ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an analysis of the effects on the organisation of special education, as a school-based enterprise, of recent and current changes in school-based governance and management in both countries. To illustrate and evaluate this discussion, the chapter will then present descriptions of particular governance reforms in those parts of the United Kingdom (England and Wales) and the United States that focus on local management of schools. Specifically, we discuss the impact of local management of schools and grant maintained policies in the United Kingdom and the movement to establish site-based managed and governed and charter schools in over twenty-five states in the United States. The chapter then presents a comparative discussion and analysis of key similarities and differences observed in the UK and US reforms. We conclude with arguments for keeping special education goals in view as both countries continue to experiment with reforms in school sitebased governance and management.
