IMAGINE . . .

Chapter Five – What Must Be Done

IMAGINE WHAT YOU WILL SEE IN THE PROVIDENCE SCHOOLS. . .

. . . WHEN STRUCTURES CHANGE

School-Based Management

Recommendation 21. Establish Site Management at Five Prototype Schools

In addition to the collaborative goal-setting recommended for all schools, the school-based management model delegates critical decision-making power to the school cabinet. This group of nine to 15 people will include the principal, teachers, professional staff, parents, community members, and, if a middle school or high school, students. The school personnel on the cabinet cannot be more than one-half of the membership plus one, that is, if the group has 11 members, no more than six can be employees of the school.

The aims of the school cabinet are to:

• develop and use the resources of the parents, teachers, and business and other community members to enhance the learning of children and to make the school environment and curriculum more reflective of the community;
• provide the shared decision-making authority that will facilitate the implementation of specific school goals and plans;
• help the principal find effective ways to manage school business so that he or she can concentrate on being an educational leader; and
• build a strong sense of ownership and pride in the school on the part of the parents, professional and support staff, teachers, students, and community members.

• establish primary goals for the school;
• identify and develop valid measures of the school's progress toward its primary goals;
• prepare data measuring school progress and present the data to the school community in annual reports;
• prepare a budget of all school spending, taking into account the goals of the school;
• make personnel and staffing decisions that directly support the goals of the school; to wit:
• Teachers: A Cabinet subcommittee, which includes the principal, teachers, parents, and community members, will interview new and transfer teacher candidates screened by the personnel office. The candidate chosen by the subcommittee will be hired. The Cabinet will not have the authority to dismiss teachers.
• Principals: When a principal is hired, the procedure will be the same as that used to hire teachers. In addition, the Cabinet may submit to the Superintendent a vote of concern regarding the performance of a principal.
• Other staffing: The Cabinet may present requests for needed changes in staffing to the Superintendent and, through the Superintendent, to the School Board for approval.
• develop working relationships with social services agencies in the community; and
• petition, through the Superintendent, the School Board, and Board of Regents, for necessary waivers of city or state regulations.

Principals want to share decision-making and other responsibilities in their schools. Eighty-one percent of the principals surveyed say that working with a committee of teachers and parents to plan for their school would improve the quality of education. All believe they could improve the quality in their schools if they had a voice in the hiring of teachers. Ninety-five percent want a say in the hiring of assistant principals.

Principals would like to make their schools more responsive to the needs of their students. Seventy-five percent of the principals say that modifying the curriculum to suit the specific needs of their students would improve the quality of education.

PROBE heard a resounding cry from principals: above all, they want to be educational leaders. One principal says, "Even working a 12-hour day, six days a week, as I did this year, I could not rid myself of sufficient clerical and janitorial work to be an educational leader."

Principals want to spend more time planning and implementing educational programs and working with teachers and parents. When we ask principals which four activities they think are most important, they are largely in agreement: 70% talk about planning and implementing programs; 60% cite staff discussion and interaction; 55% mention instructional supervision; 40% include meeting with parents.

School-based management requires that teachers work collaboratively—something many Providence teachers say they are eager to do. They want to work together to develop a curriculum that addresses the needs and interests of their students. They want to cooperate on the design and presentation of staff development programs; 70% of teachers surveyed express a desire to see teachers in their schools develop their own training workshops.

Another key to the success of school-based management is the interest of parents. Ninety-three percent of the parents surveyed believe that parental involvement is important for the children in a school. Almost one-half of the parents say they are dissatisfied with the impact they can have on the quality of education in their children's schools. About one-half of the parents see a need for more parent involvement in the development of school policies, and a need for parents to work with the principal and teachers to develop curriculum, policy, and budget.

Students can also be an important part of a school-based management team. At most Providence high schools, students are frustrated by an inability to help shape their educational experience and learning environment. This frustration is not apparent, however, at ALP where students enjoy some control over their environment through student committees and student town meetings.

School-based management allows the community to become more involved in the schools. In turn, the students must be encouraged to become involved in their community. Teachers and students talk with excitement about their opportunities to use community resources—and they ask for more. Most (81%) high school students say that in most of their classes they seldom go on field trips. A clear majority (65%) say they seldom hear outside speakers in most of their classes.

Teachers, at all levels, also want to reach out more into the community. Sixty-six percent talk about having more outside speakers visit; 55% say they want more opportunities to take their classes into the community.

During the past year, Providence teachers and principals have labored to craft a mission statement for each of their schools. This effort is an important initial stop in the direction of school-based management.

Models

Nationally, we have seen as many approaches as there have been initiatives. The Louisville model emphasizes professional development. In Miami and other districts, cooperation among management and union officials has allowed a variety of school-based management plans to develop within the system. Using governance cabinets of similar composition, Denver and Philadelphia have reported positive results in the early stages.

Restructuring Schools: The Next Generation of Educational Reform, by Richard F. Elmore Associates (1991), a study of recent efforts, offers some practical advice:

• provide leadership through focus on student learning, commitment to change, goal-setting and assessment, risk-taking, and shared decision-making;
• create new organizational structures, roles, ways of communicating, alliances;
• provide time to create better learning environments for children—time for planning, risk-taking, redefining roles, and making changes and awaiting results;
• provide essential professional development; and
• seek supplementary funding, especially for professional development.

Steps toward implementation

Invitation to Schools. The Task Force offers a one-day seminar to outline how school-based management can work in Providence schools. All Providence principals will be invited and encouraged to bring several teachers and parents. Initial planning year grants will be limited to a few schools in the first year.

Schools Gather Support and Apply for Funding. Schools apply for funding by developing a brief outline of who will be on their planning team, what areas they hope to address and how instruction will be improved, e.g. by developing a Charter School, writing across the curriculum project, the Carnegie Plan, and literature-based curriculum. A process that involves low-income and minority parents should be emphasized. Applications for funding must acknowledge that the principal and 75% of the teachers agree to be involved.

Selection. The Task Force will review applications, interview teams, and select a few schools for initial planning year grants.

Initial Planning Year. With a planning year grant of between $10,000 and $20,000, school teams will develop extensive educational plans and goals for the coming year. Planning grant money will be used to give team members time to meet, to bring in consultants on curriculum and learning, and, in all cases, to train the team in cooperative decision-making. A meeting of the school's entire faculty must be held and 75% of the faculty must approve the plan before it is submitted to the Task Force.

Additional Funding. Schools submit plans to the Task Force, which will review the plans and interview teams. Approved plans will be awarded a three-year grant of up to $50,000 each year to carry out the plans. Continued funding will depend on the submission and approval of an annual report.

Annual Reports. An annual report of the progress each project has made toward achieving initial and additional goals will be prepared and distributed each May.

Copyright © 1993 by Public Education Fund
Library of Congress Catalog 93-84278
Editors: Edward D. Eddy, Daniel D. Challener, Ann Abeille
Published by:
Public Education Fund
15 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Telephone (401)454-1050

Used by permission.