District–Principal's Decision-Making Power Relationship: A National Study Based on Principals' Perceptions

• In Event: 29.025 - Perceptions of Distributed Leadership and Educational Outcomes

Abstract

Although some studies examined both school districts’ and principals’ influences on school decisions, few studies examined district-principal’s decision making power relationship. This proposal tried to examine district-principal’s power relationship from three aspects: (a) Is it a win-win situation or a zero-sum game? (b) Does it depend on specific decision-making domains? And (c) Does it differ by the district size? By applying multivariate HLM methods to national School and Staffing Survey 2007-08 data, we found that the four technical core or related areas (standards, curriculum, PD program, and discipline) were more likely to be characterized as win-win situations, while the personnel areas (hiring and evaluating teachers) presented a zero-sum relationship. No significant association was identified in the area of school budgeting.

Authors

• Jiangang Xia, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Jianping Shen, Western Michigan University