Conflicts in school closures may be minimized by: (1) not seeking consensus; (2) recognizing the limits of leadership; (3) adopting bargaining strategies; (4) making differential decrements less clearly differentiated; and (5) matching a decrement with an increment. (Author/MJL)

Discusses the Walker Commission Report in terms of three more immediate effects, i.e., need for information gathering and valid evaluation, creation of a smaller body of effective school administrators, and, as the new structures emerge to alter administrative jobs, additional structural changes. (AH)

Authoritarian management systems, best suited to institutions that enjoy a relatively high degree of uniformity, are not appropriate for public education. In nine proposals the author urges a major realignment of the roles and relationships of a district's professional educators, to create a uniquely suitable educational management system.…

Outlines findings from a study of four western Canadian provinces that compared teachers', administrators', and school boards' perceived control over educational decision making in 32 areas. Educational decision making was found to be somewhat decentralized, but only in deciding grades do teachers hold the highest degree of control. (Author/WD)

The creator of the Policy Governance model explains a system whereby the superintendent/CEO is not responsible for governance. Under Policy Governance, the board is solely responsible for describing and fulfilling its own job (determining what the public purchases for the next generation), and the administrators run the schools. (MLH)

Touching on many aspects of private school management, this guide focuses on the financial management of private schools in a period of declining enrollment and financial difficulties. The author discusses such things as budgeting, economizing, and financial planning, as well as school insurance programs and fringe benefit and retirement programs.…

Purpose: This paper aims to identify and compare the nature of decentralization that has emerged in three important Asian societies after a decade of their involvement in the decentralization movement. Design/methodology/approach: Data from the first cycle of the program for international student assessment were analyzed to investigate educational…

Presents a chart clarifying the proper relationship between school districts and employees and employee organizations. (Published by California School Boards Association, 800 9th Street, Suite 201, Sacramento, California 95814) (Author/WM)

Intended for New York State school board members, the guide outlines the responsibilities of board members regarding education of handicapped students. An overview of state and federal rules and regulations is followed by sections on the board's role in the following areas: working with the Committee on the Handicapped, identifying children in…

The three participants in educational policy-making include public representatives, professional educators, and the general public. Although public representatives are underpaid and under pressure, they are often criticized for ignoring public opinion and delegating too much power to superintendents. Professional educators have been blamed for…

Submission to the electorate of proposed bond issues is a method widely used in the United States at the local school district level to raise large sums of capital. While containing varied suggestions and recommendations of methods and processes for districts to use in attaining their proposals, the literature for the most part encourages lay…

Most school officials now agree that teachers may negotiate with school boards over such items as the rights of the representative organization, the personal welfare benefits of teachers, and grievance machinery. Current disagreement centers on the question of whether or not items affecting the formulation of educational policy are negotiable. The…

Certain problems arose in an attempt to develop a research design for studying the social role of the school executive. The study was to examine the degree of consensus on behavioral expectations for the occupants of this occupational role, the degree of potential or actual role conflict in this social position, and the manner in which an…

This speech discusses the roles of the superintendent and the chief personnel administrator. The author describes and then applies these roles to (1) employment and placement, (2) evaluation and followup, (3) collective bargaining, and (4) administrative leadership development. The author stresses the importance of the superintendent and the chief…