Download

Download Full Text (6.4 MB)

Description

Decentralized in 1976, rural Alaska's schools today experience varying levels of lay control. What factors condition lay participation in and influence on school governance? This study examines two factors: the type of governance issue; and the type of community. The hypotheses tested are: professional dominance is greatest on issues considered to be internal to the expertise of professionals; and lay influence will be greatest in small, remote and ethnically homogenous communities. Data used to test these hypotheses are taken from a 1981 survey of rural principals (N = 304) and a 1982 survey of rural teachers (N = 304). Informants provided perceptual data on who participates in and has predominant influence on eleven school governance processes. Interviews conducted with local and district school board members, and both local and central office educational professionals (N = 300) provided qualitative data on the dynamics of school governance processes. Chi-square analysis was used to identify significant differences in levels of participation and influence. The perceptual nature of the data limits the generalizability of the findings. The author found that educational professionals in rural Alaska, like those in the rest of the country, tend to dominate all areas of school governance. Substantial qualitative evidence shows, however, that professionals frame their recommendations to conform to community values and expectations. Other findings were: professionals appear to dominate all issues both those considered to be internal to the expertise of professionals and those considered external, although lay influence was greater on the latter; neither community size nor mean educational level appears to exert an independent effect on lay influence while a high degree of ethnic homogeneity seems to be related to higher levels of lay influence on some school governance processes; and local influence, both lay and professional, appears to be greatest in small, remote, predominantly Native villages. A major implication of these findings is that rural Alaska Natives should beware of efforts to consolidate village schools. Merely having the professionals who teach their children in the community increases the likelihood that local values, needs, and expectations will influence the governance of their children's school.

Publication Date

5-17-1984

Keywords

Education, Rural, Data

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/11122/14143

Governing Schools in Culturally Different Communities: Effects of Decentralization in Rural Alaska

Share

COinS