Discusses the benefits of using devolved budget models in further education and the tensions that may arise from their introduction. Addresses resistance to the change and the cultural and management style prerequisites for successful implementation of devolved budgets. (EV)

Changes geared toward enhancing student success occurring in certain Miami, Minneapolis, and New York City schools capture the essence of educational restructuring. A complete overhaul of curriculum and instruction, authority and decision-making practices, staff roles, and accountability systems is necessary--especially in inner-city schools.…

Chapter 5 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter presents the case for school-based management, stressing the principal's central role. In site management, the school is the primary decision-making unit. Decisions concerning expenditures, curricula, and personnel are made by school site staff, with help from parents, students, and…

As school-based management and collaborative decision making are implemented in the educational system, the superintendent's traditional "clockworks" role will undergo transformation. This article explores the necessary leadership characteristics and skills for assuming this new role. Superintendents must be instructional, transformative, and…

Discusses the decentralization of educational administration in Victoria. Examines the change from central to local selection of principals as a possible example of more democratic structures where greater collaboration and participation have been incorporated into the decision-making process. (53 references) (MLF)

New Zealand and England's experience with decentralized decision making illustrates that achieving local control and accountability goals may be more elusive than initially envisioned. Additionally, there are problems with training, time management, and principals' professional/personal adjustments. Those advocating radical decentralization in…

A district coordinator of gifted education in a site-based managed school system relates the learning experiences which helped define her role as an administrator and an advocate of gifted education. Her role has involved collaborating, serving as a resource, sharing program ownership, and encouraging program differentiation across the district.…

In New Zealand the rhetoric of educational administration reform has claimed that local school management will lead to improvement in the areas of efficiency, effectiveness, and equity. In addition, the role of the school principal has been a significant site of contest and struggle. This paper presents findings of a ongoing ethnographic study…

Chapter 4 of a volume on school leadership, this chapter is a revised version of the issue of "School Management Digest" entitled "School Based Management." It draws from the work of many authorities to define, explain, and make a case for school-based management, a system of educational administration in which the school is…

The Chicago Public Schools have experienced major reforms since the late 1980s. This has resulted in increased power to local school communities and the creation of local school councils (LSCs) that employ its principals. This paper presents findings of a study that examined principals' perceptions of their changing roles under Chicago's school…

An overview is provided of the research conducted in Japan during the past 30 years on the Performance-Maintenance Theory of Leadership. Experimental and field studies are described which suggest that the consequences of leadership in Japan result from interaction of performance-oriented and maintenance-oriented behaviors. (TE)

The structure, implementation, and advantages of Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District's decentralized management and budgeting system are described. (SJL)

The article examines four basic elements of staff development needed to manage the changes in educational systems today and in the future: multidimensional professional development for all staff, decentralized performance-based systems, understanding and implementing the change process, and the changing role of the staff developer. (SM)

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…

This report is the fifth in a series on cultivating excellence in education for the purpose of training and retraining school leaders of the 1990s. The role of school administrators, and especially building principals; the characteristic administrative functions; the step-by-step procedures for implementation; and the advantages and possible…