This study describes significant issues and learnings identified by 26 school faculties engaged in site-based, faculty-led reform initiatives over a 5-year period during participation in the National Education Association's Mastery in Learning (MIL) Project. A representative sample of MIL sites is utilized to reframe issues and learnings into…

The trend of teacher collegiality and professional development in educational restructuring is examined in this paper within the context of growing demands for accountability and productivity. The increased international interest in teacher collegiality through various forms of school-based professional development is viewed as a means of…

Educational administrators have the power to determine the nature of decision-making structures and processes within their institutions and the extent to which decisions are implemented. This paper reviews assumptions underlying decision-making structures and processes established by school administrators; examines potential individual motives…

Issues raised by the devolution of decision-making to the school level in Western Australia are described in this paper. The first part provides a background of governance structures and school organization. Prior to 1980, Western Australia had the most centralized system of educational administration in Australia. The second part describes the…

Findings of a study that examined the relationship between teachers' perceptions of school climate and their perceptions of empowerment are presented in this paper. Questionnaires were completed by 257 teachers, in 6 states from 8 schools, who participated in nationwide school empowerment projects. Findings indicate that school climate, age, and…

This document contains six chapters that examine the role of teacher leadership in the school-restructuring process. Chapter 1, "When--Teachers Lead" (Bruce S. Cooper), provides a general introduction to the content and purpose of the monograph. Chapter 2, "When--Teachers Share School-Level Decision-Making" (Sharon Conley and Justo Robles),…

Drawing on extensive staff interviews, this publication profiles a high school principal in Eugene, Oregon, who exhibits many aspects of transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is improvement oriented and comprises three elements: (1) a collaborative, shared decision-making approach; (2) an emphasis on teacher professionalism and…

In the Australian state of Victoria, virtually all decisions about spending, curriculum, and personnel are made at the school level. Victoria's experience in developing a system of school-based management (SBM) and shared decision making offers a perspective on school reform efforts in the United States. Underlying the school restructuring trends…

This book addresses the philosophy of governance in higher education, the nature of governance and some of the forms it may take, the meaning of democracy in university governance, criteria for assessing governance systems, and underlying assumptions about aims and efforts. The book focuses on the colleges and universities in New York City in the…

This paper examined the history and current issues in the evaluation of the education of Native students. Although public schools are the principal providers of services to Native students, most programs receive the greater part of their funding from the Federal Government and are subject to federal evaluation. Previous federal evaluation efforts…

The development of shared governance at Sierra College (SC) in California is chronicled in this report. The first sections of the report provide a chronology of team, board, and committee meetings and colloquia involved in the process of implementing shared governance at the college; present summaries of breakout group reports, evaluative…

Development and implementation processes of the Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) program, a teacher evaluation and support system in Connecticut, are described. Purposes of the BEST teacher induction program include facilitating the acquisition of effective teaching behaviors, supporting new teachers, and developing veteran teachers'…

This report summarizes an evaluation of Shared Decision Making (SDM) in Los Angeles (California) schools and also includes some comments about School Based Management (SBM). SDM is a democratization of local school decision making that delegates decisions formerly made by principals to local school leadership councils composed of teachers,…

Few efforts have been made to inject teachers' voices into discussions on school restructuring. Qualitative, in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 teachers to ascertain what the "average" teacher thinks about restructuring. The majority of interviewees held positive perceptions about restructuring, but opinions differed on the feasibility of…

After identifying the aspects of classroom life that school restructuring might influence, this paper summarizes findings on school principals' perceptions concerning the potential effects of fundamental school reform. Because so little is known about principals' views on restructuring, an exploratory study employing qualitative methodology…