0.4 Taylor, r., touchton, d., & Acker-hocevar, m. (october 2011).  (Page 3/5)

Impact was a factor in deciding on the decision-making approach. When decisions would have life impacting results for students, such as being arrested or not receiving a high school diploma, they personally made the decision without input. Principals’ perceptions that for students’ best interest to be fairly represented they had to make high impact decisions were reflected in the statement, “People believe that magically as ninth graders they should be responsible” (Midwest High School Principal 83, 6/18/2006).

Another important factor was that stakeholders want a voice—but may not want to make the decision. “They really want to be sure that they’re heard and listened to. It doesn’t mean that necessarily they [ sic ] want to make the decisions,” (Midwest Middle School Principal 73, 1/19/2006). A middle school principal suggested that in giving opportunities for input, there should be accountability to do what is best for students, rather than accountability for the result to be held solely by the principal.

While some want voice, others do not participate. Midwest Elementary Principal 57 (6/2/2006) perceived that teachers were either unwilling or did not have the knowledge or skills to collaborate. Southwest Elementary Principal 33, 1/3/2006 said, “… I have to educate and convince all the stakeholders that the vision that I have as the hired instructional leader is the right vision which affects almost every decision that I make. …We spend a lot of time talking about, What is consensus [ sic ].”

A challenging factor was the lack of commitment of time as Middle School Principal 71 became aware in a surprising encounter with a 35 year veteran teacher, “She stopped me mid stream of the discussion and she said “As a building leader, I need you to tell me what to do, ok?” (1/19/2006). Teachers may believe that decision-making is the principal’s role. “We have a lot of opportunities for shared decision-making. What we found, … the teachers really don’t have the time, and so, if you plan meetings for them to get their input, there are a lot of times when they will say, just do it,” (Southeast Elementary Principal 20, 5/27/2005). At times principals also made a decision not to take teachers out of class for decision-making. Southeast Elementary Principal 21 (5/27/2005) indicated, “but you don’t have a teacher in the classroom doing what they really need to be doing, teaching the children.”

Theme 2: leadership decision-making

If stakeholders are to be involved, they want to know what decisions are to be made and how their input will be used (Midwest K-8 School Principal 70, 1/19/2006). High school principals expressed that stakeholders want to be involved if the decision affects them. This belief was stated by Midwest High School Principal 77 (10/17/2005)

… most people want to be involved because they want to feel some ownership in the process, they want to have some buy-in. If they have that, they’re more likely to give you their best effort than if it just comes out and you say this is what we’re going to do.