Fully a half century ago Milton Friedman
constructed an argument on the appropriate roles
of governments and families in the support for and
provision of K-12 schooling, thereby introducing
the modern concept of educational vouchers. To seriously
re-examine the idea of vouchers proposed by Friedman
in "The Role of Government in Education," is to confront
two issues simultaneously: the inherent merits of
the idea and the inevitable changes in circumstances
and conditions between then and now. The test is
a two-fold test about the inherent worthiness of
the idea and its "shelf-life" or the degree to which
it is more or less compelling today after fifty years
of societal evolution. Because so much scholarly
attention has already been directed to the merits
of the proposal and its specific manifestations,
this essay focuses most of its attention on the second,
or "shelf-life" test.
A key issue for both policymakers and
educators in the field is whether school-based management
is an effective strategy for improving schools. In
the past there has been a substantial body of research
that suggests poorly designed and poorly implemented
SBM plans have few positive effects. However, recent
research suggests SBM can improve instructional programs
and produce higher levels of student learning. The
purpose of this article is to synthesize research
findings from major studies of SBM to identify the
core elements of a successful SBM strategy. Among
the research we draw from are the large-scale studies
conducted by the Center on Organization and Restructuring
of Schools (CORS), the Chicago Consortium on School
Reform (CCSR) and the Consortium for Policy Research
in Education (CPRE).
The ability to read has become a vital
tool for success in society. Reading failure affects
more than school achievement; it has implications
for job choice and economic prosperity. Moreover,
students in urban areas are at greater risk for poor
reading outcomes. Given the necessity of basic reading
skills, how can schools design and implement successful
reading reforms? This article attempts to answer
this question by linking current research on effective
reading instruction with current theory and research
on school governance and reform. The review begins
with an overview of historical approaches to reading
curriculum and instruction and then presents current
research on effective early literacy practices for
kindergarten through third grade. An overview of
research on governance and management structures
in high performance schools is also presented. The
article concludes with a discussion about school
organization and policy issues that can support reading
instruction.
Drawing on results from a national
assessment of SBM in 44 schools in the United States,
Canada, and Australia,this chapter examines the SBM
strategies that hold the most promise for increasing
school performance. The organizational conditions
(e.g. nature of autonomy, professional development,
leadership, resources) that are characteristic of
successful SBM schools are discussed. This chapter
also describes the processes schools use to engage
educators in learning about new approaches to curriculum
and instruction and to involve them in continous
improvement of performance. The changes in school-level
performance brought about through SBM are also examined.
This book examines how SBM, when combined
with curriculum and instructional reform, can work
to improve the performance of schools. Case studies
of schools exhibiting a range of success in restructuring
curriculum and instruction and improving performance
are discussed, and comparisons are made between successfully
restructuring and struggling schools. Organizational
conditions and processes that differentiate the successful
and struggling schools are examined. Implications
for practitioners about how to successfully implement
SBM in schools are also discussed.
This paper provides an introduction
to decentralized management in schools. It begins
by defining school-based management (SBM) and describing
the variety of approaches that have been taken in
the implementation of SBM. It then focuses on impact,
asking the question "what difference does SBM make"?
and reviews the key debates surrounding SBM. The
paper concludes with a discussion that explores some
of the issues remaining for further inquiry.
This report evaluates an action-research
project involving teachers, principals, trainers,
and researchers engaged in restructuring three public
schools in Compton, California. The project focused
on implementing ideas from research about what works
in schools and classrooms. Research on the links
between decentralized management and school performance
provided a roadmap for restructuring at the three
schools (two elementary schools and one middle school).
In this report,the process of restructuring is described,
as well as what was learned and achieved and some
of the challenges encountered along the way.
This article assesses a set of conditions
hypothesized as important for supporting the implementation
of significant curriculum and instructional changes
in schools operating under school-based management.
Four of the conditions examined were derived from
a previously developed "high-involvement" framework.
This framework suggests that effective employee involvement
in the process of organizational improvement requires
the decentralization to these employees of power,
information, knowledge and skills, and rewards. Also
evaluated were the importance of three additional
conditions, namely, an instructional guidance system,
leadership, and resources.
Early research on school-based management
(SBM) focused on how much power was devolved to schools,
but more recent research has examined a broader set
of conditions for SBM, including the professional
development activities, information, and rewards
needed to create high performing school organizations.
In the first section of this paper, we explore the
implications of an expanded notion of SBM as a context
for examining the budgeting process. The second section
analyzes exemplary school-based budgeting practices
in several SBM districts to learn more about how
schools effectively redesigned themselves to accommodate
their new budgeting responsibilities.
In this article, the knowledge we have
gained about the do's and don't's of school-based
management are presented. School-based management
fails because: (1) SBM is adopted as an end in itself;
(2) principals work from their own agenda; (3) decision-making
power is centered in a single council; and (4) business
as usual. Several strategies for success are presented:
(1) establish multiple, teacher-led decision-making
teams; (2) focus on continous improvement; (3) create
a well-developed system for sharing school-related
information; (4) develop ways to more effectively
reward staff behavior; (5) select principals who
can facilitate and manage change; and (6) use district,
state and/or national guidelines to focus reform
efforts and to target changes in curriculum and instruction.
There continues to be a deficit of
information about how to carry out budgeting at school
sites and the support structures needed for implementation.
