Funding disparities between states and districts have been repeatedly documented, but scholars have put much less focus on resource inequities at the school level, a crucial gap in the research. In this study, I investigate school-level fiscal decision making in New York City public schools, a district that provides a unique look into expenditures…

Policy reform around the globe has increased the autonomy that schools enjoy in spending on resources. This reform assumes that schools face strong incentives to use their resources to maximise pupil attainment and that they know best how to spend their money to achieve this aim. This study provides evidence of the relationship between governance…

The introduction of school governing bodies (hereinafter SGBs) changed the roles and functions of principals dramatically when this new approach to school governance and professional management (referred to as a participatory decision-making approach) was activated when the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (hereinafter SASA) was implemented in…

Public education in Morocco occupies the center stage of the development efforts spearheaded by the North African Kingdom. Yet, little, if any, improvement in the quality of education has been achieved over the last two decades. Public schools continue to suffer huge shortages in human and material resources despite several successive waves of…

In recent years, some U.S. school districts have shifted away from direct management of schools, toward systems in which some or all schools operate under enhanced autonomy, accountability, and parental choice. Yet dynamics driving these changes are understudied, and there are few comparative studies of system-level governance shifts. To address…

There is little conclusive evidence linking academies reform in England with school improvement. While this reform has been effective in improving educational outcomes in some contexts, it has been resoundingly unsuccessful in others. Nevertheless, political faith in autonomous schooling as key to a world-class education remains strong. This paper…

Purpose: This study aims to determine the extent school-based management committee (SBMC) participates in enhancing quality assurance in secondary school management in Enugu state, Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 1,305 people participated in the study, which included a sample of 843 comprising 281 principals in all the public…

School districts around the country have launched new reform strategies that are designed to expand autonomy for public schools, often called "Innovation Schools." Pursuant to these state- and local-level plans to create more autonomous schools, school leaders are granted greater amounts of authority over school operations such as…

In this study, School Management Committees in Akatsi South and Upper Manya Krobo of Ghana to examine their involvement and participation in school based management practices. A phenomenological approach was used to unearth four variables that links to school-based management that is carried out by SMC members. The findings of the study showed…

School-based management (SBM) remains a "hot topic" in educational circles. This article explores the reality of SBM internationally. It focusses on the perceptions of selected Australian public secondary principals who reflect on the drivers and impediments affecting their capacity to lead school-based innovation. While broadly…

Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the…

Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the…

School-Based Management (SBM) has served as a key reform program, concretizing decentralization in the basic education sector in different parts of the world, including the Philippines. The study used qualitative research methods, including key informant interviews and focus groups of faculty and administrators, to explore the challenges of SBM in…

The devolution of public sector schooling systems has been a feature of education reform since the 1980s. In Western Australia, the Independent Public School (IPS) initiative has recently been installed, announced by the state government in 2009. Now over 80% of the state's public school students attend IP schools. Drawing on interview data from a…

Parent participation in school management has been promoted as a strategy for holding schools accountable for education quality and outcomes. However, the evidence has proven inconclusive and limited in explaining mechanisms to affect student achievement. By using public school student data derived from the Programme for International Student…