Teacher Involvement in Decisionmaking: A State-by-State Profile.

The Carnegie Foundation recently completed a comprehensive survey of more than 20,000 teachers in all 50 states about their involvement in shaping classroom and school policy. The report consists of a brief introductory analysis of the survey by foundation president Ernest L. Boyer, followed by 10 tables presenting, for each state, the percentages of teachers who report being "involved" or "not very involved" in decisions on 10 dimensions of classroom and school policy: choosing textbooks and instructional materials, shaping the curriculum, setting standards for student behavior, tracking students into special classes, designing staff development and in-service programs, setting promotion and retention policies, deciding school budgets, evaluating teacher performance, selecting new teachers, and selecting new administrators. Teacher involvement in decision-making varies widely from state to state. For example, 93 percent of Vermont teachers say they are involved in choosing textbooks, whereas 61 percent of Maryland teachers so indicated. Participation in budget decisions ranges from 57 percent in Hawaii to 8 percent in North Dakota. In his analysis, Boyer recommends more teacher involvement in many decisions that effect them and their students, as well as measuring progress against each school's own performance in preceding years. (LMS)