DECENTRALIZATION & SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT RESOURCE KIT1

Recommended Reading List-ABSTRACTS & SUMMARIES

This recommended reading list is a component of the Decentralization and School-Based Management (SBM) Resource Kit. It
presents an overview of current literature on Decentralization, SBM and the featured case studies. While many sources and examples
are from OECD countries, we have attempted to obtain examples from Bank client countries where the research evidence exists. The
Resource Kit also includes a consultant roster, a recommended reading list and 6 case studies. The case studies describe
decentralization and SBM reforms in the Chicago Public Schools, El Salvador’s EDUCO, India’s DPEP, New Zealand’s Self
Managed Schools, Nicaragua’s Autonomous Schools, and Spain.

DECENTRALIZATION

✓Hanson, E. Mark (1997). Educational Decentralization: Issues and Challenges

http://www.thedialogue.org/preal9en.html
Since the 1980s, the transfer of educational decision-making authority and responsibility from the center to regional and local systems has
become an increasingly popular reform around the world. At least eight, often interrelated, goals are driving the change: accelerating
economic development by modernizing institutions; increasing management efficiency; reallocating financial responsibility, for example,
from the center to the periphery; promoting democratization; increasing local control through deregulation; introducing market-based
education; neutralizing competing centers of power such as teachers unions and political parties; and enhancing the quality of education
(for example, by reducing dropout rates or increasing learning).

✓Burki, S, G Perry & W Dillinger (1999). Beyond the Centre: Decentralizing the State. Washington, DC: World Bank
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/offrep/lac/pubs/beyondcenter.pdf
As we have seen, over the past decade, decentralization of government has become common throughout Latin America. The education
sector is no exception; in the 1990s the number of countries implementing significant decentralization reforms has increased rapidly (see
Figure 4.1). At the same time, there has been a worldwide trend to give schools greater decision making autonomy, in the interest of
improving school performance and account-ability. School systems as diverse as those in Victoria, Australia; Memphis, Tennessee; and
Minas Gerais, Brazil, have given authority to school heads, and then through a variety of mechanisms held
them responsible for school performance. The two types of education decentralization—to lower levels of government and to individual
schools—have very different origins and objectives. The decentralization of education to lower levels of government
has almost without exception been undertaken in the context of a more general decentralization of govern-ment,
the causes of which vary widely. In contrast, the decentralization of education to individual schools typically has been motivated by
concerns about poor school performance. Both types of education decentralization are well represented in Latin America, and this chapter
reviews the evidence to date of their various impacts on schooling.

Directions in Development [See Summaries provided in DIDsummary file]

Fiske, E (1996). Decentralization of Education: Politics and Consensus. Directions in Development Series. Washington, DC: World
Bank.
Bray, M (1996). Decentralization of Education: Community Financing. Directions in Development Series. Washington, DC: World
Bank.
Gaynor, C (1996). Decentralization of Education: Teacher Management. Directions in Development Series. Washington, DC: World
Bank.
Patrinos, H & D Ariasingam (1996). Decentralization of Education: Demand-Side Financing. Directions in Development Series.
Washington, DC: World Bank.
Florestal, K & R Cooper (1997). Decentralization of Education: Legal Issues. Directions in Development Series. Washington, DC:
World Bank.

SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT

Fullan, M & N Watson (1999). School Based Management: Reconceptualizing To Improve Learning Outcomes. Paper
presented for Regional Workshop. Improving Learning Outcomes in the Caribbean. Port of Spain.
Malen, B, Ogawa RT & Krantz, J (1990). What do we know about SBM? A Case Study of the Literature-A Call for Research.
In WH Clune & JF Whitte (eds). Choice and Control in American Education: Volume 2: The Practice of Choice,
Decentralization and School Restructuring. London: The Falmer Press
Odden, A. How to create and manage a Decentralized Education System. New American Schools: Getting Better by Design
Volume 2.

