Book Description

In 1991, the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) published "An Introduction to Total Quality for Schools" to initiate its new learning network. This second collection of readings on quality management in education offers a series of perspectives through which readers can refine their own definitions and knowledge. It contains lessons from practice within classrooms, buildings, districts, and statewide networks as well as in fields such as vocational and special education. Also included are summaries, historical overviews, lessons from other fields, and assessments of current status. The first section of the book gives the broad picture of how in the 1980s the United States began to listen to W. Edwards Deming and others advocating a new nonhierarchical system of management based on teamwork, empowerment of workers, and commitment to continuous improvement. The second section describes how educators interpret quality management principles in education, and the third shows how these principles are being applied in classrooms, schools, school districts, community colleges, and universities. The final section contains articles from AASA's newsletter, "Quality Network News," contributed by educators who describe their own experiences with quality management. Appended are lists of further readings about quality and other AASA resources on quality management in education, bibliographic credits for each article, an author index, and a school district index. (MLF)