The Division of Student Affairs at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor engaged in an iterative strategic process to create and implement a set of long-range goals. This strategic journey continues to evolve, uniting a guiding framework of strategic planning steps, a reflective process with an assessment component within each step, and a group…

This study describes three action cycles I identified retrospectively and examines the processes I underwent through the lens of research literature dealing with leadership. I then provide a retrospective account of my reflections on my actions over a four-year period. As the head of the Elementary School Department in a teacher education college,…

In this survey research study, the researcher employed a causal-comparative, or ex post facto, design to explore the relationship between how union employees of a U.S. county government perceived implementation of a new electronic performance appraisal process and how they responded to the planned organizational change along cognitive, emotional,…

This article draws on findings from a larger international study and the literature to examine successful principals of challenging high-poverty schools in the USA, England, and Australia. Specifically, this article reports case-study findings for 13 challenging schools, 4 each in the USA and Australia and 5 in England. Findings from this study…

School-based management (SBM) offers a mechanism to promote school improvement through decentralization. Decentralization can occur only gradually and cannot simply be implemented. The power to make decisions influencing organizational policies must shift to school-based councils comprised of administrators, teachers, parents, community members,…

The accelerated schools process provides a systematic approach to the restructuring of schools. Developed in 1986 by Henry M. Levin, the strategy seeks to provide the best education for all students. During the first stage, the "taking stock" phase, everyone in the school community works together to develop a comprehensive school…

The Cooperative Alliance, funded by the U.S. Department of Education in 1990, is a partnership among three agencies--Kent State University (KSU), Cleveland Public Schools' (CPS) Center for School Improvement, and International Business Machines (IBM) EdQuest Corporation--to enhance educational planning for minority and/or educationally…

W. Edwards Deming called for the transformation to a new style of organizational management based on greater cooperation between managers and employees. This transformation could be achieved by introducing "profound knowledge" into the system. This paper is a presentation outline that was used to introduce the basics of Deming's theory…

The changing world requires an improvement in school education, part of which involves the creation of self-renewing educational organizations to assist that implementation. This paper argues that the quality of teacher education can help to produce these self-renewing organizations and describes East Carolina University School of Education's…

In their book, "The Diverted Dream," Brint and Karabel describe the growth of the American community college movement from 1900 to 1985 and claim that the colleges no longer act as stepping stones to four-year colleges and universities. Instead, the authors claim, the colleges are vocationalizing curricula and focusing on preparing…

This guide, which was developed from a list of work restructuring best practice guidelines that was constructed by nationally recognized work restructuring professionals, businesspersons, and union representatives, is designed to help determine whether a work restructuring consultant has the substantive, process, and interpersonal skills required…

Research has shown that change imposed from above by a bureaucracy will usually engender resistance. The education system under the new democractic South Africa recently underwent change. This paper presents findings of a study that examined whether principals in South Africa perceived any internal or external resistance-to-change factors in their…

A study examined the effects on elementary school climate that result from a change of principal. Data were collected over a 12-month period at 12 schools in an urban school division. Six of the schools were scheduled to have principal changes in fall 1994 and six were not. Teachers completed Hoy, Tarter, and Kottkamp's (1991) OCDQ-RE survey in…

Can Total Quality Management (TQM) improve the performance of school systems in meaningful ways? This paper evaluates the soundness of TQM as an improvement program for education by comparing its philosophy and prescriptions with the mounting theoretical and empirical wisdom on introducing and sustaining large-scale organizational change and more…

This report seeks to build a case for the potential value of arts-centered cross-disciplinary approaches as a possible way to integrate an often-fragmented high school curriculum. Stressing that there is no universal panacea for the complex and multi-layered issues of school reform and change, the report suggests a possible vision that could lead…