EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective
Indicator 20: Locus and Mode of Decision making in Education
Recent restructuring reforms in the United States have focused attention on educational decisionmaking at the level of the school. This indicator provides information about the percentage of decisions that are made at the school level as well as at intermediate and central levels. Based on a discrete list of decisions in four areaseducational planning and structures, personnel management, organization of instruction, and resourcesthe indicator reports the percentage of decisions that are made at each of four levels of governance: the school, intermediate 1 (the level closest to the school), intermediate 2 (often the regional level), and the country. In the United States, these correspond to the school, district, state, and federal levels. The indicator also provides additional information on the role of the school level in decisionmaking. It distinguishes between decisions that are made autonomously at the school level, those made at the school level after consulting another level, those made at the school level within a framework set by another level, and those for which the school is consulted by another level.
- In contrast to all other reported countries, in the United States less than 5 percent of all decisions were made at the country level or at the intermediate level closest to the country (the state level) in 1991. It should be noted that these levels may still have influenced decisionmaking through setting legal or regulatory frameworks that constrain the decisions of others or through being consulted by others.
- In the United States, decisionmaking was concentrated at the district level (71 percent). The only other instances of such a high concentration of decisionmaking at one level occurred in Ireland and New Zealand, where a similar percentage of decisions were made at the school level.
- Schools in the United States were consulted by another level in decisionmaking substantially more than schools in any other country. Without this involvement, U.S. schools were among those with the smallest decisionmaking role. When all types of involvement are considered, schools in the United States are involved in a comparable percentage of decisions relative to other countries. Schools in Ireland and New Zealand have the largest decisionmaking roles, as over 70 percent of decisions are made at the school level; 24 and 38 percent of the school-level decisions made in Ireland and New Zealand, respectively, are made autonomously.
Table 20a: Decisions made by level of governance as a percentage of all decisions (public lower secondary education),1 by country: 1991
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Locus of decisionmaking ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Country School Intermediate Intermediate 2 Country Total ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G-72 France 35 0 35 30 100 Germany 32 44 17 7 100 United States 26 71 3 0 100 Other Austria 44 8 26 23 100 Belgium 26 50 24 0 100 Denmark 39 48 0 14 100 Finland 38 50 0 13 100 Ireland 74 8 0 18 100 New Zealand 73 0 0 27 100 Norway 31 45 0 24 100 Portugal 42 0 3 55 100 Spain 28 26 14 32 100 Sweden 47 47 0 6 100 Switzerland 9 44 46 0 100 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1/ This table reflects the decisions for which the specified
decisionmaking level has the final decisionmaking authority. In the United
States, for instance, many decisions are made within a framework set by another
level. In these instances, the decisionmaker is the level that has final
decisionmaking authority, not the level that set the framework.
2/ No data available for Canada, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
NOTE: Decisions made at the school level are those made by the institution
and/or school. Intermediate 1 refers to decisions made closest to the school
level, Intermediate 2 refers to decisions made mainly at the regional level,
and the country level refers to decisions made by the central government.
See supplemental note for Indicator 20 for details on data collection
procedures, decisionmaking modes, and decision areas and for details concerning
indicator calculation for Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain,
and the United States.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1993.
Table 20b: Decisions involving the school level as a percentage of all
decisions, by
mode of decisionmaking and country: 1991
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Decisions Decisions made by school level influenced -------------------------------------------------------------- by school level After Within a through consul- consultation with framework set tation with Autonomously another level by another level Total another level G-7* France 13 0 22 35 10 German 3 4 25 32 7 United States 5 2 19 26 23 Other Austria 19 4 21 44 0 Belgium 19 3 3 26 5 Denmark 19 9 12 39 9 Finland 19 0 19 38 9 Ireland 24 20 30 74 5 New Zealand 38 3 32 73 3 Norway 14 0 17 31 8 Portugal 9 2 31 42 2 Spain 10 3 15 28 4 Sweden 15 0 32 47 4 Switzerland 0 0 9 9 10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*No data available for Canada, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 20 for details on data collection procedures, decisionmaking modes, and decision areas.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1993.
Figure 20a: Decisions made by level of governance as a percentage of all decisions (public lower secondary) in France, Germany, and the United States: 1991
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1993.
Figure 20b: Decisions involving the school level as a percentage of all decisions, by mode and country:* 1991
*Countries are sorted in descending order by the percentage of decisions involving the school level.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1993.
See Supplemental Notes on Figure and Tables.
[Education Institutions]
[Indicator 21]