Austin D. Swanson

Restructuring Educational Governance: A Challenge of the 1990s.

The author argues that there is a critical need for research and scholarship into the impact of educational governance structures (the formal arrangements for making and administering public policy on education) on the native and quality of decisions made and the degree of success in implementing those decisions. The author notes the new directional shift of the current educational reform movement from a centralized bureaucratic emphasis to a more decentralized quasi market orientation and links them to similar societal trends associated with the information age revolution. A framework for conceptualizing the problem of allocating decision-making authority about education among interested parties is presented an (discussed using illustrations from the United States, England, and Australia. Research issues are identified.

Human resource development in China

Abstract Chinas recent dramatic economic growth has created an acute shortage of all grades of skilled labor. This article describes her human resource development strategies for overcoming these shortages. She is injecting market forces and incentives into the system and withdrawing from comprehensive manpower planning strategies. Her non-formal education system is probably the best and most comprehensive in the developing world.

The impact of school governance restructuring on public financial support systems

Changes in public policy with respect to governance structures require complementary changes in public policy concerning the financing of educational services. Drawing on their findings from studies in Australia, England and the USA, the authors present a framework to clarify what is happening in the restructuring of school governance and to project the implications for public policy concerning the finance of schooling. The political system is represented by a decision matrix which arrays the decisions that have to be made about financing schools (who gets what, when and how) with the primary decision makers (society, the educating profession and families). The decision‐making process is shown to be a dynamic one, causing the nature of acceptable decisions to change along with political‐economic environments and with priorities given to policy objectives. Using the model, the implications of alternative centralization/decentralization strategies for school finance policy are examined under varying circums...

Equality, Integration, and Metropolitanism: New Public School Compromise.

class abandoning public schools for private institutions, creating greater inequities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a system of governance for an urban society that is capable of realizing the social goals of public education while accommodating the rights and concerns of individuals. The proposal attempts to restore equity to public education while encouraging pluralism within the society that supports it by separating the decision-making responsibilities for finance, school design and operation, and school assignment. It provides for educational options within a system of overall public supervision. The roots of the present educational governance structure lie in the

Does Systematic Analysis Have a Role in Educational Decision-Making?.

Abstract Systematic analysis of educational problems has had less impact on policy than its proponents in the United States had expected and is meeting with increasingly strong opposition from some segments of the traditional decision-making process. Political realists argue that decisions in the public sector, including education, are made on the basis of a political rationality rather than the economic rationality implied by systematic analysis. To them, systematic analysis is at best irrelevant and can be dysfunctional to the political process. The manuscript examines the merit of this challenge in the realm of public education and comes to the conclusion that analysis will have little impact on policy until it is properly integrated into the political process. A strategy for such integration is presented.

American and Anglo perspectives

Abstract In this chapter, the author starts by describing recent reform initiatives in England and the United States. The changes in educational structure in those two countries are compared with secular changes in general. Some possible implications for developing countries are also considered.

Capital intensive education policy issues and problems

Abstract This paper describes some of the problems of todays mass schools and suggests that the technology is already available to replace them with more effective and efficient ones using capital intensive man-machine methods of instruction. It discusses some of the political and labor problems that may impede implementation and makes suggestions how these may be overcome. Research findings on the development of such schools are examined. A generalized model of such schools is presented based on a number of studies suggesting it will be substantially more cost-effective than its contemporary counterparts. The politics of change is discussed and specific strategies for implementation are suggested, the most immediate of which is the provision of federal or state funds for development of operating models of capital intensive schools. The key role of teacher union negotiations in facilitating or impeding changes is considered along with the present teacher union posture of opposition. It is suggested that teacher unions can best serve their own interests by cooperating in the development of capital intensive schools while bargaining to assure that their members share appropriately in the benefits of the improvements they bring.

Project 1990: educational planning at the metropolitan level

Abstract The fragmentation of metropolitan areas into large numbers of relatively small school districts has rendered long range educational planning highly unreliable when conducted at the district level. This article discusses a cooperative planning venture which was undertaken by the forty school districts in the Buffalo, New York metropolitan area. The planning organization is described and the general procedures for making student population projections, expenditure projections and revenue projections are reported. Although the article focuses on methodology, findings of general interest are reported including organizational alternatives which were generated. The project was financed with funds appropriated under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.