| The primary problem of the study was to construe the meaning structure of school-based shared decision-making (SBSDM) from high school principals' perceptions of SBSDM. The secondary problem was to relate this meaning structure to administrator characteristics. Nine high schools were selected from national experts' nominations of school districts that were notably successful in implementing SBSDM. Inductive analysis of the taped interviews revealed that the meaning structure of SBSDM has six levels.;The eight elements of Infrastructure are District Mission Statement, Local School Vision Statement, Values Clarification, Definition of SBSDM, Governing Board Policy, Administrative Procedures, Purpose of Planning Team, and Clarification of Roles.;The ten elements of Decision Process are Delivers Information to Stakeholders, Identifies and Understands Political Realities, Creates a Vision versus Problem Solving, Assures that Decisions are made Through Consensus, Uses Brainstorming to Solicit and Develop New Ideas, Assures an Effective Communications Pyramid, Uses Process Observers, Provides for Staff Development, Conducts Organized and Timely Meetings, and Values Team Building.;Administrator characteristics--gender, experience, school enrollment, student ethnicity--influence three elements of Infrastructure and six elements of Decision Process. The three elements of Infrastructure are District Mission Statement, Definition of SBSDM, and Administrative Procedures. The six elements of Decision Process are Identifies and Understands Political Realities, Assures that Decisions are made Through Consensus, Assures an Effective Communications Pyramid, Uses Process Observers, Provides for Staff Development, and Conducts Organized and Timely Meetings.;Level I consists of two components of organizational functioning that are essential to SBSDM: Infrastructure and Decision Process. Level II consists of the elements of Infrastructure and the elements of Decision Process. Level III consists of categories within each of the elements of Level II. Similarly, Levels IV and above consist of subcategories of categories in the preceding level.;Because the findings apply to school districts that are successful in implementing SBSDM, the major recommendation is that school districts contemplating the adaption of SBSDM should study and apply these results. Furthermore, school districts already successful in implementing SBSDM could also benefit from a comparison of these results with their own successes. |
