Decentralization involves the transfer
of power from a central authority to a local authority.
In education, decentralization's most popular form
transpires when school districts delegate decision-making
authority to school sites where service delivery actually
occurs. In doing this, they often rely more heavily
on incentives and market forces as a complement to
enforceable directives. Such reforms aim to give school
constituents - administrators, teachers, parents, and
other community members - more control and more responsibility
over what happens in schools. Enhancement of school
performance and the quality of the student's education
is the intended result. Examples of decentralization
reforms in education include school-based management
and school-based budgeting, and district programs of
school choice.
CEG's work in this area applies models of decentralization
and market behavior, derived from research on high-performance
organizations in the private sector, to schools to
improve knowledge about the factors that facilitate
and impede effective decentralization.
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