This book is based on a review of the literature on decentralization and teacher management. The focus is on basic formal education, mainly the primary and junior secondary levels of schooling, and on presenting a rationale for decentralizing teacher management. The book presents three models of decentralized teacher management, explores the…

This paper describes approaches that states have taken to systemic reform in adult education programs, approaches driven by the demand for accountability and high-quality services from legislation and other sources. It begins by defining systemic change and presenting a framework for understanding it. The document presents approaches in four areas…

This booklet is designed to assist state leaders as they develop their process for allocating funds to schools. It suggests components of a state-allocation process that are based on research and field experience with successfully implemented comprehensive school-reform (CSR) models. The document provides guidelines for defining the eligibility of…

This guide is the third of three documents that make up a Professional Development Package for Educational Systems Design. It is intended for use by members of a core design team and assumes that the school district and community have committed themselves to a systems design process, and that a design leadership group representing the school…

In 1988 the Illinois General Assembly passed an act that shifted decision making authority on budgetary, curricular, and personnel issues from central offices to local school councils (LSCs). Eleven principals were interviewed at the end of the first year of reform implementation to learn about their early perceptions of reform initiatives and how…

In 1989, South Carolina passed the Flexibility Through Desegregation Program as a means to provide exemptions from state oversight to those schools that had demonstrated sustained improvement. The first section of this paper provides an overview of educational improvement legislation enacted in South Carolina, specifically, the deregulated schools…

Findings of a study that examined the progress of three Indiana schools (Beech Grove Senior High School, Indianapolis; Linton-Stockton Elementary School, southwestern Indiana; and Richmond High School) toward educational innovation goals under the 21st Century Schools Pilot Project are presented in this paper. Each school is described in terms of…

Information about two possible actions as followups to school choice is provided in this paper, with attention to the concepts of teachers in private practice and charter schools. The movement of teachers in private practice involves educators as entrepreneurs who contract with school districts. Benefits include a high degree of accountability and…

Written to help social studies teachers, this annotated bibliography identifies the best contemporary materials available to develop and implement exciting, innovative lessons. The first section identifes resources that are listed under seven subject headings: (1) U.S. history; (2) civics and law-related education; (3) world history, including…

Brandon University's teacher education programs address the need to train Native people to teach in Indian schools. A mature entry policy allows students to enter the university without a high school diploma, provided they are at least 21 years old. Several programs lead to four-year Bachelor of Education degrees. Through the Program for Educating…

Trust agreements are cooperative arrangements supported by the school district and teachers' union leadership to promote local educational reforms. The ability of trust agreements to establish local professional cultures that support innovative teaching in California is examined in this paper. Included are: (1) an outline of the logic that links…

Technological and economic changes throughout the world as well as social and demographic trends at home have overshadowed efforts from schools to deliver on the promise of education. The Creativity Schools Initiative encourages a rethinking of schools' mission, design, schedule, structure, and instructional approaches as a fundamental first step…

Based on a local site sample of 146 school districts, this volume (the second in a series of 10) describes school improvement efforts supported by 4 different federal strategies and representative programs: interpersonal linkage of validated practices (National Diffusion Network), commercial distribution (Bureau of Education for the Handicapped…

The Primary Trait System (PTS) of scoring was devised by the National Assessment of Educational Progress to score large numbers of natural writing samples. Essentially, PTS permits evaluation of writing in an objective way, but one that does not rely on scoring surface features such as mechanics, grammar, or spelling. While the assessment value of…

Although schools have served as a major target of both educational and mental-health oriented interventions, they have shown a marked tendency to assimilate innovative programs into existing patterns. This paper analyzes the sources and manifestations of resistance to change in schools and discusses the implications of such resistance for the…