School decision-making promotes school autonomy and success. Today's contemporary approach supports the idea that operative school functioning and development are characteristically accomplished when there is decentralized decision-making. However, less attention has been paid to the collective benefits of centralized and decentralized…

The purpose of this article is to present an instructional innovation called the Structure-Culture Alignment Activity, which leads students through the process of aligning cultural values pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness (DEI) to two important structural elements, formalization and centralization. Using decision making, team…

Through the use of the Program for International Student Assessment's (PISA) Global Competence results, the Economic Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Democracy Index ratings, and centralization-decentralization spectrum rubrics, this dissertation shows the association between level of democracy and education system, and the association of these variables…

Purpose: This study aims to explain the primacy that rapid, centralised decision-making gained in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on Australian universities. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on discussions regarding policy problems of an international, purpose-convened on-line policy…

Many school districts with centralized school choice adopt strategyproof assignment mechanisms to relieve applicants of the need to strategize on the basis of beliefs about their own admissions chances. This paper shows that beliefs about admissions chances shape choice outcomes even when the assignment mechanism is strategyproof by influencing…

There are many examples of collaborative action research being used to promote school change. Reflecting on evidence gathered as a result of collaborative inquiry led by a teacher in a primary school in Cyprus over a 3-year period, this paper examines what is involved in using such an approach within a centralised education system. In so doing, it…

This paper explores issues of social justice in relation to the practice of two principals from two Australian public schools. The stories of these principals are set against a policy backdrop in Australia that has seen renewed emphasis on school autonomy reform, on the one hand, and heightened external accountability and compliance, on the other.…

The application of social network analysis to policy networks continues to grow, including the application of social network analysis tools and concepts in order to explain policy outcomes. Gaps in this field of study persist in terms of both policy issues studied, as well as types of polities or networks analysed. This study extends previous…

This article discusses changes with respect to university governance structures in six comprehensive universities in Europe. We present an analytical framework on the basis of which we conduct a comparative analysis of the university governance structures along four different dimensions: (a) the internal democratic nature of the governance…

This study evaluates the effectivity of school management according to the perceptions of Turkish school principals of Syrian refugee students through the lenses of complex adaptive leadership, which was conceptualized from complexity theory and complex adaptive leadership. This was qualitative research designed as a phenomenological study. The…

Educational policy borrowing has become rather common in our globalised world. However, the literature lacks contextual criteria that may be employed by researchers and policy makers to assess the correspondence of a particular policy to the local context of a borrowing system. Based on a secondary analysis of documents and research reports, this…

This article examines the similarities and differences in the systems for faculty career advancement in higher education institutions in the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The analysis focuses on two specific cases: the University of Tehran and Portland State University. Through this paired comparison, we draw out the similarities…

California has long been a national and global leader in developing and maintaining quality higher education options, as well as in providing financial aid and consumer protections for Californians who access that education. However, although California's colleges and the state government do collect, receive, and report a great deal of data, these…

This qualitative case study used General Systems Theory and social network analysis to explore the relationships between the members of a district central office and principals of elementary schools within an urban school district in the Midwest. Findings revealed sparse relationships between members of the district central office and principals,…

American public education has become increasingly centralized over the last hundred and fifty years. Everything from curricular objectives and assessment tools to teacher certification criteria (and, often, textbook decisions) are being made at the state level rather than the county, district, or school level. Increasingly, teachers are told what…