_SBM Rating Inventory (SRI)_ : This paper presents a first approach to develop a rigorous benchmarking measure for SBM – the method presented can be applied across different contexts to further refine and arrive at a refined inventory that meets the criteria of reliability and validity. The SBM inventory used here contains 38 items. The 38 cards were shuffled and the respondent was asked to rate the variable mentioned on the card for _importance_ to school quality on a 7 point Likert scale from 1 – extremely unimportant to 7 ‘extremely unimportant’. After completing the rating on _importance_ for all items, the whole exercise was repeated with reshuffled cards, except the respondents were now asked to provide the rating for each card on a 10 point scale regarding the _implementation_ of each factor in the school from 1 ‘extremely poorly implemented’ to 10 ‘extremely well implemented.’<sup>4</sup>

||**TABLE3: SBMConceptual Dimensions**|
|---|---|
|**Variable**<br>**Name**|**Conceptual dimension and variables within each dimension**|
||**PARTICIPATION**|
|PAR_1|-<br>Closer integration of school with local community|
|PAR_2|-<br>Parentparticipation inpurchases made with the school budget|
|PAR_3|-<br>Participation from alumni association and barangay or local NGOs in organizing events and<br>celebrations|
|PAR_4|-<br>Parentparticipation in organizingevents and celebrations|
|PAR_5|-<br>Parents helpto make sure that children studyat home and come to school on time|
||**RESOURCES**|
|RES_1|-<br>Funds raised bytheparents to supplementgovernment budget|
|RES_2|-<br>School has adequate financial resources topurchase educational material|
|RES_3|-<br>Adequate resources topayfor MOOE other than educational material|
|RES_4|-<br>Higher level of school budget|
||**TEACHING PRACTICES**|
|TCH_1|-<br>Teachers are able toget the trainingtheyneed to upgrade their skills|
|TCH_2|-<br>Teachers are encouraged to innovate new teachingmethods|
|TCH_3|-<br>Teachers have a sayinpedagogyrelated decisions at school|
|TCH_4|-<br>Teachers provide timely and periodic feedback to parents about their child’s school<br>performance|
|TCH_5|-<br>Teachers have special meetings amongst themselves to discusspedagogical issues|
||**AUTONOMY**|
|AUT_1|-<br>School can upgrade buildingor facilities as required|
|AUT_2|-<br>School undertakes own school-basedprocurement for school needs|
|AUT_3|-<br>Support from localgovernment with financial matters|
|AUT_4|-<br>Parentparticipation in decision about allocation of school budget|
|AUT_5|-<br>Parentparticipation in evaluation of teacherperformance|
|AUT_6|-<br>School is able to secure additional number of teachers when required|
||**SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROCESS**|
|SIP_1|-<br>More effective school administration|
|SIP_2|-<br>Goals in the School Improvement Plan are realistic and attainable|
|SIP_3|-<br>School records are kept inperfect order|

> 4 We borrow this technique from the vast literature on customer satisfaction from the discipline of marketing management. In this literature, consumers rate products on the importance of a set of product features or service quality dimensions and they also rate their satisfaction or their perception of performance of the product on those features or dimensions (Martilla and James, 1977).

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