Impact of site-based management/shared decision-making on parent involvement: Perspectives of multiple stakeholders in urban schools
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the perceptions of multiple stakeholders in urban schools about the impact of site-based management/shared decision making (SBM/SDM) on parent involvement. In addition, this study sought to determine whether significant relationships existed between school demographics and the perceptions of these stakeholders. The sample population consisted of 1500 respondents from 20 New York City elementary schools: 21 administrators, 222 teachers, and 1257 parents. Ten schools had formal SBM/SDM teams and 10 did not. The sample was purposive, consisting of those schools in which the parents, teachers, and administrators voluntarily agreed to participate. The instrument used in this study was the Parent Involvement and Participation Scale developed by Terry and Cooper (1993). The statistical techniques employed to analyze the data included percentages, means, and standard deviations for determining distributions; two-way analysis of variance using role and SBM/SDM status as factors for determining significant differences; and Pearson correlations for determining significant relationships. The major conclusions of this study were: (1) The institution of SBM/SDM increases parent involvement in the decision-making process of the school and, thereby, helps to increase parent support of the school. Since the sample schools served communities that had many poor and minority families, it is likely that the institution of SBM/SDM increased parent involvement and support in schools that need it most. (2) Another major finding was the relative congruence of perceptions of parent involvement between parent association presidents and school administrators. Both perceive parents as more involved in decision making than did parents, teachers, or teacher representatives. The following recommendations were suggested: (1) Schools that do not have SBM/SDM should find it beneficial to develop programs for the involvement of teachers and parents in the decision-making process. (2) Parents and teachers should be made aware of the degree of collaboration between administrators and parent association presidents to ensure that decision making is more inclusive. (3) Education programs must be designed to assist all constituencies in understanding the principles and practices of effective parent involvement. (4) Further research is needed comparing various models of SBM/SDM and outcome variables such as school climate and academic achievement.
Subject Area
School administration|Elementary education
Recommended Citation
Holmes-Anthony, Betty Jean, "Impact of site-based management/shared decision-making on parent involvement: Perspectives of multiple stakeholders in urban schools" (1995). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9530951.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9530951
