Date Awarded

1993

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Advisor

James H. Stronge

Abstract

Since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, educational theorists and practitioners have begun to reevaluate the business of schooling in America. In Virginia, the Department of Education has instituted World Class Education (WCE), Common Core of Learning, and Outcome Accountability Project (OAP) initiatives in producing an educational system on par with systems internationally by developing curricula based upon perceived twenty-first century needs and by measuring school and division productivity based on student outcomes. It is likely that innovative school scheduling practices will play a critical role as school districts and individual schools begin to restructure their programs within the framework of these initiatives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between scheduling practices and selected Outcome Accountability Project indicators in Virginia high schools. Subjects were 212 high school principals from a total of 265 high school principals in Virginia who responded to a mail survey consisting of a Scheduling Practices Questionnaire.;The evidence attained from a simple analysis of variance in this investigation supported the conclusions that there were no relationships found to exist between scheduling type and the four OAP indicators. Additionally, descriptive data revealed that since 1983 a large majority (83%) of respondents reported changes in their school schedule and that a significant number (33%) of principals reported that consideration is being given to future changes in schedule type. While it was not the primary intent of this study to investigate the relationship between location-specific factors and scheduling type, principals reported that two factors (school bus schedules and school board regulations) were deemed to be important influences on schedule development.;The practical significance of the findings is that although there tends to be little variation in present scheduling type in Virginia, there is an interest expressed by principals to change schedule type in the future. For this reason, though no relationship can presently be seen between scheduling type and student productivity, future changes may affect that finding. Also, the high rate of return and high rate of request for results of the study indicate a high degree of interest by principals in the scheduling topic.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-85f7-ap64

Rights

© The Author

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