Restructuring Schools: Doing It Right

School Administrator, Feb, 1994 by William J. Price

If you are a school leader who feels the need to restructure your school district but are unsure of where to begin, this book could be a practical guide for getting started. Restructuring Schools: Doing It Right, by Mike M. Milstein, presents his view of restructuring as a step-by-step process that he describes as systemic and comprehensive.

Milstein, professor of educational administration at University of New Mexico, defines restructuring as systemic change or transformation where all elements of the organization become candidates for change and where all such efforts are aimed at improved instructional outcomes. He believes any comprehensive restructuring process must include several key steps if real change is to occur.

The first step is to clarify the district's purposes through a fresh examination of the organization's mission, goals, and long-term perspectives. The second step involves decentralization and a shift to site-based management and participative decision making.

Such structural and role changes must be put in place to promote the district's new purposes, Milstein argues. These changes will require building teamwork and cooperation, establishing a climate for trust, risk taking and ownership, and generally promoting supportive beliefs and behaviors.

Milstein sees the final step as providing resources to support and sustain the district's overall restructuring.

A chapter is devoted to each of these four key elements of restructuring. Other chapters discuss understanding the nature of change and assessing restructuring efforts.

(Restructuring Schoo1s: Doing It Right, by Mike M. Milstein, Corwin Press, 2455 Teller Road, Newbury Park, Calif. 91320, 1993, 80 pp., $15 softcover)