Student involvement as a determinant of successful integration of schools

The underlying objectives of this study were to contribute to a deeper understanding of factors which relate to integration. Successful integration of desegregated high schools may be related to the degree of participation of all students in the operation, decision making and coordinating processes of the school program because the participation in such types of involvement employs the principles of democratic living. Integration may require many of the principles found in democratic systems. As such, there existed the question of whether or not factors which make a democratic system support integration of ethnic groups in a high school. Following the approval of the research project by the Graduate College of Texas A&M University, support for the study was given by the executive secretaries of three major professional organizations: the American Association of School Administrators, the Texas Association of School Administrators and the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals. The superintendents of over 75 percent of the school districts (which had 30 to 60 percent minority groups enrolled) in 11 southern states responded to a request for permission to invite their principals to participate in the study. From the returns, 300 principals were queried by letter and 133 of this number responded with the first survey form. One hundred six responded to the second survey form. One hundred matching forms were considered to be valid and were used for the study.