Implementing School-Based Management: Insights into Decentralization from Science and Mathematics Departments

Giving more authority and responsibility to individual schools and their staffs has been widely promulgated as a way to improve teaching and learning in U.S. schools. Science and mathematics education has been a particular focus because of the perceived importance of these subjects to economic progress and the inferior test scores of U.S. students compared to those of many other countries. Extensive on-site interviews with personnel in 12 school systems and 19 individual schools provide the basis for this study of the issues and problems encountered in implementing school-based management. The authors' conclusions and recommendations will be most useful to schools and school districts as they struggle to improve the educational experiences they offer.