| dc.description.abstract | Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) is the
public school district serving Louisville,
Kentucky. With an enrollment of
approximately 99,000 students, JCPS is
Kentucky's largest public school system.
Each school in JCPS has a Site Based
Decision Making (SBDM) Council.
This exploratory project was designed to
understand how SBDM Councils in the
Jefferson County Public Schools affect
school level policy and the work of
principals. Researchers addressed two
project questions.
First, researchers asked, "How do JCPS
principals perceive the impact of SBDM
Councils in the mandated areas of
curriculum, instructional practices,
personnel, scheduling and student
assignment to classes, use of school space,
student discipline and school safety,
procedural concerns, extracurricular
participation, alignment with state
standards, and program appraisals on their
work as school leaders?"
Second, researchers queried, "How do JCPS
principals perceive the impact of the SBDM
Councils on their day-to-day responsibilities
as school leaders?"
Goals of SBDM Councils include
decentralizing school control and involving
members of the school community in
making decisions for their school. While
some evidence, primarily qualitative, exists
to bolster claims of increased stakeholder
engagement from participation in SBDM
Councils, there is virtually no research on the types of policy decisions influenced by
SBDM Councils.
Researchers sought to understand how
legal mandates governing SBDM Councils
affect principals' workloads. Second,
researchers examined principals'
perceptions SBDM Council influence on
policy decisions at the local school level.
Data were collected along two strands: a
comprehensive survey and six school
qualitative interview sites.
A survey was created and distributed to all
132 JCPS principals. In addition to
demographic data that included experience,
length of time as principal, and tenure at
the school, survey questions focused on
task requirements of the SBDM Councils
and perception queries concerning the
intersection of council work and the duties
of the principal.
Structured qualitative interviews were
conducted at six school sites, selected in
conjunction with JCPS Accountability,
Research, and Planning Department staff.
The data collected through principal surveys
underwent descriptive analysis to capture a
view of principal perceptions on how SBDM
Councils shape policy formation and
influence decision-making. Trends in the
data were explored. The data collected
from qualitative interviews were analyzed
to ascertain contextual factors that may
affect SBDM Councils according to
members from all levels.
As noted, 132 principals from the
elementary, middle, and high schools in Jefferson County were asked to complete
the principal's survey. There were 111
principals who chose to take part in the
survey. Of this group, 20 principals
answered only the first survey question that
requested their consent to participate in
the survey; after giving consent, they
answered no further survey questions. Four
other principals answered questions in the
first four sections of the survey but declined
to answer any of the demographics related
questions in section five of the survey. Of
the 87 principals who completed the
survey, 40 of them completed the survey
online and the remaining 47 completed the
survey during their respective principal's
meetings in December 2008. In all, 54
elementary school principals, 15 middle
school principals, 16 high school principals,
and 2 special school principals completed
the survey.
It is clear from survey and qualitative
interview data that the principal is the
primary source of influence in every area
requiring decision-making by the SBDM
Council (as mandated by KERA). According
to qualitative interview responses, most
decisions delegated to the SBDM Councils
have been made before ever reaching that
body.
In many schools, there is an overlap in
responsibilities between the school
leadership teams, which may include
virtually all teachers in some schools, and
SBDM Councils. Thus, the work of the SBDM
Council is often only symbolic in nature. In
many cases, the most educationally
substantive issues have been addressed
long before reaching the SBDM Council. Parental involvement in schools can help
promote student achievement; however,
parental participation on SBDM Councils is
limited and effectively weak relative to
principal influence.
Researchers found that principals believe
that they are the driving force behind most
decisions made in the school. In every area
studied, the principal ranked first in
influence. SBDM Councils do influence
decisions made in the school, but overall,
they rank second to the principal in amount
of influence exerted over decision-making
processes in schools.
The findings suggest that the work of SBDM
Councils, though largely symbolic, is valued
in JCPS. Nevertheless, more than half of all
principals surveyed indicated that they
would eliminate SBDM Councils in their
schools if possible. Negative aspects
associated with SBDM Council mandates
include writing redundant policies,
participation in the hiring process, and
parental involvement in decisions best
handled by the professional staff.
Researchers offer several recommendations
to JCPS officials for strengthening and
streamlining the work of principals and
SBDM Councils.
The common thread throughout these
findings and recommendations reflects
what has already been hypothesized in
published research: leadership matters,
regardless of other groups and
stakeholders. | en |
