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�ise, Size fi imperati es for better
"" 00, . primary recommendation is that e
• • all teachers d principals 0 dapt their schools
to the needs, learnin les, and learnin rates of
eir p icular dents .... The tleulIlrJiulio of
I bII4 I' Ihoniy 10 tb« peT1011� dosest 10 tb«
1111 1111 is essellliJ."
Ernest Bo er echoes izer's i : Heavy doses of
burea , he argu in High School, stifle ere-
. ity d block t ers and principals from exer-
cisin their best profi' '0021 judgment on Dl2�ers
t ou d be decided t the 001 buildin I el,
Bo er and Sizer's critiques reflect more than
decade of research 0 effecti e schools. Derrick A.
U, dC2Jl of the Uni eruty of Oregon La School,
cinctly summarized this research hen he ob­
ed that teachers t effecti e schools arc "rna cr­
." Th become forces for educational excel­
len e precisely beca they-like their principals­
are •• illin to gi e priority to a won of education
ell t:WU polu, ilecisiolU comillg from " ce IrJ
b '11." They're rebels- ith a ca . And the
ca is an instructional pro ram and school dim te
tailored to the needs of students- 01 to the de­
mands of bur crats.
Surely teachers and principals should not have to
r insubordination in order to dvance the cause
of ed cational ellence. And the change that
uld render ch rebellion unnecessary is � no
y radical. eturning decision-making po er to
the local school is, in faa, consonant ith the
prescription for success put forth in Thomas Peters
d obert Waterman's 111 Sellld of ExuIl,lIce:
USSOIIS fro .It nu'l Bell RIIII COmpllllieI. '
America' corporate aden ate lcamin the tie­
ee lrIIIizIItioll I n th2t m ement analysts like
Peters d aterman sui e to teach. They're begin­
nin 0 understand that common sense demands
trcatin emplo e adults deservin of respect
d cap b e of m' intelligent judgments.
It's time centralized 001 district bureaucracies
ed that I n, too.
o of th Bt
quor
I
,
001 able
•
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Come and have a good time