The Center for Public School Renewal
Selected Articles and Books Listed in ERIC
The 72 ERIC entries listed below were selected from the most recent 100 hits (as of July, 1999) from each of the four categories above, based on the content of their abstracts. Since the idea of teacher-led schools is controversial, an attempt was made to include both positive and negative viewpoints related to this subject. In no case has any of the authors listed below specifically endorsed the Center for Public School Renewal's proposal for teacher-led schools.
1999 ERIC Entries (A - E)
---------- no author --------------------. Connecticut Task Force on Charter Schools Report. Prepared for the Education Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly and the Connecticut State Board of Education Pursuant to Public Act 91-285. 7 Feb 92. ERIC NO: ED357426 ABSTRACT: In this report, Connecticut's Task Force on Charter Schools recommends enacting legislation to establish six pilot charter schools to begin operation in fall 1994. As public schools or educational programs operating under a State Board of Education charter, charter schools would be: committed to quality student outcomes; staffed and controlled by certified teachers; and open to all students on an equal opportunity basis. The main body of the report consists of specific recommendations using a question-answer-discussion format. Church-related charter schools would not be permitted, and private schools would be ineligible to apply for charters. Like other state public schools, charter schools would be accountable for student achievement and assessment results. Teachers would be empowered to govern their charter school facilities; they would determine their school's curriculum and policies, develop annual budgets, set salaries, establish their own tenure rules, and make all employment decisions. Regulatory control would be minimal. Parents could choose to enroll their children in a charter school or withdraw them if dissatisfied with the school's performance. Because charter schools could draw enrollment from more than one town, they could attract diverse student bodies. For each child enrolled, a charter school would receive payment from the district where the student resides equal to 90 percent of the net current per pupil expenditure. Included are a proposed time line, a copy of the proposed statutory authority, and a report summary. (MLH)
Abzug, Rikki; Phelps, Susan. Everything Old Is New Again: Barnard's Legacy Lessons for Participative Leaders. Journal of Management Development (v17 n3 p207-18 1998). ABSTRACT: Traces concepts of participative management and empowerment to the ideas of Chester Barnard in the 1930s. Demonstrates implementation of these concepts in nonprofit organizations and partnerships. (SK)
Amspaugh, Linda B. Does Anybody Care? Phi Delta Kappan (v74 n9 p714-17 May 1993) ABSTRACT: A teacher educator's experience as a first-grade teacher helped her understand the desperation that is driving good teachers into other professions. She experienced autocratic scheduling requirements, humiliating permission and attendance verification procedures for inservice training, constant daily interruptions, inflexible custodial rules, and extremely limited telephone access and privacy. (MLH)
Anderson, Judith. Who's In Charge? Teachers' Views on Control over School Policy and Classroom Practices. Research Report. Aug 1994 ERIC NO: ED376240 ABSTRACT: Teachers' views on their control of school policy and classroom practices are analyzed on the basis of data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) of 1990-91. The SASS, a nationally representative survey of more than 53,000 teachers, reflects teachers' opinions of school conditions. Overall, teachers (61 percent) did not believe that they had much influence over the determination of discipline policy. Only 37 percent believed they had much influence over establishing curriculum; and only 33 percent believed they had influence over determining the content of inservice programs. Only 29 percent believed they were influential in policy-setting decisions on grouping students. Private school teachers were more likely to feel that they had some control in these areas, but even they did not think they had much control. Most teachers did believe that they had considerable control over classroom matters. Teachers in big-city schools were less likely to feel that they had any control over policy, but they had similar perceptions about classroom control. (Contains 4 references.) (SLD)
Bailey, William J. Organizing Schools. Educational Leadership for the 21st Century. 1997 ERIC NO: ED413667 ABSTRACT: The American public schools need a total revamping of structure, philosophy, pedagogy, and professionalism. This book is part of a series that explains why significant changes are needed and how changes can be made given the present constitutional authority. Part 1 introduces the causes and effects of the malfunctioning of the typical school system in America. In the first section, three chapters look at ways in which "imprinting"--the process through which an unquestioned worldview is created--has constrained educators in stereotypical paradigms such as: exposing the imprints from various sources that have resulted in a freezing of current educational paradigms; outlining some specific problems that are associated with the present structure; and delineating the impact of the educational imprinting on student and educator performance. Three chapters comprise section 2, which presents a plan for restructuring public education at the state, district, and building levels. The third section contains three chapters that discuss the direction in which elementary, middle, and high schools need to go in the 21st century. The three chapters in the fourth section deal with managing the transformation. Topics include the application of organizational-development techniques to education, public relations, and the preparation of educational leaders. Contains chapter references, 5 tables, 13 figures, and an index. (LMI)