1
Prepared by Karen Edge for the Education Reform & Management Thematic Group, HDNED, World Bank [August 2000]. The
author can be reached at kedge@oise.utoronto.ca.
Decentralization & SBM Resource Kit Recommended Readings/Abstracts&Summaries 2

Leithwood, K, Jantzi, D & Steinbach, R (1999). Do School Councils Matter? Educational Policy, Vol. 13(4) p467-493.
In 1995, the Ontario government required the establishment of school councils. Although the government provided
guidance, little of its information was based on systematic knowledge that is problem-focused, applied, and
empirical. To fill that need, a study sought to estimate the nature and extent of influence of councils on schools
several years after implementation. The study was designed to describe the group processes that distinguish those
school councils that influence schools and classrooms from those that do not. This paper describes the forms and
sources of leadership that contribute significantly to the effective functioning of school councils and examines
evidence on school councils, the nature of council effects on students and teachers, the conditions accounting for
school council effects, council decision-making processes, and school council leadership. For the study a three-stage
research design was used to achieve the five objectives under consideration. The results indicate that school councils
do not add value to the empowerment of parents, the technical work of schools, or the development of students. In
terms of effectiveness, evidence from the study suggests that, at best, the influence of councils on school and
classroom practices is unlikely to be more than mildly positive. (Contains approximately 70 references.) (RJM)

Leithwood, K & T Menzies (1998). Forms and Effects of School-Based Management: A Review. Educational Policy. Vol. 12(3),
p325-246

Leithwood, K & T Menzies (1998). A Review of the Research Concerning Implementation of Site-Based Management. School
Effectiveness and School Improvement. Vol. 9 (3) p233-285.
Reviews 77 empirical and case studies of school-based management (SBM) implementations reported between 1985
and 1995 to determine typical obstacles and promising ameliorative strategies. There is no firm evidence of SBM's
effects on students. Administrative-control SBM would probably produce the least amount of school change.
Community-control SBM would probably yield the most change. (104 references) (MLH)

Roberts-Schweitzer, E (1998). The Decentralization of Education: Effective School Governance. Draft paper.

✓Winkler, D & A Gershberg (1999). Education Decentralization in Latin America: The Effects on the Quality of Schooling.
Draft paper.
http://wbln0023.worldbank.org/Regions+%26+Countries/LAC/LACInfoClient.nsf/4F1B144AAA9938338525664C00017FDB/AAF398DBFA0E495E85256
91C0076BF2F
Over the past decade, decentralization of government has become common throughout Latin America. The education sector
is no exception, and there has been a rapid increase in the number of countries implementing significant decentralization
reforms. At the same time, there has been a worldwide trend to give schools greater decision-making autonomy, in the
interest of improving school performance and accountability. School systems as diverse as those in Victoria, Australia;
Memphis, Tennessee; and Minas Gerais, Brazil, have given authority to school heads, and then through a variety of
mechanisms held them responsible for school performance. This paper, presented at the Annual Bank Conference on
Development in June 1999, addresses the issue of school quality in the context of these decentralization reforms.

✓Winkler, D & J Ferris (1995). Decentralization in Education: Participation in the Management of Schools at the Local Level.
Paper presented Seminar on Decentralization and Local School Management, Dominican Republic.
The proponents of citizen participation in local school management argue that it helps in articulating the community’s
demands; contributes to the mobilization of private resources; improves productive efficiency; and enhances public
accountability. There is a strong theoretical support for such propositions, although it is more difficult to find empirical
evidence to support them. Drawing generalized conclusions on the effects of participation is also made difficult by the wide
diversity of country experience, especially in Latin America. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to our understanding
of recent school management reforms by describing the various models of participation and local school management, with
examples from Latin America.

CASE STUDY READINGS

CHICAGO (Chicago Public Schools)

Byrk et al (1998). Charting Chicago School Reform: Democratic Localism as a lever for Change. Westview Press. Boulder:
Colorado.
In 1989, Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools began an experiment with the radical decentralization of power and authority. This book tells the
story of what happened in Chicago's elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. Implicit in the reform was the theory that
expanded local democratic participation would stimulate organizational change in the schools, which in turn would foster improved
teaching and learning. With longitudinal case study data on 22 schools, survey responses from principals and teachers in 269 schools, and
supplementary system-wide administrative data, the authors identify 4 types of school politics: (1) strong democracy; (2) consolidated
Decentralization & SBM Resource Kit Recommended Readings/Abstracts&Summaries 3

principal power; (3) maintenance; and (4) adversarial. Findings suggest that in about one third of the schools, expanded local democratic
participation served as a strong level for systemic changes focused on improved instruction. Case studies of six actively restructuring
schools illustrate how the principal's role is recast under decentralization, and how ideas and information from external sources are brought
to bear on school change initiatives. (Contains 14 tables, 42 figures, and 266 references.) (SLD)

