Collaborative planning for the 21st century : a suburban school district envisions the educated child /
Many forces, positive and negative, are at work on the scene of public education. Schools are truly open systems with complex internal and environmental interactions and exchanges. On this stage, plays out the push for reform --- the quest for national, state and local standards accruing to 21st c...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1995.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=741212691&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Many forces, positive and negative, are at work on the scene of public education. Schools are truly open systems with complex internal and environmental interactions and exchanges. On this stage, plays out the push for reform --- the quest for national, state and local standards accruing to 21st century American viability. Interest in the product of public education abounds. No facet is exempt from public or private scrutiny. On the one hand much research-based evidence in support of assessing, adjusting, and optimizing the means and ends of schooling exists in the literature. While research supports continual assessment, envisioning, and optimizing of educational outcomes, practice encounters a substantial turbulence regarding educational reform both at the national and local levels. The overriding problem, then, from a systems perspective is how to involve this diversity of stakeholders in the vital process of envisioning, planning, and executing strategies that will yield viable, educated children. Systems and organizational theory indicate that this process is most effectively carried out in a collaborative, inclusive, and participatory approach. This study focused on a rapidly growing suburban school district as its leadership embarked upon the challenge of involving community stakeholders in a broad-based collaborative effort to build a shared vision of the educated child at the exit levels of grades 5, 8, and 12. Utilization of quantitative and qualitative research methodology generated a rich database from which a profile of the district and its perceptions of the "educated child" (the product ) was created, as well as an insightful and refreshing exemplification of unity in diversity regarding collaboration (the process). The research revealed the following conclusions: positive and fruitful school/community collaboration is best cultivated in an environment where the district not only seeks, but acts on stakeholder input; communication is open; cutting-edge curricula and instructional programs are pursued, but not to the neglect of the basics; leadership approaches stakeholders inclusively and educatively, especially in the matter of educational reform and learning outcomes; and, finally, a deep and mutual trust characterizes district/community relations. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Educational Administration". In title, numerals are used. |
| Physical Description: | xii, 246 leaves ; 28 cm. + 4 computer disks. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Format: | System requirements for accompanying disks: IBM PC. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |