An assessment of perceptions of school principals, community council chairpersons and community education directors concerning the role of the school-community advisory council in educational decision-making

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the present and ideally perceived role of the school-community advisory council in educational decision-making. In order to accomplish this purpose, the researcher sought answers to the following questions as perceived by school principals, chairpersons of school-community advisory councils and community education directors: 1. Are there differences among the perceptions of the three role groups pertaining to the present and ideal functions of school-community advisory councils? 2. Do the three role groups differ in their perceptions pertaining to which community groups and individuals are and should be supportive of school-community advisory councils? 3. Are there differences among the perceptions of the three role groups as to the extent to which school-community advisory councils are and should be affecting school-community relationships? 4. Do differences exist among the perceptions of the three role groups concerning the extent to which school-community advisory councils are and should be affecting certain groups and individuals making or influencing educational decisions? 5. Are the perceptions of the three role groups different when comparing responses pertaining to the extent to which school-community advisory councils are and should be affecting administrative effectiveness? A role perception inventory consisting of 132 items was mailed to all of the three role groups mentioned above. These three role groups were all located in the seventy-five Texas school districts which had been identified as having active community education projects. Programs DISTAT and ANSCHEFF were used in the analysis of the data collected during the study. All test were performed at the 0.05 level of significance. Of the 132 items responded to on the School-Community Advisory Council Questionnaire, forty-seven of them were found to be perceived significantly different at the 0.05 level or greater by the three sample groups. According to the Scheffe's test which executed a post-hoc comparison, the precise groups between which there were differences and the numbers of differences between groups which were significant were as follows...