A Lack of Authentic School Improvement Plan Development: Evidence of Principal Satisficing Behavior

Autor/inn/en	Meyers, Coby Vincent; VanGronigen, Bryan Alexander
Titel	A Lack of Authentic School Improvement Plan Development: Evidence of Principal Satisficing Behavior
Quelle	In: Journal of Educational Administration, 57 (2019) 3, S.261-278 (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0957-8234
DOI	10.1108/JEA-09-2018-0154
Schlagwörter	Educational Improvement; Principals; School Turnaround; School Effectiveness; Low Achievement; Instructional Leadership; Administrator Behavior; Elementary Schools; Middle Schools; High Schools; Accountability + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Principal; Schulleiter; Schuleffizienz; Unterdurchschnittliche Leistung; Instruction; Leadership; Bildung; Erziehung; Führung; Elementary school; Grundschule; Volksschule; Middle school; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; High school; Oberschule; Verantwortung
Abstract	Purpose: School improvement planning, especially for low-performing schools, can be conceptualized as a planning process to strategically improve organizational processes, operations and outcomes. However, bureaucratic procedures and related inflexibilities sometimes results in inauthentic plan development. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent and ways in which principals engage in satisficing behavior -- or being in the realm of "good enough" -- when developing school improvement plans (SIPs). Design/methodology/approach: The authors qualitatively analyzed 364 short-cycle SIPs submitted by principals of 134 low-performing schools participating across three cohorts of a university-based systems leadership program focused on change leadership and school turnaround. Findings: Eight satisficing behaviors in the SIPs were identified. The five most prominent satisficing behaviors follow: plan content is consistent across schools within a district; a plan or plan features are resubmitted; plan priorities focus solely on test scores; plan timeline is insufficiently considered; and the directly responsible individual (DRI) (to complete tasks) is insufficiently considered. Overall, 80 percent of SIPs contained two to four satisficing behaviors, and fewer than ten SIPs were free of such behaviors or, in the authors' estimation, completely authentic. Originality/value: The development of SIPs is mandated for the nation's lowest-performing schools, but little analysis of such plans has been conducted over the last 20 years. Moreover, although the notion that principals engage in satisficing behavior has been raised previously, to the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to systematically identify ways in which principals satisfice. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01