Barnett, Demian; McKowen, Charlene; Bloom, Gary. A School without a Principal. Educational Leadership (v55 n7 p48-49 Apr 1998) ABSTRACT: Teachers at a central California high school operate the school according to a strict, progressive set of principles. The Anzar communication guidelines specify teachers' commitment to communicating well, collective ownership of problems and problem solving, tolerance of differing ideas, individual accountability, dedication to helping and supporting others, and honesty in self-evaluation and peer coaching. (MLH)
Bauer, Scott. Creating a Level Playing Field: Structuring Shared Decision Making To Promote Authentic Dialogue. Mar 1997 ERIC NO: ED409630 ABSTRACT: Research has shown that among the obstacles to success in implementing shared decision making is finding ways to negotiate the inherent power differentials and traditional role expectations among the various stakeholders. This paper describes the methods developed by district-level planning teams to "even the playing field" and to promote authentic dialogue among stakeholders on their teams. District planning teams were charged with designing comprehensive shared- decision-making policies that they felt would work best in their districts. Twenty design teams from 20 New York school districts developed "rules of the game" that first allowed them to equalize power relations and then to develop methods they felt would promote true shared decision making at the school level. The teams engaged in a structured participatory action-research process to develop and address a set of key questions to guide their site-based-management processes. The planning teams developed guidelines in response to key questions in the areas of focus, scope, structure, process, and support. One table is included. (Contains 70 references). (LMI)
Bauer, Scott C. Designing Site-Based Systems, Deriving a Theory of Practice. International Journal of Educational Reform (v7 n2 p108-21 Apr 1998) ABSTRACT: Reviews five dimensions (focus, scope, structure, process, and capacity) of an organizational design used by 20 New York districts planning for site-based management (SBM) implementation. The confusion surrounding devolution of decision making hinders districts' efforts to effect changes in intermediate variables (job satisfaction and staff morale) and student achievement. SBM needs a district focus centered on students. (56 references) (MLH)
Bernal, Ernesto M. Site-Based Decision-Making: Achieving a New Level of Professionalism. 1996 ERIC NO: ED417480 ABSTRACT: This paper addresses briefly the responsibilities which site- based decision-making (S-B D-M) imply and presents the many opportunities to innovate collaboratively as a way to achieve greater professionalism. Texas' Senate Bill 1 (199) and House Bill 2885 (1991) set into motion two important aspects of educational reform, the decentralization of the Texas Education Agency's supervisory/compliance power to permit greater flexibility to response at the local level, and the authorization for local education agencies to conduct site- based management. As with any educational innovation, S-B D-M requires training effort, and time to implement well. Some schools who rushed into S-B D-M assumed that they could do whatever they wanted, while other schools merely allowed the principal to dominate the work of classroom teachers. The essence of S-B D-M is school-level autonomy plus participating decision-making. Minimally the site plan must include: collaborative goal setting; curriculum; staffing; budget development; program implementation; and evaluation. S-B D-M is not a panacea, but it is an attempt to reform and improve education for creating empowered and collaborative groups of reflective practitioners in the schools. (Author/RJM)
Berne, Robert, And Others. Reinventing Central Office. A Primer for Successful Schools. [1995] ERIC NO: ED410344 ABSTRACT: Since 1993, school reform leaders from Chicago (Illinois), Denver (Colorado), New York (New York), Seattle (Washington), and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) have come together in the Cross City Campaign to work for the improvement of urban education. In each of these cities rhetorical pleas for decentralization and the investment of decision making in the school community are common, but central offices continue to yield little real authority to the local schools. This report recommends a fundamental revision of urban public school systems, one that shifts virtually all funds and most authority to the schools and dismantles centralized bureaucratic structures. "Reinventing Central Office" covers six key areas in which centralization can be reduced and local autonomy strengthened: (1) governance; (2) budgets; (3) curriculum and instruction; (4) personnel; (5) facilities and services; and (6) accountability. Large bureaucracies find it hard to change how they work. They may yield authority to schools in some or all of these areas, but they then take actions that show that authority still resides at the central level. Central offices have a strong tendency to recentralize, schools will have to watch vigilantly for possible recentralizations if these reforms are implemented. Communities have the intellectual, spiritual, cultural, and physical strengths that provide the essentials for raising children and revitalizing community life. Four appendixes outline powers and functions that should be shifted to the local schools; list proposed roles for schools, districts, and external groups; and provide lists of resources and individuals with expertise in educational improvement. (Contains 47 references.) (SLD)
