Date of Award

4-1983

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Richard E. Munsterman

Second Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Third Advisor

Dr. Wanda Jubb

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Zigmund Kryszak

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which the Michigan K-12 Public School Districts have chosen to implement Public Act 226 of 1977. This statute from the Michigan Legislature deals with the topic of sex education in the public schools. The review of literature resulted in four hypotheses based upon the setting, size, basic instructional expenditures and the location of the district within the state. A research instrument was mailed to all 529 public school districts and had an 87% return rate with good representation from the entire state. For this study the state of Michigan was broken down into four regions, namely the Detroit Tri-County, the Lower Lower Peninsula, the Upper Lower Peninsula, and the Upper Peninsula.

The first research hypothesis stated that the degree of compliance would depend on the specific setting of the school district. The data showed that the metropolitan setting is a leader in implementing the statute. The second research hypothesis offered that the larger public school districts will have a higher degree of compliance than the smaller ones. The data showed a trend in the state toward the larger districts leading in implementation of the guidelines. The third research hypothesis stated that the degree of implementation will depend on the basic instructional spending behind each child within the district. The data did not support this hypothesis but the larger districts are spending more for basic instructional programs. The fourth research hypothesis asserted that the degree of implementation would be determined by the location of the district within the state of Michigan. The data showed this hypothesis to be true. The Detroit Tri-County had a higher rate of implementation than the other three regions.

This study could show direction to those wishing to provide further effort toward helping non-implementing districts to comply with PA 226 of 1977. The research identifies the smaller, poorer school districts outside of the Detroit Tri-County as in need of additional assistance.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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