The Seattle Public Schools' effort to define and establish effective schools is described in this paper, a transcript of four coordinated presentations. Ellen Roe, the first presenter, recounts the design of the project. Planning, she states, was begun in late 1981 by a decision seminar (comprised of teachers, administrators, a community…

Beginning in fall 1982 the Aurora West Public Schools (Illinois) conducted a multi-year study to identify the nature of their instructional programs and to establish a set of position statements that would serve as guides for program review and change. A significant element of the process was the involvement of the entire staff in development of…

This paper describes the development and implementation of an evaluation system for a pediatric residency program to meet federal grant monitoring requirements. Continuous communication and collaboration with program participants characterized this naturalistic formative evaluation. Concerns identified through initial interviews of the 15…

To help New Jersey parents and other citizens increase their involvement in schools, this handbook describes school-site management, a form of decentralized administration that can help broaden effective citizen participation in educational management. Part 1 first defines school-site (or school-based) management--a type of school governance in…

The increased demand on educational administrators to share power with parents, community groups, teachers, and school staff emphasizes the need for more participative decision-making and for improved communications with school groups and the outside public. Participative decision-making through groups or councils requires clear, unambiguous…

Many educators advocate school-based management, a method of decentralization wherein the school, instead of the district office, becomes the primary unit of educational decision-making. This shift is part of American education's long-term oscillation between administrative centralization and decentralization. Centralization, say its critics, has…

If interpretations of data compiled during a five-year demonstration of alternative educational programing in the elementary schools of California's Alum Rock School District are correct, the nature of, the size of, and the parental choice exercized over alternative programs have no significant effect on students' reading achievement, social…

Greenfield Community College (GCC) established a participatory management process in 1978 which incorporates: (1) a reorganized governance structure; (2) data collection activities; (3) a mechanism for establishing and implementing institutional goals; and (4) an evaluation component for the entire management process. The new governance structure…

The 21 sources in this annotated bibliography--all of which are in the ERIC system--represent a wide range of thought on the pros, cons, and methods of involving various groups of people in the school's decisionmaking process. The bulk of the articles and documents are concerned with the desire of teachers and students to be included in…

Describes a preservice teacher education assignment in group curriculum development. Presents quotes from student-developed units at the following stages of the assignment: choosing and developing a theme, negotiating and rationalizing curriculum content, selecting a methodology for communication, and allocating tasks. Includes a teacher's…

The six articles in this issue suggest that, prior to selection and implementation, school reforms be critically examined for the following: (1) curricular content and impact on complex social organization of school; and (2) sufficient flexibility to permit teachers and building leaders to adapt reforms to local needs. (PS)

The implementation of school improvement programs is a key factor in their impact. School improvement depends on the following: (1) how teachers and administrators are educated; (2) how school districts and universities collaborate; (3) how improvement programs are planned; and (4) how teachers and administrators are involved in professional…

When making collective educational decisions, junior high school teachers drew only on personal classroom experiences. This exclusion of nonclassroom experience, e.g., parenting, revealed not so much an unawareness of other perspectives but a shared cultural valuation of classroom experience to the exclusion of virtually all other kinds of…

Australian and American universities contrast instructively in the degree to which faculties participate in their governance. Although faculties have long attempted to gain authority in American universities and participate substantially today in Australian universities, the former are, and the latter are becoming, dominated by external…

A study of 20 representative primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, revealed that a high degree of principal supportiveness as measured by the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire was associated positively with curriculum decision making by staff groups and negatively with curriculum decision-making by individual teachers. (PGD)