This article shares findings from an exploratory case study about an advanced school leadership development program designed specifically for practicing principals and administrator-trained teachers. The program was designed to help a high-need rural district transform its principalship from school management into learner-center leadership while…

School-based management (SBM) has become a very popular movement over the past decade. The World Bank Education Team's SBM work program emerged out of a need to define the concept more clearly, review the evidence, support impact assessments in various countries, and provide some initial feedback to teams preparing education projects. During the…

School-site management embodies the concept that decisions should be made at the lowest possible level in organizations and intends that no decision be made without the input of those affected by them. The concept also suggests the empowerment of individual units of the system, particularly, the teachers. Centralization versus decentralization is…

American charter schools feature a dual reform strategy that combines state-initiated reform with local flexibility. In Britain, as in the U.S., charter school reform has been accompanied by centralized curriculum and student-assessment policies and decentralized implementation strategizing. Policymakers and practitioners must collaborate to…

Over the past 10 years, New York has more than doubled its spending on elementary and secondary education, in a fervent attempt to produce greater student achievement and prepare our young people for the fast changing world in which they will have to earn a living. Better results have not been produced as the education system has focused on more…

The essence of school-based decision-making is accepting the importance of decentralization and placing emphasis on process in planning efforts. "Synergistic planning" may be a more realistic term, instead of planning, to convey meaning to educators concerning educational organizations. In this model, all people in the organization look…

This paper presents one researcher's perspective in providing technical research support for the self-evaluation of 10 school-based management (SBM) schools in the Dade County Public School (DCPS) system of Florida. Background information on the DCPS and the SBM program is reviewed. A description of the evaluation process and analysis is provided.…

Decentralization proponents argue that autonomous decision making at the school level will significantly affect teaching and learning, leading to improved outcomes. The problem is to distinguish real autonomous decision making from a degree of managerialism that decentralizes administration, rather than decision making. A five-part analytical…

Based on current empirical data, school-based management is failing to produce radical changes in school practice. SBM, which holds untapped potential for democratizing the workplace and equitably addressing students' needs, can be analyzed in terms of formal and informal dimensions characterizing a site's scope of authority, involvement, and…

Aims to apply structural, human resource, political, and cultural perspectives to review and analyze the case of Hong Kong in implementing school-based management. Hopes this analysis can provide a useful illustration of applying multi-perspectives to support development of school-based management and draw useful implications for school reforms in…

Examines the administrative and organizational practices in a selected group of secondary vocational schools in Turkey from the point of view of school administrators, teachers, and industrial managers. Finds that the Turkish vocational education system is characterized by a centralized, top-down bureaucracy, which inhibits innovative capacity.…

The Governor's Institutes of Vermont are summer programs for Vermont high school students. The students are chosen for their strong personal motivation and interest in art, science and technology, and international affairs. Coordinated with the Institutes, the Lead Learner program is designed to enhance teacher and school efforts in restructuring.…

Restructuring is a reorganization that replaces central planning, control, and supervision with a deregulated, decentralized system in which the "bottom line" counts most. Seven explanations for restructuring are outlined, each reflecting a particular position or perspective : (1) a crisis in legitimization involving the dimensions of the…

The general aim of this book is to provide a focussed discussion on decentralization and school-based management. In part 1, chapter 1, some problems, anticipations, and a recommendation concerning decentralization are presented. In part 2, chapters 2 through 6 review literature about the structural view of organizations, rationality and…

As part of its school restructuring work with states, the National Governors' Association commissioned the Center for Policy Research on Education to conduct case studies of several local school districts experimenting with new structural arrangements. This case study is based on visits to four such districts: Jefferson County Schools (Louisville,…