In shared decision making (SDM), principals collaborate with teachers and sometimes parents to take actions aimed at improving instruction and school climate. While research on SDM outcomes is still inconclusive, the literature shows that SDM brings both benefits and problems, and that the principal is a key figure. This brief offers a sampling of…

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…

Prospects for making formal principal preparation programs more relevant to actual administrator experience are described in this Digest. First, some of the deficiencies of traditional preparation programs are outlined. Next, ways in which shared decision making and decentralization have affected principals' preservice training needs are…

Chapter 6 in a volume on school leadership, this chapter makes a case for the use of participative decision-making (PDM) at the school-site level, outlines guidelines for its implementation, and describes the experiences of some schools with PDM systems. It begins by citing research indicating the advantages of PDM, including better decisions,…

The benefits of a collaborative work setting--including such practices as mutual help, exchange of ideas, joint planning, and participative decision-making--have been consistently confirmed by studies of effective schools and successful businesses. However, teacher isolation remains the norm. Drawing on recent research and educators' firsthand…

School-based budgeting decentralizes fiscal decisions and is usually adopted as part of a comprehensive school-based management plan. The practice requires cooperation, particularly from the school board, superintendent, and principals. The purpose of school-based budgeting is not to reduce costs but to improve school productivity by altering…

Chapter 4 of a volume on school leadership, this chapter is a revised version of the issue of "School Management Digest" entitled "School Based Management." It draws from the work of many authorities to define, explain, and make a case for school-based management, a system of educational administration in which the school is…

Chapter 3 of a volume on school leadership, this chapter reviews theories of leadership style. After defining leadership style simply as "how the leader leads," the author presents and explains significant ideas about the important components and environmental determinants of leadership style. The author looks at leadership style theories that…

The 11 items in this annotated bibliography on school-based management provide information on the pros and cons of the decentralization of budgeting, the administrative role, site management, and decision-making. Also discussed are the autonomy of schools, principals as educators with managerial skills, and education vouchers. The publications…

This brief paper on the inclusion of students with disabilities summarizes the history, terms, and legal requirements. The relevant section of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is cited followed by a brief review of the mainstreaming movement of the 1970s and the regular education initiative in the mid-1980s. Regulations governing…

Chapter 6 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter defines and explains management teams and describes several successful examples of team management. Superintendents have come to rely on their management team's expertise to resolve increasingly complex policy, administrative, and instructional issues. Although team management has…

Instructional leadership is long-term dedication to instructional excellence that includes both instructional and school management issues. Recent research suggests that effective principals can make a significant difference in their schools' instructional programs through a combination of personal traits, particularly a strong belief in their…

School-reform efforts in recent years have stressed, and expanded, the leadership role of the principal. But in the view of many analysts, the task of transforming a school is too complex for one person to accomplish alone. Consequently, a new model of leadership is developing: distributed leadership. This Research Roundup summarizes five…

School leaders, especially principals, will play a major role in determining how effectively public schools are able to respond to the challenges of the next century. This handbook summarizes, analyzes, and synthesizes literature on educational leadership. It also integrates theory and practice, containing ideas from practitioners. The volume…

When created and operated appropriately, school-site councils can be a very useful component of school renewal. Councils are difficult to create, since members must shift roles, compromise strongly held beliefs, and invest considerable time, energy, and know-how. Advantages of group decision making are bringing diverse experience and expertise to…