To implement decentralized, high-involvement management systems, school boards and central office staff will need to negotiate different types of collective bargaining agreements with teacher unions. Both the scope of collective bargaining and the focus of the contract will need to change.
Agreements should specify that teachers will be centrally involved in all substantive decisionmaking and identify the span of decisions that will be made at the school. These decisions would include the following:
Agreements also need to specify district policies on professional development, including whether a fixed percentage of each site's budget will be set aside for ongoing professional development and training.
The collective bargaining contract also should identify both vertical and horizontal information sharing and communication channels and specify information that will be shared among all individuals in the school community.
Finally, agreements will need to outline a knowledge- and skill-based compensation structure, along with generic types of group-based performance awards. A core set of knowledge and skills related to the instructional guidance system could be stipulated, and sites could add additional areas of professional expertise on which pay could be based, depending on the specific curriculum and instruction strategies determined at each school. The agreement also might state that no individual merit and incentive awards will be allowed, but could outline the types of group- or school-based performance awards to be offered, including the percentage of the budget, if any, that will be devoted to such awards.