In this study, we found evidence of a broadened definition
of school-based budgeting (SBB), but there was still
a gap between ideal and actual practices. Districts
had decentralized some power, but schools had little
discretion after district, and sometimes state, constraints
were taken into consideration; information sharing
was often restricted by the political culture of
the district and a lack of technology; staff development
was relatively fragmented according to availability
and demand; and there was very little experimentation
with reward structures in schools. There was evidence
to suggest, however, that there was a scaling-up
process occurring as districts were working to use
SBB to help create high performance schools.
This article discusses the strategies
that promote high performance in SBM schools and
gives examples of what was found in schools where
SBM worked and in struggling SBM schools. New roles
for teachers, principals and community members are
described. Lastly the authors discuss their recommendations
for developing a new school finance system to facilitate
the success of SBM.
In this article, the authors set out
to learn why some school districts and schools flourish
under decentralizaiton while others flounder. Findings
include six strategies for success: (1) involve many
stakeholders throughout the school organization in
making decisions; (2) make professional development
an ongoing, school-wide activity; (3) disseminate
information broadly so that SBM participants can
make informed decisions about the school organization
and so that all stakeholders are informed about school
performance; (4) select a principal who can lead
and delegate; (5) adopt a well-defined vision for
curriculum and instruction; and (6) frequently reward
individuals and groups on progress toward school
goals.
This paper explores the leadership
behaviors exhibited by adminstrators, faculty and
staff in 17 schools. These schools included elementary
and high schools that were successful in implementing
curriculum and instructional innovations and some
that were less successful. Interviews of school staff
were conducted, at an average of 18 people per school.
Leadership behaviors required for effective organizational
leadership were analyzed using a model of developmental
leadership. Specifically, the authors focused on
five key activities: developing a vision, developing
commitment, developing teams, developing individuals,
and developing opportunity. In conclusion, the schools
exhibiting more extensive innovations also had more
evidence of people engaging in behaviors associated
with developmental leadership.
This book examines school-based management
(SBM) strategies that hold promise for increasing
organizational effectiveness. Based on the pioneering "high-involvement" model,
the book reveals the need to go beyond thinking about
SBM as a simple transfer of power to viewing it as
a change in organizational design. The challenge
is to redesign the school organization to enable
educators to engage in the extensive learning required
to adopt new approaches to teaching and learning;
to involve educators in the continuous improvement
of performance; and to promote the involvement and
responsiveness of the school to the diverse needs
of the community.
This paper applies the high involvement
framework, developed in the private sector, to assess
school-based management in Victoria, Australia. Areas
explored in this paper include the organization and
culture of schools; teacher and principal roles;
curriculum and instruction; and the amount of power
or authority, knowledge, information and rewards
at the school site.
This brief outlines some key features
of Victoria, Australia's experience in school-based
management that may be relevant to reformers elsewhere.
Overall, the Victorian schools studied supported
the tenets of the high involvement framework; namely,
that if decentralization is accompanied by information,
knowledge, power and rewards, and includes all teachers
in decision-making, then the school's productivity
is likely to increase.
As more and more school districts across
the United States implement school-based management
(SBM), principals increasingly find themselves with
the power to make such on-site decisions as to how
money should be spent, where teachers should be assigned,
and what should be taught in the classroom. This
article discusses how effective principals in SBM
schools work to diffuse power throughout the school,
promote school-wide staff development, distribute
information liberally and frequently to the school's
stakeholders, and reward staff members by reducing
teaching loads or providing funding to attend professional
development activities.
This brief presents findings to practitioners
and policy makers regarding the implementation of
school-based management (SBM). It examines how power,
information, knowledge and rewards are elements for
creating a high performing school under SBM. It includes
an overview of the process of change, how to manage
the change process, policy implications for school
districts and states, and characteristics of actively
restructuring schools.
This article examines the utility of
school-based management (SBM) as a means for generating
school improvement and applies a model of high involvement
management, developed in the private sector, to determine
what makes SBM work and under what conditions. Emerging
from the analysis is the importance of expanding
the definition of SBM to include aspects of organizational
redesign beyond the traditional boundaries of shared
power in order to create the capacity within schools
to develop high performance.
This paper describes the similarities
and differences between private sector organizations
and schools redesigning themselves to address the
challenges they are facing in their changing environments.
The assumption is that by empirically deriving the
similarities and differences, it will be possible
to discover what conclusions from the private sector
experience may be relevant in education, and where
the context of education demands unique approaches.
This paper assesses the process of
change through school-based management (SBM). The
analysis is guided by a theoretical model that describes
the process through which SBM can lead to school
improvement. The findings indicate that school leaders
must insure that all constituents have an opportunity
to participate in school level decisions, that a
vision regarding desired outcomes should be utilized
to guide changes, and that the process of change
should be monitored in order to better identify problem
areas and allow corrective action to be taken.
This brief offers a new definition
of school-based management (SBM), based on a review
of the literature in public schools and private organizations,
and describes strategies for decentralizing management
to improve the design of SBM plans. The design strategies
focus on the four components of control: power, knowledge,
information and rewards.
This article reviews existing literature
on school-based management (SBM) and highlights several
themes related to both why SBM does not work and
how it can be designed to be more effective. The
results from the review suggest that future policy
and research ought to expand its purview of SBM to
include more than just delegating budget, personnel,
and curriculum decisions to schools and to join SBM
as a governance reform with content (curriculum and
instruction) reforms so as to enhance the possibilities
for improving educational practice.
|