Brown, Daniel J.; Ozembloski, Lloyd W. One Canadian District's Road to Substantial School-Based Management. International Journal of Educational Reform (v5 n4 p444-52 Oct 1996) ABSTRACT: Presents results of a retrospective investigation into a Vancouver (Canada) school district's adoption of school-based management, using Fullan's triphasic model of change (adoption, implementation, and incorporation) as a framework. During the change process, Fullan's overall factors were apparent, and the environment was unobstructed by governmental initiatives or parental advocacy. (28 references) (MLH)
Bryk, Anthony S.; Sebring, Penny Bender; Kerbow, David; Rollow, Sharon; Easton, John Q. Charting Chicago School Reform: Democratic Localism as a Lever for Change. 1998 ERIC NO: ED421594 ABSTRACT: In 1989, Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools began an experiment with the radical decentralization of power and authority. This book tells the story of what happened in Chicago's elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. Implicit in the reform was the theory that expanded local democratic participation would stimulate organizational change in the schools, which in turn would foster improved teaching and learning. With longitudinal case study data on 22 schools, survey responses from principals and teachers in 269 schools, and supplementary system-wide administrative data, the authors identify 4 types of school politics: (1) strong democracy; (2) consolidated principal power; (3) maintenance; and (4) adversarial. Findings suggest that in about one third of the schools, expanded local democratic participation served as a strong level for systemic changes focused on improved instruction. Case studies of six actively restructuring schools illustrate how the principal's role is recast under decentralization, and how ideas and information from external sources are brought to bear on school change initiatives. (Contains 14 tables, 42 figures, and 266 references.) (SLD)
Buechler, Mark. Constraints on Teachers' Classroom Effectiveness: The Teachers' Perspective. Policy Bulletin. Nov 1991 ERIC NO: ED361302 ABSTRACT: This bulletin summarizes the findings of a study that sought to determine what policies, regulations, and practices teachers believed posed the most significant constraints on their classroom activities; whether these constraints originated at the federal, state, local, or school level; and what effect the costraints had on quality instruction and innovation. Data were gathered through a telephone survey of 400 Indiana teachers and through focus group discussions with 65 teachers. Major constraints on classroom activities were found to be poor funding, large class size, lack of authority to discipline, ISTEP, mandated curriculum or textbooks, and required nonteaching duties. Teachers rarely cited the traditional school governance structure directly as a constraint. Effects of constraints on teachers' activities included: erosion of opportunities to exercise professional judgment, ineffective use of time, deficient resources, and general frustration. The paper concludes that teachers were more concerned with aspects of school improvement like additional funding, relief from nonteaching duties, and more planning time than they were with elaborate schemes for restructuring; and those teachers who were undertaking sweeping changes were, for the most part, not constrained from doing so by specific policies. (JDD)
Busher, Hugh; Saran, Rene. Towards a Model of School Leadership. Educational Management and Administration (v22 n1 p5-13 Jan 1994) ABSTRACT: Explores the various leadership models (structural-functional, open-systems, cultural-pluralism, interpersonal, and political) used to illuminate headteachers' work and considers the problems faced by leaders in professionally staffed organizations. School leadership activities center on managing organizational cultures and the external environment, working with staff, and using and diffusing power to handle conflicting stakeholder values and interests. (Contains 61 references.) (MLH)
Caldwell, Brian J. Local Management of Schools and Improved Outcomes for Students. 1997 ERIC NO: ED418506 ABSTRACT: The nature of direct and indirect effects of local management of schools (school-based management) on learning outcomes for students has remained elusive. The findings from a 5-year longitudinal study of the "Schools of the Future" reform in Victoria, Australia, are reported in this paper. The Victoria system is the largest public school system anywhere to have decentralized as much as 90 percent of its budget to the local level. An examination of the last two of six statewide surveys of principals using structural equation modelling revealed a relatively stable model that demonstrates these effects. Specifically, principals who report curriculum and learning benefits tend to be those who reported benefits in other domains, including the capacity to select staff, increased flexibility in the use of resources, and the involvement of community. Although the analysis relies on perceptions rather than student achievement data, the emergence of a stable model that explains direct and indirect effects of elements of Schools of the Future on outcomes in curriculum and learning is considered to be a valuable finding and should lay the groundwork for comprehensive case study research. (RJM)
