Study of 16 principals in Chicago, Illinois, reveals that in the investigation of ethical-choice behavior, the corporate-incentives model proves to be inadequate as an explanation of principality. What is referred to as counter-bureaucratic behavior is a survival mechanism for beleaguered principals--a balance weight to seemingly anti-educational…

Defines school-based management (SBM) as a program adopted by schools or school districts to improve education by increasing school staff autonomy in making building-level decisions. Analyzes SBM's key objectives, benefits, and limitations. Budget, curriculum, and staffing decisions are commonly decentralized under SBM. Staff communication is…

Outlines a model of positive management and its implications for training educational managers, highlighting five factors (demoralization, pessimism, insecurity, tiredness, and lack of knowledge) resulting from the current climate of change. Proposes positive management as a strategy for successfully overcoming the negative implications of these…

The essential elements of school board governance involve four dimensions: (1) setting the vision for what the community wants the public school program to be; (2) ensuring that districts have a solid staff infrastructure to achieve the vision; (3) setting standards; and (4) advocating for schools. (MLF)

College and university administrators can apply lessons learned from corporate management to expected financial pressures of the 1990s. Problems requiring strong leadership include unclear expectations of staff; weak measurement systems; accelerating change; and the strangling effects of excessive administrative processes. (DB)

Compares some Western and Russian school-management approaches. Drawing on Larry Cuban's work, reveals differences in language and terms used; shows deep cultural differences in how scholars study the field; explains difficulties in performing some transcultural reconceptualizations; and demonstrates how alien approaches can facilitate scholars'…

Describes a rationale and method for crafting and analyzing personal/professional stories of leadership and administrative practice, based on doctoral students' interviews with experienced school administrators and educational leaders. Stories illustrate explicit rules used by administrators to manage problems and the more tacit assumptions…

This article describes Outcome Based Management components, including identifying highest level outcomes, targeting priorities, clarifying outcomes, maintaining stakeholder collaboration, declaring realities, producing stakeholder benefits, outlining needs, establishing rules, comparing results, productizing around outcomes, providing feedback,…

As a matter of survival, we need to educate current and future generations to live sustainably. We need to ensure that future generations have access to quality environmental education. This paper provides guidelines for educators and managers to use to better understand and manage the learning environment in which environmental education,…

The author lampoons twenty-first-century academic priorities. Using a fictional campus facing state-mandated budget reductions, the author parodies a system that retains high-salaried administrative and public relations positions, special-interest majors, athletic programs and junior/ad-hoc faculty, while relinquishing admissions staff, library…

This essay considers recent implications of "new public management" (NPM) strategies for the universities of Germany. It argues that NPM poses a threat to the traditional values of the academic profession, and asks what the universities should do to restore public trust in their methods and management.

Meeting the needs of the school community in the Australian context in current times has become a complex task, due to substantial school restructuring over the last three decades. More and more, schools are required to engage, and be accountable for developing programs that address the needs of the school community, while satisfying…

Three decades of mounting academic and testing requirements are snagging growing numbers of students in the 9th grade. "The bulge" is the name education researchers give to the percentage increase in students in the 9th grade over the same period. This article reports on factors that might explain the growing 9th grade bottleneck and…

This handbook discusses the components of McREL's Balanced Leadership Framework, which describes the 21 responsibilities of effective leaders that McREL identified in its meta-analysis of research on leadership (published through ASCD as "School Leadership That Works"). The authors also describe the concept of "balanced leadership," noting that…

Through case study research critical leadership and management tasks are identified regarding the integration of educational technology in teaching at research universities. The institutions studied, regardless their different characteristics and approaches, face common difficulties in engaging "second-wave" faculty. Furthermore, the coordination…