The Merrimack Education Center in Chelmsford (Massachusetts) responded to needs for stress management training and morale boosting in its 22-district service area with a midwinter "Fitness for Educators" conference. Participants learned techniques for maintaining physical fitness, managing hyperactivity, developing holistic health…

"A Nation at Risk" emphasizes the importance of quality education to the nation's well-being, insisting that, although our current educational system is mediocre, we can do better. The book makes recommendations in such areas as curriculum and time management, standards and expectations, teacher status, excellence and equity, and…

At a Suburban New Jersey elementary school, the principal learned to let go and provide the means for staff to solve their own problems. Some lessons include learning to listen, establishing patterns of communication, understanding individual styles, promoting open communication, working to build trust, thinking with new perspectives, promoting…

Describes how the Allentown, Pennsylvania, public school district uses district-wide final examinations (along with some class-specific test items designed by teachers) to assess secondary school programs, provide "feedback" to teachers, and evaluate student mastery of learning objectives. (MCG)

A group of school districts in Western Oregon has developed a goal-based improvement model that provides teachers and administrators with a common information base. (Author)

In many countries, education legislation embodies contradictory pressures for centralization and decentralization. In the United Kingdom, there is growing government control over policy and direction of schools; schools are also being given more responsibility for resource management. "Moving" schools within Improving the Quality of…

Site-based management tries to transform schools into communities where the appropriate people participate constructively in major decisions affecting them. Effective site councils have a well-designed community structure, enabling leadership, student and adult learning focus, and a schoolwide perspective. Districts should provide long-term…

The importance of spiritual leadership that enables educators to build inner strength for effective management is discussed. Even though developing a spiritual approach may not eliminate all the stress, it can help educators to stay focused on the aim of improving education for students.

Quotations about excellence in business, selected from the book "In Search of Excellence" and applicable to education, are grouped into seven categories: respect and meaning, innovation, fun and excitement, bigness vs. smallness, communication, the role of management, listening to consumers, and the importance of values. (TE)

George Wilkinson, who has managed planning for United Way of America since 1980, observes that local planners using strategic planning raise more money and solve more community problems than those without such a process. Marketing is identical to strategic planning; both involve looking at an organization, doing and analysis, examining the future,…

In 20 schools, surveys of teacher perceptions about management styles and student perceptions of teachers reveals a correlation between effective teaching and "consultative-centralized" management. Consequently, 10 "commandments" for good consultative management are provided. (TE)

Educators cannot withstand the inevitable advance of alternative education and privatization efforts. Luckily, no one alternative will become the ultimate solution. Visionary educators can respond by adapting to new management and governance concepts, expecting increased accountability, creating teams, maintaining a customer orientation, planning…

In a letter to a Japanese university president, a French-Canadian educational administration student ponders the fundamental contradictions between the authoritarian, hierarchical Japanese education system and the Total Quality Management principles driving Japanese industry. The university president's reply explains how de-individualization,…

Four years of hard work and training have gone into creating site-based management structures and processes at Greece (New York) Central School District. Each school has management team. All schools are dedicated to meeting district's mission and vision, but how schools accomplish these goals is up to them. Except for overall payroll, all…

Educational management organizations (EMOs) are for-profit, private companies that manage schools, including 10% of all charter schools. Major investment houses consider public education a $300 billion industry ripe for picking, due to three driving market forces--cost, quality, and consumer confidence. Three EMOs (TesseracT Group, Edison Project…