Introducing a bold, persuasive new argument into the national debate over public education, William Ouchi describes a revolutionary approach to creating successful public schools. It is a program that has produced significant, lasting improvements in the school districts where it has already been implemented. Drawing on the results of a landmark study of 223 schools in six cities that Dr. Ouchi supervised, which was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, Making Schools Work shows that a school’s educational performance may be most directly affected by how the school is managed.

Dr. Ouchi’s 2001-2002 study examined innovative school systems in Edmonton, Canada; Seattle, and Houston, and compared them with the three largest traditional school systems: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Researchers discovered that the schools that consistently performed best also had the most decentralized management systems — individual principals, not administrators in a central office, controlled school budgets and personnel. They were fully responsible and fully accountable for the performance of their schools. With greater freedom and flexibility to shape their educational programs, hire specialists as needed, and generally determine the direction of their school, the best principals will act as entrepreneurs, says Ouchi. Those who fail are placed under the supervision of successful principals, who assume responsibility for the failing schools.

An essential component of this management approach is something called Weighted Student Formula. In the WSF system every student is evaluated and assessed a certain dollar value in educational services (a non-English speaking or autistic student, or one from a low-income family, for example, would receive a higher dollar value than a middle-class student with no special needs). Families have the freedom to choose among public schools, and when schools must compete for students, good schools flourish while those that do poorly literally go out of business.

Such accountability has long worked for religious schools and independent schools, where parents pay a premium for educational performance. Making Schools Work shows how the same approach can be adapted to public schools. The book also provides guidelines for parents on how to evaluate a school, and how to make sure their child is getting the best education possible.

Revolutionary yet practical, Making Schools Work shows that positive educational reform is within reach and indeed, already happening in schools across the country.

William G. Ouchi is the Sanford and Betty Sigoloff Professor in Corporate Renewal at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. He is the author of three previous books on organization and management, including the bestselling Theory Z, and is also former chief of staff to Mayor Richard Riordan in Los Angeles. Active in both educational and civic affairs, Dr. Ouchi is an advisor to the Joint Senate-Assembly Committee on Preparing California for the 21st Century, a past member of the Consumer Advisory Committee of the S.E.C., and chair of the Riordan Programs, which serve minority high school and college students in Southern California. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

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