This project entails surveys and research on (1) the development of indicators to address the concept of "school management quality" and approaches to appointment, employment, and placement of school personnel needed to maintain certain levels of "school management quality," and (2) approaches to the placement of support staff and forms of collaboration with NPOs, the private sector and other partners. These tasks are approached with a view firstly to defining "school management quality" in schools for compulsory education, and secondly to identifying methods for developing conditions for assurance of "school management quality" as defined. The aim of this work is to derive fundamental knowledge regarding the development of school organizations in line with school size, location, environment, and other conditions.

  Undertaken from the perspective of quality assurance in compulsory education, this project aims to advance basic developmental research centered on issues such as the placement, servicing, and reorganization of elementary and lower secondary schools in Japan in the face of a declining birthrate and ageing population. In order to achieve this aim, research activity is organized into the areas of (1) school placement and (2) school size. The following research themes are pursued to develop a body of fundamental knowledge on how best to deal with the "small school" problem: (1) research on the development of conditions with a view to addressing the specific features of communities with a shrinking population of school-aged children and ensuring that elementary and lower secondary schools are located and maintained appropriately; (2) research on programs for the maintenance of educational environments as schools are amalgamated and abolished; (3) empirical research concerning the relationship between school size and school management, teaching practice, etc.; and (4) identification of initiatives being pursued outside Japan to deal with shrinking school-age populations.

  In the context of the "contests of wisdom and ingenuity" among local government authorities that are expected to emerge in the wake of decentralization reforms, this project focuses attention on city governments, examining the qualitative impact that decentralization has had on local government educational policy and using case studies to identify new directions in educational administrative processes in city governments.
  In concrete terms, the project has involved gathering data through onsite surveys conducted in samples of two to three cities from different categories, such as ordinance-designated cities, core cities, and so on. Changes in the organization of board of education secretariats at prefectural level and in cities of core city size and larger have been reviewed, basic material elicited, and analysis conducted thereon from the perspective of organizational restructuring. Furthermore, in order to obtain insights into city government reform processes in policy areas other than education, research meetings have been held with scholars working in related fields such as political science and public administration.

  This study entails a comprehensive investigation into compulsory education from three angles: (1) policy, institutions and management, (2) curriculum theory, and (3) theories of development. At the same time, it involves collaboration with research projects on school facilities in order to analyze directions and identify challenges in elementary and lower secondary unified education, an area currently undergoing rapid development nationwide.
  The project team will identify developmental phases that are characteristic to students in compulsory education and identify issues to be addressed in creating appropriate patterns for linkage and advancement between different school levels (elementary and lower secondary). We also aim to develop knowledge that can contribute to the clarification of problems in school systems and curricular content, taking into account continuity with the preschool stage.
  The project team will also analyze issues in practical administration and management of unified and coordinated education linking elementary and lower secondary levels, examine case studies on creative approaches to school management and models tailored to specific conditions in the various fields of unified education and coordination, and work to identify important issues therein.
  Paradigms for unified approaches across the nine years of compulsory education will be considered in areas including curricular content, teaching methods and student guidance.
  This project is being operated in cooperation with the Department for Elementary and Secondary Education Research and the Educational Facilities Research Center.

  In this project, we have explored different theories and systems of evaluation and sought to develop, on an experimental basis, methods for evaluation of educational policy, schools, and teaching. This work has been pursued on the assumption that the provision of public education will be deregulated to a certain degree, and with an awareness of the importance in policy terms of developing ex post facto checks and evaluation functions as roles of government.
  The five-year project term has been divided into an initial period of three years and a subsequent period of two years, with distinct research activities conducted in each. The first three years involved (a) research addressing the question of how to construct an overall system for school evaluation, (b) trial operation of a scheme for "proactive third party evaluation by research institutes, etc." at the request of MEXT, and (c) fundamental, empirical research concerning curriculum evaluation. The latter two years centered on school evaluation by associated parties, an issue that all schools must endeavor to pursue following an amendment of the Enforcement Regulations for the School Education Law. These two years also involved trial operation of a diagnostic school evaluation system, a survey of the status of activities in municipal Boards of Education across Japan, and a review of possible approaches to be taken if the system of school evaluation by associated parties is developed.