Consortium on Chicago School Research (1997). Charting Reform: LSCs- Local Leadership at Work. A Report Sponsored by
the Consortium on Chicago School Research.
The Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 gave a Local School Council (LSC) strong powers not typically seen in such
bodies. An overview of how this LSC has worked is offered here. The report draws primarily on the results of a survey of
LSC members conducted between May 1995 and February 1996. It examined three primary areas: the background of LSC
members, how LSCs operate and carry out their mandated functions, and the links between the LSC and the surrounding
community. The six chapters here include an introduction, qualifications of LSC members to govern local schools, LSCs as
viable governance institutions, a closer look at schools with problem councils, tips on listening to LSC members, and an
interpretive summary. The study found that almost all LSC members quietly oversee school policy and carry out their official
duties of evaluating the principal, approving the budget, and approving and monitoring the School Improvement Plan. Their
most frequently cited contribution to the school is improving core academic programs, followed by improving the school's
physical environment, improving attendance and discipline, and increasing parent involvement. Overall, the vast majority of
LSCs operate as viable governance organizations that responsibly carry out their mandated duties and are active in building
school and community partnerships. (RJM)

Hess, AH Jr (1999). Understanding Achievement (and other) changes under Chicago school reform. Educational Evaluation
and Policy Analysis. Vol. 21(1) p. 67-83.
Focuses on changes in student achievement in Chicago (Illinois) public schools since the passage of the 1988 Chicago School Reform Act
and notes corresponding changes in funding, staffing, and leadership. Uses data from a longitudinal study of 10 elementary and four high
schools. (SLD)

Wong, K (1998). Transforming Urban Schools Systems: Integrated Governance in Chicago and Birmingham (UK). Report
prepared for the cross-Atlantic conference, “A Working Conference on School Reform in Chicago and Birmingham”

Websites of Interest
Chicago Public Schools. <www.cps.k12.il.us/aboutCPS/Statistical_information/attendance
Chicago Public Schools-Office of Accountability. <www.acct.multi1.cps.k12.il.us/accountability.html>

EL SALVADOR (EDUCO)
✓Jiminez, E & Y Sawada (2000). Do Community-Managed Schools Work? An Evaluation of El Salvador’s EDUCO Program.
The World Bank Economic Review Vol. 13 (3).
This paper measures the effects on student outcomes of decentralizing educational responsibility to communities and schools.
In El Salvador, community-managed schools emerged during the 1980s when public schools could not be extended to rural
areas because of the country's civil war. In 1991, El Salvador's Ministry of Education decided to draw on this prototype to
expand preprimary and primary education in rural areas through the EDUCO program (Educacion con Participacion de la
Comunidad). The present EDUCO schools are each managed autonomously by a community education association elected
from among the parents of students. The associations take a central role in administration and management. They are also
responsible for contracting teachers and maintaining schools. Drawing on a national survey of schools, 38 EDUCO schools
and 154 traditional rural schools were compared for third-graders' achievement on standardized tests of mathematics,
language and school days missed due to teacher absence. Analysis controlled for student characteristics and selection bias,
using an exogenously-determined formula for targeting EDUCO schools as an instrumental variable. Findings indicate that
the rapid expansion of rural schools through EDUCO has not adversely affected student achievement yet has diminished
student absences due to teacher absences. It was concluded however that this expansion may have effects on achievement
long-term. (Contains 20 references and extensive statistical data tables.) (Author/SV)

✓ Sawada, Y (1999). Community Participation, Teacher Effort, and Educational Outcome in El Salvador. Davidson Institute
Working Paper Series No. 307, the William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan Business School.
http://eres.bus.umich.edu/docs/workpap-dav/wp307.pdf
Based on a principal-agent model, this paper investigates the organizational structure that made the El Salvador's primary school
decentralization program (EDUCO program) successful. First, we employ the “augmented” reduced form educational production function
by incorporating parents and community involvement as a major organizational input. We observe consistently positive and statistically
Decentralization & SBM Resource Kit Recommended Readings/Abstracts&Summaries 4

