SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: ADVISEMENT VERSUS CONTROL
| Pages | 162-175 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009751 |
| Date | 01 February 1976 |
| Published date | 01 February 1976 |
| Author | HARRIET TALMAGE,ALLAN C. ORNSTEIN |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 2 OCTOBER, 1976
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: ADVISEMENT
VERSUS CONTROL1
HARRIET TALMAGE AND ALLAN C. ORNSTEIN
The study examines superintendents' attitudes toward community participation at the ad-
visory and control levels in four areas of educational policy making: curriculum, student
policy, finances, and personnel. Three hypotheses were posed: (1) superintendents' at-
titudes toward community advisement would be more favourable than their attitudes toward
community control; (2) attitudes would differ on four selected school issues; (3) five in-
dependent variables (size, ethnic composition of system geographic location, geographic
setting, and type of community involvement practiced) would influence the superintendents'
attitudes toward advice and control. The names of superintendents with student populations
over 15,000 were obtained from the Educational Directory. Superintendents' attitudes
toward community participation at the advisory and control levels were measured on the
Community Participation—Community Control Attitudinal Inventory. The results sup-
port hypotheses (1) and (2). For hypothesis (3), only size (over 50,000/under 50,000) and
school setting (suburban/city) were significant independent variables. The larger the system
the more favourable the superintendents' attitudes toward community advisement on cur-
riculum issues, student policy issues, and personnel issues. However, they held less
favourable attitudes toward community control of school finances than superintendents
from smaller school districts. On community advisement re student policy issues,
superintendents from city school districts held more favourable attitudes than their sub-
urban counterparts; they held, however, less favourable attitudes on community control of
school finance issues than suburban superintendents.
In this paper the following definitions will be used:
The community. The community is defined as a cluster of adults who
reside in the local school district, who are concerned about educational is-
sues,
who are willing to voice their concerns, and who may or may not
have children presently enrolled in the local school.
Community advisement. Advisement entails the opportunity for com-
munity members to give advice on the four decision making areas.
Community control. Control entails decision making opportunities that
will determine school policy on the four selected areas.
Identifying the locus of authority and defining the decision making roles
HARRIET TALMAGE is Professor of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle.
Professor Talmage (Ph.D. Northwestern) has recently published Systems of Individualized
Education (McCutchan, 1975) and Statistics as a Tool for Educational Practitioners (Mc-
Cutchan, 1976). ALLAN C. ORNSTEIN (Ph.D. New York) is Professor of Education at
Loyola University, Chicago. His most recent publications include Race and Politics in
School/Community Organizations (Goodyear, 1974) and Teaching in a New Era (Stipes,
1976).
To continue reading
Request your trial