Because schools must still respond to federal reporting requirements while exercising greater responsibility for funding and administering local programs that were once under state and federal administration, and because of the increased public outcry for local accountability, many school districts have maintained large central administrative…

Increasingly, teachers are complaining that they have been left out of the decision-making process in terms of curriculum development. There has been a growing impetus for shared decision making and shared leadership. A curriculum mapping process is described which was successfully implemented in a large middle school. Through this mapping…

Essays by education policy analysts discuss results of the 1985 NEA Conditions and Resources of Teaching (CART) survey, including an overview and appraisal of the survey results, their relation to other similar studies, and the potential for and projected costs of change in the allocation of resources for teachers. The first paper, by Samuel B.…

A significant body of research from business and industry has generally confirmed the contribution of participative decision-making to improved organizational effectiveness and employee morale. Following a literature review, this paper explores the implementation of shared decision-making in the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Public Schools. The…

The strategies for school based management and shared decision making are seldom studied together. A written survey administered to practitioners currently using one or both of the strategies provides information for the implementation of shared decision making. Methodological limitations include a sample of 230 site personnel with a response rate…

Klein's conceptual framework of curriculum decision making is applied to the site-based decision making process in a suburban California school district. The model is composed of two interacting dimensions: participants at different levels and curriculum elements. Three levels of decision making--formal, institutional, and instructional--are…

The implementation of quality circles to increase elementary school teachers' involvement in problem solving, vertical communication, and policy formation is examined in this practicum report. An attitudinal survey of 44 elementary teachers to document lack of vertical communication yielded 32 responses. A followup survey was administered to the…

A case study of two metropolitan newspapers examined whether there was a relationship between type of newsroom management style--"authoritarian" or "democratic"--and journalists' perceptions of management style and leadership, editors' roles, career goals and job satisfaction, readers' news source contact, and community…

An overview is provided of Hagerstown Junior College's (HJC's) efforts to redefine and redirect the college's mission. First, introductory material places HJC's mission development project within the context of other leadership challenges for the 1990's. Next, a strategic planning process focusing on mission redefinition is explained, highlighting…

Based on questions asked during an adult education course at Truman College (Chicago), this booklet was designed to be a simple organizing manual for small neighborhood preorder food cooperatives (co-ops). The guide covers basic information for organizing a co-op, definition of a co-op, what jobs are needed, getting the food, wholesale sources,…

The Duluth (Minnesota) Public School district has established a comprehensive Quality of Work Life (QWL) participative management program. Operating since 1984, the program is structured district-wide with a steering committee and 35 QWL committees at building and program levels. School board policy and administrative guidelines provide direction…

A description is given of a client-based approach to staff development that emphasizes ongoing professional growth and learning for teachers. The underlying assumptions of the program are that teachers possess important clinical expertise, and that professional learning is an adaptive, heuristic process that is long-term and nonlinear. The program…

The participatory planning process model developed by Peirce Junior College is described in this paper. First, the rationale for shifting from a traditional authoritarian style of institutional leadership to a participatory style which encourages a broader concern for the institution and lessens morale problems is offered. The development of a new…

This document reports the findings of the National Study of Local Operations under Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981, the federal education block grant, regarding the involvement of parents and other citizens in the making of local district decisions concerning the use of the block grant funds. Data for the study…

Participatory curriculum evaluation can be a powerful force for curriculum improvement in local school districts. The evaluation process contains nine steps: (1) the curriculum area needing evaluation is identified; (2) the local board of education organizes an evaluation committee reflecting school communities or neighborhoods, organizational…