significant EDUCO participation effects on standardized test scores. Then we estimated teacher compensation function, teacher effort
functions, and input demand functions by utilizing the theoretical implications of a principal (parental association)-agent (teacher)
framework. While the EDUCO school teachers receive piece rate, depending on their performance, wage payment is relatively fixed in the
traditional schools. Empirical results indicate that the slope of wage equation is positively affected by the degree of community
participation. This finding can be interpreted as the optimal intensity of incentive. Hence, teacher’s effort level in the traditional schools is
consistently lower than that in the EDUCO schools, indicating a moral hazard problem. Community participation through parental group's
classroom visits seems to enhance the teacher effort level and thus increases students’ academic performance indirectly. Parental
associations can affect not only teacher effort and their performance by imposing an appropriate incentive scheme but also school-level
inputs by decentralized school management. Our empirical results support the view that decentralization of education system should
involve delegation of school administration and teacher management to the community group.

El Salvador - Community Education Strategy: Decentralized School Management from LAC

Report discusses innovative program to improve rural basic education in El Salvador. Called EDUCO, the program collaborates with the
Ministry of Education and is based on direct involvement of parents, teachers, and community groups in defining and administering
education services (in primary and secondary schools). Also involved in institutional strengthening activities at the central and regional
levels. Broad government reform program calls for decentralization and private participation in social service delivery. EDUCO serves as a
pilot program for the government, which plans to expand the strategy.

INDIA (District Primary Education Program-DPEP)

✓Pandey, R (2000). Presentation for the Education Reform and Management Team. Washington, DC: World Bank.
✓Shukla, S (1999). Systems in Transition: A Case Study of DPEP in India. Case study commissioned for the Effective Schools
and Teachers series Striving for Effective Teaching and Learning. Washington, DC: World Bank.
www.worldbank.org/education/effectiveschoolsand teachers
World Bank (1997). Primary Education in India. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Having steadily raised primary enrollment rates over the past four decades, India is preparing to meet the challenge of improving the
overall quality of primary education. This report draws on a collaborative program of research and studies done by the Indian government
and major Indian research institutions and scholars on primary education. It synthesizes the findings of hundreds of Indian studies, many of
which were commissioned especially to support a major new Indian program for improving primary education in disadvantaged areas. The
report identifies the benefits of primary education and the principal challenges facing Indian education and outlines a comprehensive
strategy for reaching the goal of universal and primary education of good quality.
The focus is on three main challenges: expanding access, raising learning achievement, and reducing gaps in education outcomes across
states and among groups. The report provides various suggestions for solving the challenges of education in India, such as increasing
financing for primary education; improving the preparation, motivation and deployment of teachers; improving the quality of textbooks and
the efficiency of their production; and strengthening managerial and institutional capacity.

NEW ZEALAND (Self-managing schools)

Lacroque, N (1999). The Regulatory Framework for the New Zealand School Sector: A Description. Unpublished Paper.
www.worldbank.org/education/globaleducationreform

Thrupp, M & R Smith (1999). A Decade of ERO. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies. Vol. 34 (1). P186-198.

Fiske, E (2000). Rationing Compassion. The American Prospect. Vol. 11 (13) May 22, 2000 www.propsect.org/archives/v11-
13/fiske-e.html

Thrupp, M; Harold, B; Mansell, H & L Hawksworth (2000). Mapping the Cumulative Impact of Educational Reform: A study
of seven New Zealand schools. Final Report. New Zealand: University of Waikato. (available from ERM team)

Wylie, C (2000). Is the Land of the Flightless Bird the Home of the Voucherless Voucher? New Zealand Journal of Education
Studies. Vol. 34(1) p 99-109p

NICARAGUA (Autonomous Schools)

Rivarola, M & B Fuller (1999). Nicaragua’s Experiment to Decentralize Schools: Contrasting Views of Parents, Teachers, and
Directors. Comparative Education Review. 43(4).
This qualitative study, conducted in 12 Nicaraguan primary and secondary schools, reports how teachers, parents and school
districts have interpreted the 1993 reform that granted managerial and budgetary autonomy to school-based councils. The
data were drawn from focus groups and interviews with school-based staff and parents and then analyzed by a multinational
team of researchers. This article reports on three main areas: variability across school contexts, differing interpretations of
'autonomy,' and resulting changes in schools. The research found that the highly variable school contexts into which the
school-based management reform has been introduced have an important effect on how the reform is adopted and received.
Cohesive schools with a strong sense of mission and those in somewhat wealthier areas report more success, highlighting
Decentralization & SBM Resource Kit Recommended Readings/Abstracts&Summaries 5

effects on accountability and shared responsibility. By contrast, internally fractured schools in poorer areas tend to emphasize
negative aspects of autonomy, including financial ones. From CER

