How Small School Districts Can Organize to Afford Their Small Schools

275 Pages·2016·8.27 MB·English

Seton Hall University
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Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses
Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses
(ETDs)
2005
How Small School Districts Can Organize to
Afford Their Small Schools
Christine Burton
Seton Hall University
Follow this and additional works at:https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations
Part of theEducational Administration and Supervision Commons
Recommended Citation
Burton, Christine, "How Small School Districts Can Organize to Afford Their Small Schools" (2005).Seton Hall University
Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 455.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/455
HOW SMALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS CAN ORGANIZE
TO AFFORD THEIR SMALL SCHOOLS
BY
CHRISTINE BURTON
Dissertation Committee
\
Charles Achilles, Ed.D., Mentor
Michael Osnato, Ed.D.
James Caulfield, Ed.D.
Roberta Schorr, Ph.D.
Submitted in a Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Education
Seton Hall University
SETON U LUN IVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN SERVICES
OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
APPROVAL FOR SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE
Doctoral Candidate, Christine Burton, has successfully defended and made the required
modifications to the text of the doctoral dissertation for the Ed.D. during this Summer Semester
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
(please sign and date beside your name)
Mentor:
Dr. Charles Achilles
Committee Member:
Dr. Roberta Schorr , 9 1
V'
Committee Member:
Dr. James Caulfield ,
<
1
External Reader:
Associate Dean
The mentor and any other committee member, who wish a review to recommend revision, will sign and date this
document only when revisions have been completed. Please return this form to the Office of Graduate Studies,
where it will be placed in the candidate's file.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the members of my committee: Dr.
Michael Osnato, Dr. James Caulfield, and Dr. Roberta Schorr whose recommendations
and suggestions supported my efforts. I would especially like to thank my mentor, Dr.
Charles Achilles, for his wealth of knowledge, many hours of support, and
encouragement through this process. His many suggestions and countless revisions
served as my research guide and focused the relentless pursuit of my work.
I would like to thank my dissertation partner and dear friend, Dr. Anita Petersen,
for all her support and encouragement as we embarked on our dissertation journey
together. We persevered through the many hurdles knowing that we were just a phone
call away.
Thank you to Dr. Christopher Manno for all his support and many suggestions.
Our long conversations were instrumental in helping me answer the many questions 1 had
as well as in helping him through his dissertation work as well.
Thanks to my colleagues at work for asking how things were going and to all the
educators who opened their small school doors to allow me to peek into the wonderful
work they do each day.
Thanks you to my husband, Rich, my two daughters, Olivia and Adriana, and
Mother-in-law, Leona, for all their love and support.
Thanks to my Dad, Mom, Joann, and Mike, my sisters Kathy, Betty Jo, and
Connie, my brother, Joey, and their families whose love and encouragement also helped
me to finally complete this work.
Dedication
-
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4: 13
The wonderful power of prayer and faith in God sustained me to persevere
through this process. I want to thank God for His unfailing love.
This dissertation is dedicated to my parents Joseph J. and Joann Gatto, whose love
and guidance from the beginning of my education have made this possible. This is in
memory of my Dad, who many years ago said to me that he would do whatever it took to
help pay for college. My Mom's many care packages got me through those
undergraduate years and the many graduate years that followed.
This is also dedicated to my husband, Rich, my two daughters Olivia and Adriana
and my Mother-in-Law, Leona who truly know the sacrifices that were made to help me
to finally finish. Thank you and I love you for all your patience and support. I hope that
my work will be an inspiration to my daughters.
iii
Abstract
While the research continues to mount on the benefits of school downsizing and
decentralizing efforts in urban areas, there exists a paradox for small school
Administrators who continue to struggle against forces of consolidation. Small schools
in rural and suburban districts have fought for their existence against the pressures of
consolidation or regionalization based on the claim that "bigger is better" and with
decisions based on factors not judged on their educational merit, but rather on factors that
were political, economic, demographic, or social.
The purpose of the study was to explore the benefits of small schools regarding
academic achievement, attendance, graduation rates, and dropout rates; to identify how
small schools and small districts have used organizational practices and strategies toward
cost containment and competitive curricula and to recommend those effective and
efficient practices offering fiscal and programmatic viability for small schools. The
researcher examined the effective financial and educational strategies that have been
implemented in small schools.
