The purpose of this research was to determine student involvement in secondary school administrative decision making. Sixteen principals were selected to participate in the research representing secondary schools having a minimum enrollment of fifteen hundred in grades ten through twelve and nine through twelve in the Indianapolis school system and Marion County school districts.Interview data were catagorized under four major concerns dealing with fifteen major topics: assembly programs, athletic activities, building plans, curriculum, discipline policy, dress code and appearance, extracurricular activities, grading procedure, length of periods and school day, school board representation, staff employment, use of building, teacher appraisal, faculty meetings, and parent-teacher association.The first concern through the selection of one of three statements was to determine the administrator's philosophy on student involvement as a part of administrative decision making. The second concern was to determine the administrator's perception of the degree of student involvement in the fifteen selected areas. The third concern was to determine the administrator's perception of the degree of student involvement in related functions within the framework of the fifteen selected areas. The fourth concern was to determine the administrator's perception of future involvement in the fifteen selected areas.A value scale with numerical weights for interpretative purposes determined answers in the following manner:Individual Compilation SCALEWord ChoiceValueTotal #PrincipalsValueTotalVery reasonable516x580Reasonable416x464Undecided316x348Unreasonable216x232Highly unreasonable116x116Compilation of the sixteen principals' responses to the role of student involvement in secondary school administrative decision making thus were recorded in numerical degrees of acceptance and rejection of the very reasonable 65-80; reasonable 49-64; undecided 33-48; unreasonable 17-32; and highly unreasonable 1-16. Numerical weights were based on the individual value multiplied by the total principals as a unit, indicating the perceived role of student in secondary school decision making as a group.Participants were personally interviewed in their school offices by appointment. Informality characterized the interviews in which the instrument was used to secure data and additional comments were tape-recorded.All sixteen respondents reflected degrees of interest and recognition of student involvement in secondary school administrative decision making in their representative schools. Those topics receiving the greatest perceived degree of student involvement were: extracurricular activities, assembly programs, curriculum, dress code and appearance, building plans, faculty meetings and building use. The principals were undecided in involving students in grading procedure, teacher appraisal, school board representation, length of periods and school day, and athletic activities. They rejected discipline policies and staff employment as unreasonable involvement of students. The sixteen principals envisioned future student involvement as increasing in curriculum and extracurricular activities along with teacher appraisal and parent-teacher association.All sixteen principals believed in the philosophy of student involvement as a part of secondary school administrative decision making. The seven topics receiving the highest value scores for student involvement resulted in the following conclusions: (1) student involvement in the organization, leadership and after-school structure patterns in extracurricular activities; (2) assembly programs with emphasis on student performing groups for greater student contribution and participation; (3) student involvement in curriculum planning concerning organization and content of elective subjects; (4) more administrative support in parent-teacher association drive for student membership; (5) student participation in new building plans to gain insight of functional design and equipment from the users of those facilities; (6) student involvement in faculty meetings only when participation contributes to a particular student related subject on the meeting agenda; (7) students help supervise the use of the building to promote better understanding of the maintenance and tax value of a public building.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/179975 |
| Date | January 1971 |
| Creators | Reed, John O. |
| Contributors | Park, Don L. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | viii, 201 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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