SHARED DECISION-MAKING IN HAWAI'I'S SCHOOLS: MYTH OR REALITY?

The conflict surrounding the decentralization of
school governance in the U.S. has resulted from
widespread discontent with educational outcomes and
frustration with government-professional bureaucracy.
Under attack are closed, professional decision making
by government bureaucracy, disempowerment of local
stakeholders and low student achievement levels.

As the most highly centralized educational system in
the U.S., Hawai'i attempted to change the structure
of governance from a highly centralized to shared
decision-making model with the passage of Act 51
(HRS, 2004) and charter school legislation (Act 272,
SLH, 1994). This legislation attempted to generate
changes in beliefs and cultural paradigms at the
school level in spite of a number of studies
indicating the difficulty in implementing reforms
that increase democratic decision making in a state
where structures for grass-roots political
participation are lacking.

This work consists of a historical review of
Hawai'i's experience with educational
decentralization, and attempts to discern how the
rhetoric of school governance change at the systemic
level translates into changes in practices at local
school levels.

Autorentext

Sylvia Hara-Nielsen has been a community organizer, high schoolteacher, career counselor, and state government administrator.She has written and managed numerous grants targeting at-riskyouth throughout her career. She has Masters Degrees inEducational Psychology and Public Administration, and recentlycompleted a Ph.D. in Educational Policy.

Klappentext

The conflict surrounding the decentralization ofschool governance in the U.S. has resulted fromwidespread discontent with educational outcomes andfrustration with government-professional bureaucracy.Under attack are closed, professional decision makingby government bureaucracy, disempowerment of localstakeholders and low student achievement levels.As the most highly centralized educational system inthe U.S., Hawai'i attempted to change the structureof governance from a highly centralized to shareddecision-making model with the passage of Act 51(HRS, 2004) and charter school legislation (Act 272,SLH, 1994). This legislation attempted to generatechanges in beliefs and cultural paradigms at theschool level in spite of a number of studiesindicating the difficulty in implementing reformsthat increase democratic decision making in a statewhere structures for grass-roots politicalparticipation are lacking.This work consists of a historical review ofHawai'i's experience with educationaldecentralization, and attempts to discern how therhetoric of school governance change at the systemiclevel translates into changes in practices at localschool levels.