Participatory decision making can meld individual teacher goals into shared organizational goals that emphasize benefits for students. The article examines site-based management, organizational prerequisites, central office responsibilities, organizational culture, appropriate use of participation, decision-making strategies, and five obstacles to…

To be successful, educational reform must involve the range of educational shareholders from the beginning in discussions about what to change and why. The participatory reform method of the Institute for Responsive Education illustrates parent-teacher action research for new foundations for educational structures. (SLD)

Explores what outcome-based education could mean if it is properly planned and implemented. Outcome-based education emphasizes that the success of schools should be measured on the basis of what students actually know rather than what they are supposed to know. Issues in implementing outcome-based education are discussed. (SLD)

Describes Lehigh Valley 2000, a collaborative approach to enhance education and learning underway in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, where a business-education partnership is creating fertile ground for educational innovations and system reform. Action committees that involve more than 200 people address recommendations for educational change.…

This study examined the types of provisions for special needs students, measurement of needs, levels of funding, and funding formulae used by 65 British local education authorities under the Local Management of Schools approach. The study found much diversity among local education authorities in the measurement of needs and in funding levels. (JDD)

A survey of 62 Minnesota directors of special education examined 20 issues of school choice pertinent to school districts. Issues listed as important by the most respondents were excess program costs, the effects of enrollment options on the planning process, and the billing of resident districts for special education services. (JDD)

Explores how administrators and teachers in 16 schools used facilitative power to develop site-tailored restructuring programs as part of a statewide school improvement effort. Legislatively mandated teacher leadership of site activities generated changes in school authority and accountability structures. Both principals and teachers exercised…

Summarizes findings from a 15-month study of 6 schools and principals changing to a decentralized school governance model. Highlights benefits such as administrator role redefinition, autonomy's effects on improving school culture and contributing to school reform success, increased commitment to decisions, increased staff cohesion and trust, and…

Provides a framework that recognizes the multifaceted nature of school restructuring and identifies four restructuring emphases: student experiences; teachers' professional life; leadership, management, and governance; and coordination of community resources. Describes six critical outcomes (authentic student achievement, equity, empowerment,…

Improving our schools involves reconstruction of two interacting ecologies--that of the total array of educating institutions and that of the formal system of schooling. There is a need to link teacher education and schools simultaneously in improvement. (IAH)

This article provides a broad overview of several key issues and trends in education that were discussed in some of the leading professional education journals during 1990. Topics discussed include national goals for education, school restructuring, at-risk students, urban education, and reform of teacher education. (15 references) (LRW)

Contends that the Bush Administration's "America 2000" plan is a political and ideological statement that substitutes the logic of the market for the principles of democracy and ignores the need for multiculturalism in the schools. Provides some general recommendations for educational reform. (30 endnotes) (MLF)

Their cumulative schooling experiences dictate the way most teachers carry out their roles. Changing teaching requires changing the environment in which teaching occurs. Colleges can contribute to reinventing teaching in several ways. Many of the educational principles which promote student learning also promote teacher learning and better…

Second-wave reforms that will affect vocational education are (1) national goals, testing, and accountability; (2) school choice; (3) teacher education and certification; and (4) site/school-based management. Vocational education must go beyond adaptation to changes and consider the broader context of general educational reform. (SK)

The Panasonic Foundation made the improvement of elementary and secondary education its primary mission. The article describes its partnership program which involved it in long-term, intensive relationships with urban school districts. Evaluation of the partnership indicates it has been central in promoting reflective thinking and educational…