Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
Abstract
In 1999 the Indiana General Assembly mandated all Indiana public schools must develop continuous school improvement plans. The actual legislation, Public Law 221, called for school improvement plans to be annually reviewed and revised; have objectives consistent with Indiana academic standards; provide for theEducational needs of all students, even those with exceptionalities; be measurable; and devise a professional development program. School improvement plans where fully implemented with the start of the 2002-2003 school year. The results of the study found there were statistically significant differences between administrators and teachers for ratings on focus and progress of comprehensive school reform. For instance, both elementary and secondary administrators gave significantly higher ratings to comprehensive school reform components than did elementary and secondary teachers. Another result indicated elementary schools gave significantly higher ratings than secondary schools to comprehensive school reform components. Furthermore, statistical evidence substantiated elementary administrators, secondary administrators, and elementary teachers all gave statistically higher ratings than secondary teacher to the comprehensive school reform components. There are certainly other interesting distinctions contained in the pages of thisDissertation. The intent of this study was to quantify the perceptions of Indiana administrators and teachers regarding their school's focus and progress toward the school improvement mandate. The instrument for measuring these perceptions utilized the United States Department ofEducation's 11 components of comprehensive school reform which were inclusive of the school improvement descriptors contained in Public Law 221. It was assumed those participants most closely responsible for the development and execution of all school reform plans would provide ample evidence of focus and progress. Therefore, both administrators and teachers responded to a Likert scale rating their perceptions of school improvement. Considering the presumed mutual engagement and subsequent responsibilities administrators and teachers had for school improvement initiatives, their perceptual ratings should have mirrored each other. However, the results of this electronic survey solicited responses to the 30 questionnaire items from the two state professional associations known as the Indiana State Teachers' Association (ISTA) and the Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP) revealing perceptual distinctions did exist between teachers and administrators. Additionally, the survey provided insights into the perceptual distinctions that existed between elementary and secondary grade levels on school improvement focus and progress.
Recommended Citation
Mckim, Jerry Michael, "Indiana Administrators And Teachers Evaluate Progress With The School Improvement Mandate And The Implementation Of Comprehensive School Reform" (2008). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1014.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/1014