Date of Award

4-1995

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Eugene Thompson

Second Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Third Advisor

Dr. Charlotte Wenham

Abstract

Educational reform has been a topic of interest to educators, politicians and tax payers for over a century. Michigan’s educational reform legislation, Public Act 25. enacted in 1990, is a shared-responsibility model where the state and local school district share responsibility for implementing four major educational reform components. These components are, core curriculum, annual educational report, school improvement planning and accreditation.

The study was designed to answer the following two research questions. Initially, do elementary principals in Michigan public elementary schools perceive educational reform indicators and conditions to be in enough strength to allow educational reform to continue under Public Act 25? And secondly, what order will Michigan public elementary school principals rank the four major components of Public Act 25 as to which are the most likely to allow educational reform to continue? A total of 183 public elementary school principals were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the two main questions.

The study provides important first-hand information about the potential for Public Act 25 to allow educational reform to continue within the state of Michigan. The conclusions of the study will help educators, legislators and tax payers insure that educational reform does continue to progress under Public Act 25.

There were two major conclusions drawn from this study. First, public elementary school principal agreed'that educational reform indicators and conditions were in sufficient strength in Michigan schools to allow educational reform to continue under Public Act 25. Secondly, principals rated the four major components of Public Act 25 as to which were the most likely to allow educational reform to continue in the following order, school improvement, core curriculum, accreditation process and annual report. Principals were separated by classification of school (in- or out-of formula), size and per pupil expenditure. They were also separated by principals’ administrative experience, gender and educational background (degree). Each sub group of principals agreed that educational reform indicators and conditions were in sufficient strength to allow educational reform to continue under Public Act 25. The study concluded that future research might be done with other groups of educators, legislators or tax payers.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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