School site management, a decentralized approach to decision-making and school governance, is intended to help parents and teachers share increased accountability for student learning and provide a broadened leadership base through teacher empowerment. This approach involves a shift of decision-making responsibility from the school district to…

Teachers frequently need assistance in meeting the needs of students with behavior and learning problems. Contacts with peers and other staff usually are informal and do not allow thorough analysis of the problem. The Building Support System model used in some North Dakota schools provides prompt, accessible support to teachers through peer…

The Dade County (Florida) Public School system has had various types of school-based management (SBM) procedures in operation since 1974. During the 1985-86 school year, a committee of principals and other administrators reviewed the concepts of SBM from a different viewpoint, using various materials that addressed the professionalization of…

Existing schooling structures cannot produce the changes necessary for substantial educational improvement. Although school-site management literature offers no procedural recipes, experience suggests that a certain configuration of concepts, processes, and enabling conditions can produce substantial and sustained school improvement. This paper…

An overview is provided of the 1985-86 activities of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC). After citing the section of the California Administrative Code establishing the ASCCC and listing the officers and members of the organization, the annual report presents a statement by the ASCCC president, Mark Edelstein, regarding…

The school reform movement which has accelerated over the last two years provides a point of departure for this discussion of where educators stand today in the battle to preserve and strengthen the public schools and of directions that need to be taken toward democratic school reform, particularly in the social studies. Much of the discussion is…

The Goal Based Education Program of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory has been engaged since 1981 in profiling secondary schools and/or secondary programs practicing goal based education. Profiles are presented of 17 of these schools representing different geographical areas and diverse student populations. The profiles describe the…

This paper describes the Responsible Living Environment (RLE) which has been used to promote a community atmosphere within the University of Wisconsin--Whitewater residence halls consistent with the educational mission of the university. It includes the university's housing mission statement, a definition of Responsible Living Environment, and a…

In education, action research is research carried out by practitioners with a view to improving their professional practice and understanding it better. This paper concentrates particularly upon classroom action research by inservice teachers, although the approach can also be embodied in preservice training courses and can embrace a very wide…

While efforts directed toward aiding the individual elderly will continue to be necessary, the widening gap between seniors' needs and available resources requires broader based interventions at the organizational level. In order to move such organizations to adopt program evaluation as a technique for improving organizational effectiveness, a…

The key to successful curriculum reform is a broad-based, systematic decision-making process directed by teachers. Common approaches to curriculum development are haphazard and tend to produce superficial change. An approach that gives teachers a personal and professional stake in its results, however, can generate fundamental and lasting reforms.…

It is beneficial to identify three administrative teams through linking pins: the principal is the linking pin between the instructional team and the administrative team; the superintendent is the linking pin between the administrative team and the policy team, which includes the board of education; the administrative team consisting of all…

Improving school district operating effectiveness and efficiency through organizational renewal involves the following: (1) a review of how the district makes plans; (2) consideration of the organizational structure; and (3) a human resources review. In all phases, providing for employee input should produce widespread benefits to the…

Leadership was the primary issue when the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences (Victoria, Australia) introduced academic governance regulations in 1978. The issue resurfaced in 1982, prompting a regulations review. This paper analyzes review findings and relates them to contemporary theory viewing leadership as a relationship between leaders and…

To improve the quality of education, Duluth Public Schools (Minnesota) implemented a participative management program using a Quality of Work Life process developed by a diversified labor management committee. The process, which recognizes the skills and creativity of all staff, solves everyday problems while building greater staff commitment to…