Perspectives of Central Office Staff, Principals, Teachers, and School Site Councils on Resource Allocation and SSFR Implementation in 2010-11. A Report Prepared for the Twin Rivers Unified School District
Author: Haxton, Clarisse L.
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Surveys,School Districts,School Councils,Educational Change,Accountability,Principals,Resource Allocation,Program Implementation,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Employee Attitudes,Interviews,Central Office Administrators,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,Program Attitudes,Educational Improvement,Improvement Programs,Educational Equity (Finance),Educational Finance,Research Reports,Pilot Projects

As part of the evaluation of the Strategic School Funding for Results (SSFR) project, American Institutes for Research (AIR) conducted surveys of principals, teachers, and members of School Site Councils (SSCs) to gather information on the attitudes and perspectives regarding the implementation of key components of the SSFR model in Twin Rivers Unified School District (TRUSD). AIR also conducted interviews with TRUSD central office staff and the staff of Pivot Learning Partners (PLP), the organization responsible for supporting the implementation of SSFR, to gain insights into implementation successes and challenges in 2010-11. Based on their TRUSD surveys, the authors found the following: (1) Fewer than half of principals and teachers felt that funds are allocated equitably to schools, but a higher proportion of principals in pilot schools felt this way; (2) Members of the school site councils (SSCs) expressed strong agreement that they understood budget documents and resource allocation; (3) All pilot principal respondents reported having discretion over their school budget, compared with 81 percent of non-pilot principals; (4) Fewer than half of principals (about 40%) and even fewer teacher respondents (33%) reported having autonomy over their instructional program; (5) SSC members expressed high levels of agreement that principals support and value their contributions; (6) Approximately one third (35%) of teachers agreed that they have the opportunity to provide input into developing the budget at their school; and (7) Principals generally agreed that teachers are accountable to them (the principal) for student success, while almost all (96%) teachers reported feeling at least somewhat accountable to the principal for student success. Based on their interviews with central office and PLP staff, they found several successes in SSFR implementation in TRUSD in 2010-11. These successes included the following: (1) expanding the number of pilot schools in 2010-11; (2) gaining buy-in and engagement from pilot principals and district staff; (3) gathering the necessary data and using the Targeted Revenue Model (TRM) tool to determine allocations for pilot schools; (4) increasing flexibility over existing categorical resources; and (5) making strides towards changing the site planning process, increasing budget transparency, and creating a customer service culture. There were several implementation challenges and lessons learned in 2010-11: (1) There needs to be executive-level definition of roles and responsibilities for SSFR implementation to facilitate staff buy-in, and accountability measures put into place for implementation; (2) Communication across a wide range of stakeholders is critical; and (3) Increasing budget flexibility and autonomy must be paired with information and support. The 19 TRUSD pilot schools in 2010-11 demonstrated that SSFR could be successfully implemented, establishing the foundation for district-wide implementation of SSFR in 2011-12. By the end of 2010-11, pilot principals and key district staff were engaged in SSFR implementation, the TRM had been used to determine district allocations for 2011-12, the district had increased the flexibility of selected categorical resources, and principals had responded creatively to their increased budget autonomy. However, as TRUSD scales up to implement SSFR district-wide in 2011-12, moving from 19 pilot schools to all 52 schools, several major challenges remain. The tools must be fully functional as SSFR moves from a pilot to full implementation, and it will be critical for the district to provide information, training, supports, and systems to build principal knowledge and capacity for dealing with increased flexibility and autonomy over their school's budget. Appended are: (1) SSFR Principal Survey; (2) SSFR Teacher Survey; (3) Twin Rivers Unified School District School Site Council Survey; (4) SSFR Interview Protocol for Central Office and PLP Staff; and (5) Graphics of Survey Findings. (Contains 20 figures and 10 footnotes.)