A Decade of Teacher Empowerment: An Empirical Analysis of Teacher Involvement in Decision Making, 1980‐1991 Available to Purchase

During the past decade considerable attention has been placed on enhancing teacher professionalism primarily through increasing teacher participation in decision making regarding issues affecting teachers′schools and classrooms. This focus on teacher involvement in decision making is not without precedent. Studies pertaining to participative decision making have guided the field and practice of educational administration for over 40 years. Nonetheless, questions continue to persist regarding how to engage teachers most effectively in decision making. Is a replication of a study conducted in 1980 which investigated the extent of teacher involvement in schoolwide and instructional issues, teachers′ interest and expertise in decision issues, and teachers′ job satisfaction. The intent of the replication was to determine if, after a decade of attention on enhancing teacher involvement in decision making, teachers′ perceptions of their actual and desired involvement and their job satisfaction have changed. This study tested empirically the relationships between levels of teacher involvement in decision making, teachers′ interest and expertise regarding selected decision issues, and teacher job satisfaction. In addition, this study explored possible relationships between changes in teachers′ decision involvement and the reform initiatives of site‐based management.