Texas school board members' perceptions of the importance of the school board member training areas as identified in the Statewide Standards on Duties of a School Board Member

Abstract

This study of Texas school board members sought to determine the perceived importance of the training areas identified in the Statewide Standards on Duties of a School Board Member. In addition, four hypotheses were tested to determine if Texas school board members' perceptions of the importance of training standards were independent of whether the board members served in small school districts or large school districts, length of time served on a school board, board members' educational backgrounds, or board members* occupations. Questionnaires were sent to a randomly selected sample of Texas school board members. Respondents indicated for each of the 66 training areas (components of the 12 training standards defined in the Statewide Standards on Duties of a School Board Member) whether they perceived the training as being not important, important, or extremely important.

Respondents indicated that the training area concerning the superintendent's responsibility to keep the board informed of applicable laws, rules, and regulations was perceived to be the most important area of training. Results of the study also implied that the training areas perceived as most important were not always the areas in which the most training was received.

Chi-square analysis results indicated that Texas school board members' perceptions of the importance of 10 of the 12 training standards were independent of size of school district served, and 8 of the 12 training standards were independent of the length of time served on a school board. It was also determined that the perceived importance of 4 of the 12 training areas were independent of the board members' educational backgrounds, and 11 of the 12 training standards were independent of the school board members' occupations.

Recommendations relative to school board member training included further study of the training areas perceived as not important to determine if required training in those areas should be continued. It was concluded that the school board member program was of value to school board members and should be continued.