SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT (DECENTRALIZATION, ACCOUNTABILITY, SHARED DECISIONMAKING, PRINCIPAL'S ROLE, SCHOOL SITE, SCHOOL GOVERNANCE, PARTICIPATION, EMPOWERMENT)

School-based Management (SBM) is one of many recent school improvement ideas. Supporters believe positive changes will result from reallocating decisions between central offices and schools, building a new form of governance at the school site to make the decisions, increasing accountability from practitioners by involving them in decisions, and increasing authority for principals.;Background research, begun in December, 1981, included in-depth interviews of proponents and planners of SBM in Boston. From September, 1982 to June, 1983, I documented the changes in day-to-day school practice during the implementation of SBM at the Josiah Quincy Chinese Bilingual School. I visited the school from one to four times a week to interview staff and to observe interactions.;Principal Charles Gibbons began the year with a resentful staff and few resources. By Spring the school had changed: parents and teachers, community members, museums, universities, and representatives of the private sector worked with the Quincy team to improve physical, interpersonal, and academic aspects of the school.;Four conclusions emerge from these data. First, the case study documents a successful experiment in school revival through professional development and support for principals, but not an experiment in structurally decentralized decisionmaking. Second, the form of governance at the site was not significantly different from former versions, nor did the cabinet have significantly increased resources. Nevertheless, the new governing system functioned effectively for the school leader as a team-building mechanism and a symbol of new school rituals. Third, opportunities for professional development and participation in school events increased staff commitment and accountability. Fourth, the principal revitalized the school as he developed his own management style.;In this thesis, I identify the assumptions I attribute to authors of SMB literature, then document the first year of a pilot SBM project in one urban school. This research compares the views expressed in SBM literature with the opinions expressed at the school and tries to account for the differences between the two.;Rather than a structural shift of decisionmaking, an economic reform, or a major political realignment, SMB offered a symbol of new ways of doing things and verbal support for beleaguered practitioners. Although additional decisions and dollars would have provided welcomed support, a new management style empowered practitioners to find other resources.