NCREL's Policy Briefs

Decentralization:
Why, How, and Toward What Ends?

Why Districts Are Decentralizing

Decentralization has occurred across the nation in response to five primary pressures:

1. Demands from powerful constituencies - in particular parents, community groups, legislators, business, and, in some instances, teachers' unions - for (a) more input into and control over the schooling process and (b) tougher accountability measures

2. Strong agreement among these constituencies that the current educational structure is not working well for increasing numbers of students

3. The inability of massive bureaucracies - with their characteristic centralized policies, common work rules, and top-down decision-making structures - to respond effectively to the widely varying needs of local schools and communities

4. The rapidly changing nature of work and the workplace, and the concomitant perception that schools are not keeping pace with the current demands of society

5. Growing competition for public school dollars and students from the advocates for school choice, vouchers, and privatization

These pressures create a climate of crisis that demands substantive changes in the ways schools structure the learning environment, deliver educational services, govern themselves, and are held accountable.

Copyright © 1995, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

Contact: info@ncrel.org

Posted on April 26, 1995

URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-1why.htm