Clinchy, Evans. Democratizing America's Public Schools. Principal (v77 n5 p13-14,16 May 1998) ABSTRACT: Even as Goals 2000 (the latest manifestation of factory-model schooling) is being adopted nationwide, a smaller, but growing counter-movement aimed at decentralizing and democratizing public schools has emerged. Manifestations include magnet and charter schools and the new, smaller, autonomous institutions called in-district charter or pilot schools, like those pioneered by Deborah Meier in East Harlem, New York. (MLH)
Cuban, Larry. The Lure of Curricular Reform and Its Pitiful History. Phi Delta Kappan (v75 n2 p181-85 Oct 1993) ABSTRACT: Curricular reform has had pitiful results. There are actually four curricula. Concentrating on the official and tested curricula, while ignoring the taught and learned curricula, diverts attention from more pressing policy issues such as inequitable funding allocations and persistent achievement gaps between richer and poorer students. The only curriculum that counts is that used by classroom teachers. (MLH)
Datnow, Amanda; And Others. Charter Schools: Teacher Professionalism and Decentralization. Apr 1994 ERIC NO: ED384116 ABSTRACT: Charter-school legislation is part of a larger movement that symbolizes the push for decentralization of public schools, grounded in the belief that local control leads to teacher professionalism and thus improved student outcomes. This paper examines enacted charter-school legislation from across the United States, analyzing the similarities and differences and highlighting references to teacher empowerment. The preliminary findings of a charter-school case study are used to critique the assumption that local control and deregulation lead to teacher professionalism and improved student outcomes. The case study of a charter school was conducted in a large, urban school district in California. Interviews were conducted with legislators and legislative analysts, state Department of Education staff, district administrators and school board members, teachers' union officers, the principal, teachers, and parents. Preliminary findings suggest that decentralization can contribute to teacher professionalism; however, this may vary according to the school culture and context. Furthermore, there is no indication that giving teachers more freedom will automatically translate into improved student outcomes. Another question is whether the benefits of increased teacher empowerment and professionalism that may result from local control outweigh the potential costs of decentralization. Possible risks of the charter legislation include the loss of democratic control over public schools and a reversal of previous gains in the area of civil rights. It is recommended that legislators and policy makers carefully evaluate the intent and potential outcomes of charter-school legislation before enacting it. The appendix contains information on charter-school legislation in eight states. (LMI)
DiBella, Cecilia M.; Krysiak, Barbara H. The Art and Science of Letting Go. School Business Affairs (v63 n11 p22-26 Nov 1997) ABSTRACT: School business officials' technical knowledge and expertise can make the process of school-based management more successful. The art of site-based management is relationship building through effective interpersonal and communication skills. (MLF) Epp, Juanita Ross; MacNeil, Carol Perceptions of Shared Governance in an Elementary School. Canadian Journal of Education (v22 n3 p254-67 Sum 1997) ABSTRACT: The first year of shared governance in a Canadian urban elementary school and the responses of the school's 14 teachers to the system of equal rights and responsibilities for teachers and the principal were described. Shared governance worked well, although not without conflict, but the group eventually used shared governance to resolve conflicts. (SLD)
Estabrooke, Marianna. Locally Constructed Teacher Evaluation Policy: A Model for Policy Development. 1997 ERIC NO: ED414328 ABSTRACT: A model of educational policy development is reported that is democratic without being egalitarian. It provides a process for gathering information from all interested groups in a school district to construct a policy that is uniquely suited to that district. It was designed to help a small committee construct a teacher evaluation policy for a school district with 2,800 students. The steps of the model incorporate the beliefs of every sector of the school community without ignoring the experience and beliefs of others. The development process began with a committee of teachers and administrators who made plans for a committee of stakeholders that would include teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community representatives. This committee then asked questions of teachers, administrators, parents, and students about existing policies and, for groups other than teachers, their opinions of good teaching. Six areas of teacher competence were expanded to 14 standards. A scoring rubric incorporating the standards was developed and refined, and the final policy was presented to the school board for approval. In its second year, the policy appears to have met its goals for inclusion of the local vision of teaching and research on teacher development and evaluation. The development approach illustrated that not all groups have the same areas of knowledge, but all have a legitimate interest and some expertise to contribute to policy development. An appendix presents criteria for useful feedback developed through teacher response, the parent survey, and a questionnaire for students. (Contains 4 references.) (SLD)
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