Date of Graduation

5-1979

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College/School

School of Education

Department

Leadership Studies

Program

Organization & Leadership EdD

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to implement AB 3408 by establishing an organizational system which would insure the development of minimum competencies and performance indicators, and also establish necessary procedures for implementing these competencies.

In January 1976, the California Educational Accountability Bill (AB 3408) became law and required that prior to June 1978 minimum competencies in the areas of written expression, reading and computational skills be adopted by the local school Boards of Education. Weber's Bureaucratic Organizational Model was selected at the most appropriate organizational structure for implementing AB 3408 because it optimizes precision, speed, continuity, adequate involvement of constituencies and the efficiency necessary for completion of the study within the prescribed time limitations. Committees of parents, students and teachers were selected and given their charge; namely, to solicit input from their constituencies and report their findings to the Staff Committee for the development of the competencies and performance indicators -- eventually leading to a report to the Petaluma Board of Education for adoption.

The setting of the standards is the responsibility of the State Department of Education in twenty states, by local boards in eight states, and a combination of state and local boards in five states. Twenty states assess some combination of grades K-12, while nine of the states assess grades 9-12 only. Reading comprehension, writing and computational skills are stressed most often by the respondents, while multiple choice tests are used most frequently for assessment. Twenty-one states require successful achievement of minimum standard tests for awarding of a high school diploma.

None of the states have legislation or mandates that mirror AB 3408, but many of them had specific experiences that were helpful in the decision-making process for the implementation of AB 3408.

With the adoption of the minimum competencies and performance indicators, procedures were developed for implementation of AB 3408 in Petaluma.

For this particular setting, the bureaucratic organizational model with a humanistic element was effective and resulted in a satisfactory implementation of AB 3408. Careful selection of the model, attention to existing circumstances, time limitations, budget, availability of personnel and local resources, are essential for successful implementation of AB 3408. Random model selection might result in opposite conclusions.

The normal criticisms and anxiety level that often accompany change were apparently held to a minimum because of participant involvement. Normally, a bureaucratic model is perceived to be formal and impersonal, less than humanistic. The study demonstrated that people implementing a model determine the degree of humanism.

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