1988 Chicago Reform Act mandates changes in decision-making structures to empower teachers, parents, and community members to make financial, hiring, and curriculum decisions, many teachers are opting out of change process. Interview data from 30 Chicago teachers describe principals as "powerhouses" or "benevolent…

This paper reports on the effects of local management of schools (LMS) on provision for special educational needs (SEN) of British students. It examines the legislative framework, increases in numbers of pupils with SEN statements, and difficulties faced by mainstream schools in trying to stretch their resources to cope with SEN pupils. (JDD)

Examines high schools with and without shared decision making in terms of interests, ideology, information, and the institution. Finds that institutions strongly influenced teachers' willingness to innovate and that they tended to ignore external information sources that would mediate that influence. Principals had more latitude to be reform…

Presents planning lessons from the Community Involved Charter School, a Jefferson County (Colorado) grassroots initiative. Planners should seek community involvement in envisioning the school; define roles for students, parents, teachers, and community members; decide how to administer the school; decide on specifics, such as school size; and seek…