Elementary principals\u27 views of school -based management in the United States: Results from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999

In this study, the first quantitative look at the perceived degree of implementation of school-based management in public and in private elementary schools in the United States has occurred. Results may be interpreted as descriptive information about the individuals who serve as principals in public and private elementary schools, in terms of their views of shared governance at their campus. The database from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 was used as the database of principal responses. In this study, similarities and dissimilarities in the views of public (n = 630) and private (n = 236) elementary school principals in the United States were examined with regard to the implementation of school-based management and the decision-makers involved in making school-related decisions. Decision makers in this study were principals, teachers, parents, school board members, school district office personnel, and school-based management committee members. In this study public elementary school principals reported they had implemented school-based management at a higher degree than private schools. Public elementary school principals indicated a higher degree of implementation regarding the influence and involvement of decision-makers on the six categories of decisions made at their schools; hiring/firing of teachers, selection of textbooks, setting curricular guidelines/standards, establishing policies and practices for student grading/evaluation, deciding how school discretionary funds will be spent, and professional development planning. In response to the survey, 70.8% of the private elementary school principals reported no school-based management committee at their school whereas 75.1% of the public school principals did report having a school-based committee at their school. Private school principals reported more influence on all six-decision categories at their schools when compared to public school principals. Consequently, private school principals indicated lower percentages of influence for their school-based management committees on these same decision categories. Membership of stakeholders on school-based management committees was also investigated in regard to public and private elementary schools. Public school principals reported a higher degree of representation on their SBM committees in the area of principal, teacher, district personnel, school board members, and community. Private school principals only indicated a higher degree of membership in the area of school board on their SBM committees. Also investigated was whether statistically significant differences were present in the extent to which school-based management has been implemented in public and privates elementary schools in the United States as a function of school and principal demographics. After performing several analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures, differences were revealed in principal-related demographics of gender, courses taken in administration, highest level of education, years as a teacher, and years as a principal were investigated. Accordingly, differences were revealed when the school-related demographics of percent of minority students in school, school region, and school location were investigated. For all statistically significant findings, effect sizes ranged from small to moderate. From this study, new insights regarding the implementation of school-based management and the inclusion of stakeholders in school-based management committees across the United States were obtained. These insights provide a context from which to conduct further study of school-based management in public and private schools on a state and national level. Based upon analysis of survey responses, possible reasons for the differences in implementation of school-based management across the United States were discussed. In addition, implications for future research were offered