Local Control and Accountability

The increasing call for local control and accountability in United States' schools has resulted in a rapid bid by public schools to decentralize. Schools and school systems therefore need to acquire the skills - such as research, assessment and evaluation - necessary to make local control work, as these skills are not significant elements of the current teacher preparation curriculum.

Techniques that have been used successfully by schools to implement and maintain local control programmes and policies are illustrated in this book to assist professionals involved in the decentralization process.

The increasing call for local control and accountability in United States' schools has resulted in a rapid bid by public schools to decentralize. Schools and school systems therefore need to acquire the skills - such as research, assessment and evaluation - necessary to make local control work, as these skills are not significant elements of the current teacher preparation curriculum.

Techniques that have been used successfully by schools to implement and maintain local control programmes and policies are illustrated in this book to assist professionals involved in the decentralization process.

Richard Sagor founded ISIE (pronounced "I see"), the Institute for the Study of Inquiry in Education, in 1997, to work with schools and educational organizations on the use of action research and data-based school improvement while he was a professor of educational leadership at Washington State University (WSU). Prior to joining the faculty at WSU, Sagor had 14 years of public school administrative experience, including service as an assistant superintendent, high school principal, instruction vice principal, disciplinary vice principal, and alternative school head teacher. He has taught the entire range of students, from the gifted to the learning disabled, in the areas of social studies, reading, and written composition. Educated in the public schools of New York, Sagor received his BA from New York University and two MA degrees as well as a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Oregon. Beyond his work as a teacher and administrator, Sagor has had extensive inter-national consulting experience. He served as a site visitor for the United States Department of Education's Secondary School Recognition Program and has worked with the Department of Defense's overseas schools, numerous state departments of education, and over 200 separate school districts across North America. His consult-ing has focused primarily on leadership development, the use of data with stan-dards-based school improvement, collaborative action research, teacher motivation, and teaching at-risk youth. His articles on school reform and action research have received awards from the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Educational Press Association of America.Sagor's books include The TQE Principal: A Transformed Leader; At-Risk Students: Reaching and Teaching Them; How To Conduct Collaborative Action Research; Local Control and Accountability: Getting it, Keeping it, and Improving School Performance; Guiding School Improvement With Action Research, and Motivating Students and Teachers in an Era of Standards. Sagor can be contacted at the Institute for the Study of Inquiry in Education, 16420 SE McGillivray, Suite 103-239, Vancouver, WA 98683, or by e-mail at rdsagor@ isie.org.