✓World Bank (1998). What’s Decentralization Got to do with Learning? The Case of Nicaragua’s School Autonomy Reform.
Working Paper on Impact Evaluation of Education Reforms 1. Elizabeth King & Berk Ozler. Washington, DC: World
Bank. http://www.worldbank.org/html/prddr/prdhome/AdobePDFfiles/EKing&BOzler.pdf
Despite its growing popularity, school-based management is seldom evaluated systematically with respect to its impact on
student performance. This study examines the impact of the current school autonomy reform in Nicaragua on learning within
an educational production function approach. Results show that autonomous public schools are indeed making more
decisions about pedagogical and administrative matters than do traditional public schools, but because there is a lag in
transforming school decision-making after a school becomes legally autonomous, autonomy de jure does not appear to have
any impact on student test scores. However, another autonomy variable which measures the actual level of decision-making
by the school is positively associated with student test scores. In particular, schools that exert greater autonomy with respect
to teacher staffing and the monitoring and evaluation of teachers appear to be more effective in raising student
performance.

✓World Bank (1996). Nicaragua’s School Autonomy Reform: A First Look. Working Paper Series on Impact Evaluation of
Education Reforms. Nicaragua Reform Evaluation Team. Washington, DC: World Bank.
www.Kms.worldbank.org/doc.nic17.doc
This is a first report on the impact of Nicaragua’s recent education reform on how schools operate. A school-
household survey was conducted in December 1995 which collected initial data on schools that became
autonomous in the past few years and those that did not. The report focuses on differences in the decision-making
environment in different types of school and summarizes the views of members of the academic community with
respect to the level of their influence in key decision-making areas such as pedagogy, salaries and incentives, and
infrastructure. The data indicate systematic differences between autonomous and non-autonomous public schools
and private schools, but it would be premature to interpret these differences as the full impact of the reform.
Education indicators such as achievement test scores are not yet available. The impact of the reform will
undoubtedly be felt over the next few years. The current analysis is only the first step in an assessment of its
impact.

SPAIN
✓ Hanson, Mark E (2000). Democratization and Educational Decentralization in Spain. Education Reform and Management
Country Study Series. Washington DC: World Bank. www.worldbank.org/education/globaleducationreform

✓Hanson, E. Mark (1995). Best and Worst Practices in Educational Decentralization : The Cases of Venezuela, Columbia,
Argentina and Spain. World Bank Seminar on Education Decentralization 6/8 www.kms.worldbank.org/docs/hanson.doc
Educational decentralization initiatives can range from arbitrary exercises of coercive power (Argentina in
1978) to conscientiously planned interventions driven by the national political will (Spain in 1978). Many
motives drive decentralization initiatives and consequently shape their strategies. Successfully facilitating
the effort requires knowing where the planners want it to go, and why. Venezuela's effort in the late 1960s
made decentralization the centerpiece of national economic development. A very different attempt was
made in the early 1990s. It was driven by aspirations to reduce bureaucratic stagnation, centralized
inefficiencies and corruption. Argentina used decentralization as a rationale to shift the financial burden of
primary education to the provinces in 1978 and the same shift for secondary education in 1991. The
Colombian initiative of 1991 was no less than a desperate effort to save the nation from the social, political
and economic chaos generated by brutal and corrupting drug cartels and four terrorist guerrilla armies
From LAC

Hanson, E. Mark & C Urlich (1994). Democracy, Decentralization and School Based Management in Spain. Unpublished
paper School of Education, University of California-Riverside.
This paper describes and analyzes the experience of school-based management (SBM) in newly democratized Spain (1985-
1990). The authors find that the School Councils played a significant symbolic role in local democratic participation, but did
not actually exert much influence on school affairs. The article argues that building an incentive structure for teachers to
participate more in the Councils, requiring more administrative training, opening Council membership to more people, and
delegating additional power to the Councils would have improved SBM's performance. (abstract from PREM)