Managers face a complex and seemingly overwhelming set of decisions in their work lives. Investigating exactly what managers do on the job, this study presents a wealth of new evidence to analyze why managers act in the ways they do, what influences their focus of attention, and which issues and other actors in an organization they tend to find attractive and which they tend to avoid. In short, it describes how managers in the real world make decisions.

Sponsored by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education

Drawing on theoretical models, case studies, and comparative analyses of other sectors and countries, the authors argue that governance reforms are likely to have little impact on what actually happens in schools, and they tell why decentralized structural arrangements alone are unlikely to establish conditions necessary for general improvement in educational practice.