The analysis generated descriptive statistics of each small school yielding the
academic achievement, extra-curricular participation, and attendance rates of students
consistent with the literature in that standardized test performance was equal or superior
to District Factor Group comparisons. Other common benefits were the atmosphere of
safety and trust where there was a sense of community fostered by parental involvement,
communication, and relationships with families. Participants in focus group and one-on-
one interviews were in agreement that communities benefited by having small schools
serve as the hub of the community with the challenges of limited resources, S1701,
administrative cost penalties, and fears of regionalization or consolidation. Efforts to
provide competitive curricula included cluster district articulation, use of computers for
on-line courses, inter-district collaboration, and a five year cuniculum cycle.
Participation in education consortia, share services agreements, the School Choice
Program, establishment of education foundations, and the use of multi-age classrooms
were cited as measures to contain costs by small schools. The existence of small schools
as beneficial to students and communities was affirmed, and these organization and
financial practices can provide policy makers with further leverage for small schools as a
viable school reform.
Table of Contents
..
Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................
11
Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv
CHAPTER I ......................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................ 4
Figure 1 .......................................................................................................................... 6
Purpose of the Study ....................................................................................................... 8
Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 9
. .
Lim~tabonso f the Study .................................................................................................. 9
. . .
Dehm~tationso f the Study .............................................................................................. 9
Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 10
. .
Definit~onso f Terms ..................................................................................................... 13
Organization of the Remainder of the Study ................................................................ 17
Chapter N .......................................................................................................................... 18
REVIEW OF RELEVANT RESEARCH AND LITERATURE. ................................. 18
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 18
Benefits of Small Schools (Outputs). ........................................................................ 22
Small School Benefits to the Community ................................................................ 31
Economy of Scale ..................................................................................................... 37
. .
Organ~zatlono f Schools. ........................................................................................... 39
. .
Conta~nlngO perating Costs ...................................................................................... 41
Summary of Chapter I1 ............................................................................................. 47
CHAPTER 111 .................................................................................................................... 49
METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 49
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 49
Research Design ............................................................................................................ 50
Data ............................................................................................................................... 51
Methods ......................................................................................................................... 52
Table 1 (continues) ........................................................................................................ 56
Interview Guide for Participants of Small Schools. ..................................................... 56
Table 1 .......................................................................................................................... 56
Table 2 .......................................................................................................................... 58
Table 3 ......................................................................................................................... 60
Collection of Data ...................................................................................................6..2.. ..
Data Analysis ...........................................................................................................6..2.. .
Table ......................................................................................................................6..6..
Surnrnarv of Chapter 111 ................................................................................................ 69
CHAPTER IV ....................................................................................................................7 0
ANALYSIS OF DATA AND FWINGS ........................................................... 70
70
Organization of the Analvsis ....... ....................... 71
Analvsis of Data ....................................................................................................7..1..
.
mcri~tiveO ualitative. and Ousntitative/Cornparisom). ...................................... 71
Table 6 ................................................ 72
.......................................................................................................................... 78
Table 8 ........................................................................................................................ 79
Table 9 .......................................................................................................................... 81
Table 10 ..................................................................................................................... 82
Table 11 ....................................................................................................................... 85
Table 12 ...................................................................................................................... 87
Presentation of Overall Res~onse..s. ......................................................................... 89
Analvsis of Overall Remnses 89
Table 13 (continues) ..................................................................................................... 91
Table 13 ....................................
Table 14 ........................................................................................................................ 94
Table 15 .................... 97
Table 16 ..................................................................................................................... 100
Table 17 109
Table 18 ...................................................................................................................... 113
Table 19 ................................................................................................................. 1 16
Figure 2: ...................................................................................................................... 119
120
CHAPTER K ................................................................................................................... 121
121
121
125
References ...................................................................................................................... 144
APPE.UXY.4 .................................................................................................................. 130
.
4PPE&DLI7B.. ................................................................................................................ 151
APPENDX C. ................................................................................................................. 152
viii