Although data driven-decision making has been the mantra of school reform for the last 10 years, school leaders benefit from frequent discussions in how to engage teachers in the process. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to apply Reeves' (2004) framework concerning Antecedents of Excellence in creating a school culture that routinely uses…

School reformers hope that converting comprehensive high schools into collections of small schools will produce results similar to those realized in freestanding small schools. Three themes--personalization, professional community, and shared decision making--exemplify the early successes in conversions. But the challenge of sustaining these gains…

In this multi-method case study, the authors explore the success of school reform in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), whose school reform combines a portfolio strategy and a managed instruction approach. Portfolio strategy is a term used to describe an approach that decentralizes resources and decision-making to school sites--increasingly in…

The headteacher's role in school improvement and the changing nature of the role suggest the need to investigate how new school leaders learn their jobs, that is, their socialization to the leader role. This study has two purposes: (1) to identify the content and methods used in the professional and organizational socialization experiences of new…

A view of teacher empowerment based on professional knowledge is presented in this paper. A new definition of "professional knowledge" for teachers is also proposed, based on teachers' knowledge of professional community, educational policy, and subject area. After a year of field study and a literature review of structural, formal, and…

Outcomes of a restructuring project implemented in a North Carolina high school in 1987 are described in this paper. The Lead Teacher Model restructured the decision-making processes for both resource allocation and school scheduling. At the Alpha County High School, eight elected lead teachers taught part-time and, in addition assisted the…

Describes school restructuring themes that may be promoted through staff development, including developing a purpose and shared vision, challenging traditional norms of schooling, creating a collaborative school culture, establishing new roles in school governance, and encouraging reflective practice and critical inquiry. Addresses the role of…

The processes of school improvement at the secondary level are not well understood. This report summarizes activities conducted during 1990-91 in the Asheboro (North Carolina) City Schools in cooperation with personnel at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The partnership created Teacher Collegial Groups (TCGs), which were leadership…

Two models of educational reform that address the dilemma in schools caused by the confluence of two current reform movements--school restructuring and the regular education initiative are presented in this paper. The models offer a more complex framework that considers teachers' values, the role of external support for teacher development, school…

Administrators must abandon transactional (control-oriented) and instructional leadership modes and use facilitative power to make second-order changes in their schools. Transformational leadership provides the proper focus by helping staff members develop and maintain a collaborative, professional school culture; fostering teacher development;…

Leadership in the restructured school is provided by many individuals; teachers function as a community of scholars helping one another through discussions, coaching, and reflective activity. School leaders must acquire specific skills in certain areas, including vision setting, group process, conflict resolution, curriculum and instruction, and…

According to Annenburg Institute consultants, all education community members need the responsibility and authority to take appropriate leadership roles. Effective schools develop a shared vision, determine clear priorities, promote continuous professional learning, link schools to community assets, provide strong accountability, and reorganize…

Given the current social and economic changes, American education must change in order to connect students to the future. This book is comprised of a collection of essays on the topic of systemic change in education. The book focuses on reform for the future by bringing together systems theory with detailed examples of strategies and cases that…

In 1988, only one-half of Philadelphia 9th-graders in comprehensive high schools moved into 10th grade. In the same year, The Pew Charitable Trusts funded the Philadelphia Schools Collaborative (PSC) to seed the restructuring of the city's 22 comprehensive high schools. With a set of programmatic guidelines culled from successful efforts across…

In the spirit of educational reform, the purpose of this paper is to review the literature and present six empirically derived dimensions underlying the construct of teacher empowerment. The dimensions were obtained from a study conducted on school empowerment in nine school districts across the country from 1989 to 1992. Empowerment has been…