Site-based management (SBM) in schools can trace its roots back to two phenomena, citizen's movements in large cities such as New York in the late 1960s and decentralization efforts of business in the 1970s. Both were done in the belief that achieving a better result can be done 11 through decisions made by the people closest to the process. Site-based management programs are diverse. Some stress one aspect, the restructuring of the school administration and program to affect achievement. Other schools stress a second aspect, the empowerment of teachers and stakeholders to make administrative decisions. Whichever emphasis chosen, several changes must occur for school management to move from the central office to the local school. These changes are evolutionary, taking 10-15 years. An evaluation study in a northern rural Utah school that has been involved with site-based management since 1990 allows for a context to understand the changes that might occur, namely, (a) the relinquishment of central school district authority; (b) the assumption of authority by the local school; ( c) the assumption of accountability for student achievement; ( d) the development of sensitivity between school and community; and (e) the development of consensus among school stakeholders. An instrument was developed for the evaluation, the Site-Based Management Progress Check. The instrument used items covering the agents and activities that would be present as these five changes occur. Additionally, the largest portion of the progress check was based on the goals in the school. As respondents showed more agreement concerning which goals were chosen and achieved, an inference was made that greater progress had occurred toward the team activity necessary for local school management. The data were provided by 100% of the lower-elementary teachers; upper-elementary teachers, however, were poorly represented, restricting data generalizability. The study indicated that, despite its 7-year involvement with site-based management, the school was still at an early stage of development with no change in district authority and no use of stakeholder groups to monitor goals. The school did have a wide base of teacher leadership. Slow progress seems to be related to lack of knowledge of SBM processes.

There has been limited research regarding teachers' opinions about their involvement in school decision making. A critical step missing in the research is the development of instruments to assess teachers' perceptions of their actual and desired levels of involvement. With the wide spread use of site-based management, shared decision making, participatory management and teacher empowerment, it is important to study teachers' involvement. The purpose of this study was to design an instrument to measure teachers' satisfaction with their involvement in school decision making. A review of the literature was used to identify issues to be considered for instrument development. Four domains were formulated for the Satisfaction with Participation in Decision Making Questionnaire (SPDMQ): (1) Involvement in the Operation of the School; (2) Involvement in Establishing Curriculum and Instructional Techniques; (3) Teacher Development, Evaluation, and Work Allocation, and (4) Involvement in Establishing Student Teacher Relationships. There are five questions included in each domain, for a total of 20 questions. Each question measures a desired level of involvement and a perceived actual level of involvement in school decision making. To measure content and construct validity, a total of three draft instruments were administered to doctoral students, school administrators, teachers, and other educators. The population selected to validate the instrument consisted of all teachers in five elementary schools from two different school districts in the Hampton Roads area. Two schools were selected from a district that currently implements site-based management programs, and three schools were selected from a district that implements little or no site- based management. A total of 168 teachers completed the SPDMQ. The treatment of data included several statistical routines including chi-square, Cronbach's alpha, t-tests, and correlations. The results of administration of the SPDMQ indicated that teachers in site-based schools reported more involvement in decision making but were not significantly more satisfied with their involvement. This instrument may be used by principals as a needs assessment to determine how much and in what areas teachers want to be involved in school decision making. / Ed. D.

With the advent of the No Child Left Behind legislation and the culture of standards-based education that it brings, it is imperative for educators to focus on the academic growth of students. Indeed, the nation's schools, school districts, and states are being held accountable for student achievement. Administrators in numerous school districts across the United States have implemented a popular reform initiative, Site-Based Management SBM), to improve student achievement. District leaders must examine the efficacy of SBM, where the authority, autonomy, and responsibility for student learning are devolved to the school level, to ensure that SBM is yielding intended results and to ensure fidelity of its implementation. This study examined principal perceptions and implementation of SBM in the Prince William County School District in Virginia after 19 years of implementation. The investigator administered an SBM survey to a population of all 86 principals in the school district. Of those, 78 completed at least part of the survey, for a return rate of 91%. The study focused on the perceptions of principals under SBM and their implementation of SBM as defined by the functions of the School Advisory Council and the shared decision-making processes used at the school level. Variables of the study were principals' years of experience with SBM and the grade level at which they work. Principals reported positive perceptions of SBM, in particular, the perception that SBM contributes to improvements in student achievement and to a climate of enhanced stakeholder satisfaction. A third of the principals indicated that SBM requires principals to spend too much time on administrative tasks. Principals with more than 10 years of experience reported more positive perceptions than principals with zero to three years experience with SBM. Principals reported that School Advisory Councils spend the most time developing, monitoring, and evaluating the school plan. Principals' years of experience with SBM were not related to the functions of their School Advisory Council, but principals with more than ten years of experience with SBM indicated a significantly higher use of consensus as a shared decision-making process. No significant relationship was found between the school level at which principals work and their perceptions of SBM. While not significant, middle school principals rated the School Advisory Council function of aligning the school budget with the school plan slightly higher than principals at other levels. There was no relationship between principals' school level and their use of shared decision-making processes. Principals reported strengths of SBM to be autonomy in making instructional decisions; flexibility with budget; building teacher leaders; and shared decision making. Challenges to the successful implementation of SBM were budget issues; too much time away from instructional focus; and the need for ongoing training. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of principals who had served in their positions prior to and since the state-mandated implementation of site-based management. The study sought to determine if the state mandates impacted the principals' perceptions regarding the pre-existing site-based management in their district. The study also sought to determine relationships between support or lack of support and the principals' gender, age, ethnicity, years as principal, and educational level.

