Date of Award

1-1-1982

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Abstract

Eight randomly selected school districts in Minnesota were studied to evaluate the impact of the 1976 "Planning, Evaluation and Reporting" (PER) accountability law. Four districts each from two sizes of school districts (size was based on the number of central office administrators) allowed a comparison of the results from the two groups.Two major sources of data were used--written information and on site interviews with the PER coordinators of the sample districts. Two questions were answered. (1) What is the nature of the compliance and changes in the districts studied as a result of the efforts to comply with the PER legislation? (2) What is the quality of and the commitment to this process?The law was broken down into seven basic requirements and the components of those requirements to analyze compliance. Quality and commitment were analyzed by examining the resources of time, personnel, and finances, noting the changes resulting from the PER process, and the qualitative comments of the PER coordinators.None of the sample districts totally complied with the requisites of the law. Although apparent compliance was found with many of the requirements, closer inspection revealed significantly less compliance when the specific components of each requirement were measured. Many compliance efforts were superficial rather than demonstrating a commitment to the process. Larger districts showed evidence of greater compliance than did smaller districts. This suggests a relationship between the size of the central administration and the degree of compliance. In effect, the requirements of PER appeared to be beyond the capacity of the sample districts for full compliance.The study concluded and recommended that (1) PER was too comprehensive to be an annual process; an every third or fifth year process should be considered; (2) Inadequate resources are allocated to make the process work; financial assistance, perhaps in the form of categorical aids, could be granted to assist districts; (3) Inadequate technical assistance is available to school districts; technical resources might be channeled through the State Department of Education, or Educational Cooperative Service Units or both; and (4) Further studies of the PER process during a less volatile financial period are warranted.

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