The Role Of The School District With Site Based Decision Making

Author : Tina M. Davis
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 116 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (12 download)

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Download or read book The Use of Evidence in District Level Decisions for the Distribution of Resources to Elementary Schools written by Tina M. Davis and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York State's challenging fiscal, instructional and accountability context has challenged school districts to make intra-district resource distribution decisions that foster equal educational opportunities for all students. In terms of intra-district resource distribution, research indicates the field has limited literature from which to draw guidance on the decision making process. Due to the limited literature on intra-district resource distribution and the increasing expectation to use data, practitioners in the field of education are still learning how to use data as part of an evidence-based decision making system to distribute resources throughout a school district with varying student need. It is critical to understand the processes system leaders use to make intra-district evidence-based, resource distribution decisions in order to provide an equal opportunity for all students to achieve intended standards. This study explored how district leaders in school districts that have three or more elementary schools with disparate free and reduced lunch percentages are currently using evidence to distribute resources for elementary programs. This study's research questions were developed to discover how resource distribution decisions are made within the contexts in which district leaders are immersed. Specifically, this research looked at the processes that district level leaders use to distribute resources to schools within their district with a iv subpopulation of students that is not performing at preferred levels, the specific evidence utilized and the structures within which resource distribution decisions were made. This qualitative study used interviews with school system leaders, school board trustees and elementary building principals in seven school districts in the Capital Region of New York State. The perspectives of these school leaders provided details on the decision making processes and structures districts use and the types of evidence used to make resource distribution decisions. Findings from this study showed there are an imbalance of influences, most notably the financial context, at the beginning part of the process of resource distribution decision making. In addition findings further revealed that each influence on the process caused leaders to operate within different leadership frames. Furthermore, although there was an imbalance of influences, most school district leaders made decisions within the two leadership frames most often associated with effective leadership. Data showed that decision makers in this study referenced their vision as an influence to provide more to at risk students establishing a basis for the district's theory of equitable resource distribution. Another finding revealed that districts used a variety of data to include demographic and student learning data, but using research based evidence in the decision making process was not a tendency of decision makers. Finally, in complex systems, the assistant superintendent has a crucial role in the resource distribution decision making process.