Shared decision-making, teacher morale, and pupil performance in public schools

The school-based management/shared decision-making strategy is important for schools in general. It enables teachers to be more responsive to the needs of the students by giving them the authority to use the resources, space and time, and personnel to enhance student learning. It is even more important in schools serving urban disadvantaged communities where the needs of the children are more acute.^ Teachers in urban schools are defeated by the large bureaucracy, the feeling of powerlessness, in the face of urban decay and crimes. The school-based managed/shared decision-making strategy gives teachers a sense of empowerment, control, autonomy, and efficacy. When the teachers have greater control over the parameters of their jobs, they would be more responsive to the needs of the children. If urban schools and teachers serving children coming from disadvantaged families are to be accountable for results, they should share in making decisions about how the school will operate. Hence pupil performance, attendance, and teacher morale will improve.^ This study examined the degree to which school-based management/shared decision-making programs became a strategy for guiding school improvement. There were many general studies conducted nationally to investigate the effectiveness of schools of the school-based management/ shared decision-making strategy in educating our student population. This general focus was narrowed down to investigate whether the school-based management/shared decision-making strategy was as effective, when implemented, in school districts where the majority of the minority children come from poor families on welfare.^ Teacher involvement in shared decision making was measured by making use of the TIPS 2 and teacher morale was measured by the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire. Student performance was measured by Reading, Math scores, and Attendance.(UNFORMATTED TABLE OR EQUATION FOLLOWS)$$\vbox{\halign{#\hfil&&\quad#\hfil\cr&Design:\cr\cr &Teacher &Teacher &School and\cr &Involvement&&\cr &Shared & &Pupil\cr &Decision Making\quad$\longrightarrow$ &Morale\quad$\longrightarrow$ &Performance\cr}}$$(TABLE/EQUATION ENDS)The academic performance of students who attended schools where teachers participated in shared decision making positively improved. The morale of teachers who work in these schools improved, and a positive relationship between the degree of participation in shared decision making and morale of teachers was found.