School Board Policies: Connecticut as a Case Application

This thesis is being archived as a Digitized Shelf Copy for campus access to current students and staff only. We currently cannot provide this open access without the author's permission. If you are the author of this work and desire to provide it open access or wish access removed please contact the Wahlstrom Library to discuss permission.This study sought to determine the extent to which written school board policies have been developed in Connecticut school systems. All of the 165 public school systems in the State were invited to participate in the study by sending the investigator a copy of their officially adopted school board policy manual. Fifty-six school systems sent policies which served as the data base for the study. The Davies-Brickell Index was used as the standard for determining how the fifty-six school systems fared in terms of quantity (the number of policies developed), priority selection (importance), and quality (proper design of each policy). It was hypothesized that there was no significant difference between Connecticut public school systems and the Davies-Brickell Index when the measurements of quantity, priority selection, and quality were applied. It was further hypothesized that size of school system (small, medium, large) would not indicate a statistically significant difference in terms of quantity, priority selection and quality. The first hypothesis was rejected. The Davies-Brickell Index, comprised of 477 policies, was significantly greater in terms of quantity than the Connecticut school systems which had an average of eighty-one written policies. There was also a significant difference found in terms of priority selection. While the average number of written school board policies of the Connecticut school systems was low compared to the Davies-Brickell Index, those which were developed were rated higher than the Davies-Brickell Index when the measurement of priority selection was applied. In testing for quality of each written school board policy, the Davies-Brickell Index was found to be significantly higher then the Connecticut school systems. Size of school system found to was be significantly different only in terms of quality and only between large and small systems, with the small systems rating higher. There was no significant difference found between size of school system and ratings for quantity or priority selection. It was recommended that research be conducted in three to five years to determine whether a change had occurred in the development of written school board policies in terms of quantity, priority selection and quality. It was further recommended that an alternate school board governance manual be used in place of the Davies-Brickell Index