A dissertation completed at
The Center for Education, Widener University,
One University Place, Chester, PA 19013 		 
A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF SHARED DECISION MAKING ON TWO URBAN SCHOOLS
Dexter L. Davis, Sr., Ed. D.
November 2000

RETURN
edited 3/25/01

 


ABSTRACT

The effective operation of schools is an issue that is receiving attention in cities and states across the nation. There are a growing number of educators who feel that in order for schools to survive, the decisions that impact school operations must be shared with the school community at the local level.

The concept of shared decision-making centers around the mindset that decisions that impacts the organization are shared by the organization membership. In a school setting those members would be the principal, teachers, parents, and students.

The shared decision making concept has been used in districts and schools across the nation for over a decade. The shared decision making reform is being implemented in schools in several major cities such as Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Memphis as well as in forty-four states. The Carnegie Commission (1986), the Holmes Group (1986) and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (1986) supported and encouraged the development of a framework that would allow the participation of the local school community in the decision making process at the school house level. The American Association of School Administrators and the National Education Association has also joined the movement calling for the adoption of a shared decision-making (SDM) as a reform initiative.

The purpose of this study was to examine the concept of shared decision-making and its impact on urban schools. Specifically, the researcher was looking to see if shared decision-making could be a useful school reform initiative in bringing about improved teaching and learning in our inner city schools. The effects of shared decision-making as it relates to student performance, school governance and staff morale was the focus of this study. The study looked closely from a qualitative stance at the relationships between administrators, teachers, support staff, and parents in regard to the shared decision making concept. The following questions was investigated in this study: I . Do principals, teachers, support staff, and parents believe that shared decision- making impact student performance? How do stakeholders believe shared decision-making impact school governance? How do stakeholder groups believe shared decision making affects staff morale?

The population of this study consisted of administrators, teachers, parents and other school members of what will be referred to in this study as the Central Penn School District. The Central Penn School District is located in the county of Lancaster, Pa. The district was established in 1836 and is one of the oldest districts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The sample for this study consisted of administrators, teachers, support staff, and parents of the East and West Elementary Schools of the Central Penn School District. In order to gain an in- depth analysis of the shared decision making concept and its impact on urban schools, a series of interviews was conducted. The principals of the two schools, teachers, support staff, and parents of the site councils was the focus of the interviews. The interviews were conducted over a four-month period of time.

To gain further insight into the shared decision making concept, the researcher observed a site council meeting at each school. The researcher was interested in observing the interaction of the participants as they took part in the SDM process. Finally various SDM documents that were related to the shared decision-making process was examined. Site council policy documents, shared decision by-laws, committee notes and site council minutes are examples of documents that were studied.

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