Site-based management (SBM) is a strategy that involves the decentralization of authority, and shared decision-making (SDM) among those involved. It is based on the assumption that education will improve when those closest to the situation are included in the decision-making process, and held accountable for their decisions. This study describes the status of SBM/SDM in the public secondary schools of Virginia in regards to teacher and principal participation, size of secondary school, and geographic location. The study collected data from all public secondary school principals in Virginia, and from randomly selected secondary level teachers in order to answer the following six research questions: 1. What kinds of decisions are made at the school level in the areas of personnel, budget, curriculum and instruction, and policy? 2. According to the building administrators, what is the degree of their participation in the decision-making process at the school level? 3. According to the teachers, what is the degree of their participation in the decision-making process at the school level? 4. Is there a difference between the size of the secondary school and the status of site-based management? 5. Is there a difference between the geographic location of the secondary school and the status of site-based management? 6. Is the practice of site-based management in the public secondary schools of Virginia based upon written School Board policy? Major findings revealed that SBM is occurring in the public secondary schools of Virginia. SDM has emerged in the public secondary schools of Virginia, but not to the same extent as SBM, in regards to most decision-making areas. SBM appears to be in existence without the direction of written School Board policy. This study, a collaborative venture between two doctoral students, also discusses the process of collaboration that was utilized in this endeavor. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to identify perceived barriers to the implementation of site-based management for administrators in the Region XII Service Center area in Texas.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of restructuring associated with site-based management and the change in roles of central office personnel. The study also attempted to determine if districts had a plan with definitions of responsibility and accountability in place. The study included relationships between the decentralization process of site-based management and central office personnel's perception of job satisfaction.

The number of studies related to school reform and principal leadership styles confirms both the interest in how the two might be related and the enigma that schools and principals present as research topics. The art and science of school reform is hard to figure. While many studies attempt to make sense of an overlapping and competing set of variables that are found in good schools, nearly all studies have confirmed some support for principals as a key ingredient to school improvement. This study seeks to add to the increasing amount of research related to principal leadership styles in an era of increasing levels of accountability. The focus for this study was on four high school principals who were identified as "successful" by their central office superintendents. Each of the principals was a veteran administrator in three of the six largest school districts in Florida. This study's initial focus was on site-based management and the amount and degree of control afforded the principal, teachers and parents in secondary schools. The literature review found that site-based management by itself could not be confirmed as a reliable, research-supported school reform protocol. In each case where site-based management or distributed leadership was found to be successful, the principal was the key antecedent to the school improvement. This study sought to add to the research on principal leadership styles by providing a qualitative view on the lives and efforts of the principals in these four schools. The study employed a phenomenological approach and used a technique called portraiture to paint the narratives of the four participants. The interviews and site visits provided a great deal of data and produced four key themes or tendencies found in all four principals: They tended to be I-focused, We-focused, Servant-focused, and Learning-focused. These four styles of leadership were found to be both overlapping and paradoxical. Though each of the participants had slightly different leanings, all of them shared aspects of the four tendencies. The study adds to the growing research on school reform and principal leadership styles and provides a deeper understanding of each through its use of phenomenological methods.

The problem of this study was to identify professional development needs of elementary school principals who are implementing site-based management. The purpose was to develop a prioritized list of developmental needs of principals participating in site-based management in the evaluation of teacher performance, instructional knowledge, behavioral life styles, and other needs as identified by a decentralized decision-making questionnaire. The population for this study was the sixty-one elementary school principals in a large urban school district. The principals were encouraged by the central administrative staff to assume the responsibility of site-based managers during the 1981-1982 school year. Three priority areas involving decision making at the school site evolved. These three areas were personnel, instruction, and budgeting. During the three succeeding years, additional areas of decision making have been added, such as building-level staff development, implementation of flexible student schedules, and provisions for specialized summer programs. Findings of the study showed that there was normality in the assessment of teaching skills by principals, that a significant correlation existed between principals' knowledge of instruction and principals' teacher evaluation scores and that a significant correlation existed between principals' teacher evaluation scores, female principals being more consistent. The findings showed that no correlation existed between evaluation scores and training and age, that there was normality of principals' scores in instructional knowledge, and that there was not a relationship between knowledge of instruction and experience or training. It is recommended that staff development be provided to principals on the philosophy of site-based management and on the role of the principal and that this staff development be given for one to two years prior to implementing site-based management. It is recommended that specific training be provided principals in improving their instructional knowledge, understanding of the authority, and an understanding of the responsibilities that accompany site-based management.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the implementation year of state mandated, site-based management in a rural elementary school in north-central Texas.