nd staff development, and the development of programs based on school-business cooperation.
SDM is one of the many reform efforts that have been found to be successful in dealing with problems and challenges facing schools. In this regard, there are essentially two forms of shared decision making. One of these is the site-based management/shared decision-making approach which is a method of school restructuring that shifts authority from a central location to the school and endeavors to redistribute authority within the school by establishing a shared decision-making council (Sidener, 1994).
The second approach, that of shared decision making, may use a council or some other form of collaborative body; however, in general these efforts constitute a collaborative approach to school governance on the part of teachers and principals with programs having the objectives of not only improving the quality of education but doing so by providing teachers with opportunities for school leadership and an active voice in decisions which affect the school's mission and operation (Sidener, 1994).
Has the SDM approach to reform been an effective process? Some studies suggest that it has. For example, McMurray (1993) examined for factors contributing to SDM effectiveness in four urban public schools.
Schools in McMurray's (1993) study were selected based on a ranking system in which the 12 high schools in the school district were ranked and placed into quadrants based on the perceived effectiveness of their shared decision-making model (Instructional Cabinet). One school was then randomly selected from each quadrant so as to provide a schools with a wide range of effectiveness levels.
Decisions were solicited from informants at each school, classified as either decisions of regulation or decisions of modification and placed in a matrix designed to denote decision type, level of participation, and Instructional Cabinet i...