Shared school decision-making with teachers and student achievement: A cross-national study

• In Event: School leadership and teachers

Proposal

Background and Research Questions

Educational scholars have argued that teachers should be involved in school decision-making around the world (Bogler, 2005; Hulpia et al., 2012; Ingersoll & May, 2012; Sarafidou & Chatziioannidis, 2013; Sweetland & Hoy, 2000; Ware & Kitsantas, 2007) because of the positive relationships between teachers’ involvement in school decisions and teacher outcomes such as teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, a lower turnover and collective improvement efforts (Brezicha et al., 2020; Ingersoll, 1996; Ingersoll & May, 2012; Leithwood & Mascall, 2008; Liu et al., 2018; Spillane & Healey, 2010).

In addition, it has been known that when teachers were involved in school decision-making, they sought ways to provide quality education (Da’as, 2019; Devos et al., 2014; Heck & Hallinger, 2009; Hulpia et al., 2012; Louis et al., 2010). Thus, their involvement was positively associated with student achievement (Heck & Hallinger, 2009; Ingersoll et al., 2018; Leithwood & Mascall, 2008; Sweetland & Hoy, 2000).

However, few studies explored the different levels of teachers’ involvement in school decisions depending on school background characteristics or overlooked the importance of school background. Given that high-poverty, rural, and urban schools face challenges in reducing the widened achievement gap (Boyd et al., 2008; Hoy et al., 2006; Perry & Mcconney, 2010), it is important to examine how the level of teachers’ involvement in school decisions differ by school characteristics and how their involvement in decision-making is associated with student achievement.

In this study, we hypothesize that teachers in low-poverty, rural and suburban areas are more likely to be involved in school policy and curriculum-related school decisions, and their involvement in school decisions is positively associated with student achievement in 38 countries (Hanushek et al., 2004; Ingersoll et al., 2018; Mayer et al., 2013).

[Figure 1]

Using the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2018)’s principal survey data and Programmes for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018)’s student assessment data, we addressed the following questions:

1. How does the level of U.S teachers’ involvement in two domains of school decision-making— school policy and curriculum—compare with the teacher involvement in other countries?
2. How does the level of teachers’ involvement in two domains of school decision-making differ by school poverty level and location in 38 countries?
3. How are the national levels of teachers’ involvement in two domains of decision-making associated with national student achievement in reading, math, and science?


Methods and Data

We used the 2018 TALIS and PISA. Since the year 2018 was the first year when TALIS and PISA administration coincided, we used the TALIS and PISA to examine the relationship between teachers’ involvement in school-level decision-making and student achievement. In this study, we focused on 35 countries for school SES and 38 countries for school location. All survey questions, items, and coding are explained in Appendix.

To address the first and second research questions, we computed the national mean percentages of two domains of decision-making, and computed the percentage gaps based on three poverty levels and location. For the third research question, we conducted a multiple regression analysis.

Results

Table 1 shows that 11% of US schools involve teachers in school policy-related decision-making, which is lower than the international mean percentage of 23.0%. The international mean percentage of schools that involve teachers in curriculum decision-making across 35 countries is 51.7%, compared to 53% of US schools where teachers participate in curriculum decision-making. The mean percentage between the two domains in the U.S. is 29.1%, which is slightly lower than the international mean of 35.2%. This shows that while about half of U.S. schools involve teachers in curriculum-related decision-making, only about one in every ten schools involve teachers in school policy-related decision-making.

[Table 1]

Table 2 shows that the percentage gap between low and high-poverty schools in the level of teacher involvement in school policy in the U.S. is 9.1% (17.9% in low-poverty schools and only 8.7% in high-poverty schools), which is higher than the international mean of 3.4%. There was a statistically significant difference in the percentage of schools that involve teachers in school policy-related decision-making between low- and high-poverty schools. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant difference by the school poverty level in the percentage of schools that involve teachers in curriculum-related decision-making and overall decision-making.

[Tables 2 & 3]

Table 3 shows the percentage gap in two domains of school-level decision-making between rural/suburban schools and urban schools. There is no statistically significant difference between these types of schools in the level of teacher involvement in school policy decision-making in the U.S., and there is no large gap between rural/suburban and urban schools across 38 countries. However, significantly more rural and suburban school principals (60.2%) report involving teachers in curriculum-related decisions than urban school principals (37.2%) in the U.S.

Table 4 shows statistically significant and positive relationships between teachers’ involvement in school policy, curriculum, overall decision-making and math achievement at the p=.05 level. Although the relationship between teachers’ involvement and student achievement in reading and science is not statistically significant at the .05 level, but there is a positive relationship between them. It indicates that countries where more schools involve teachers in school policy- and curriculum-related decision-making are more likely to have a higher average student achievement in math, reading, and science.

[Table 4]

Significance

This study showed that teachers are not equally involved in school decision-making, and US teachers’ involvement in school policy decisions and overall school decisions is lower than the international mean. Thus, additional efforts and attention are required to encourage school principals to involve teachers in school decisions especially in high-poverty and urban schools.

This study also showed positive relationships between teachers’ involvement in school decisions in school policy and curriculum, and student achievement in three subjects. It shows that teachers’ involvement in school decisions is not only associated with teachers’ self-efficacy or job satisfaction, but also positively associated with student achievement. Thus, encouraging schools to allow teachers to be involved in decision-making can be a promising way to increase student achievement.

Authors

• Kyeongwon Kim, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

• Motoko Akiba, Florida State University