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School district reorganization: An investigation of the relationship between student enrollments and selected school system characteristics
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify some of the possible differences in selected educational factors that may occur when student enrollments increase as result of school district reorganization. To accomplish this purpose, several educational factors that may relate to Nebraska school districts were identified in the research as being important. From the educational factors identified in the research, eight objectives were developed and seventeen corresponding hypotheses were tested. From a population of 246 Class II and Class III Nebraska school districts with enrollment of 650 or fewer students, a sample of sixty was systematically selected. Information about the selected school districts was gathered by researching various Nebraska State Department of Education reports and the Nebraska School Activities Association Directory. The Spearman rho, with df = 58 and p $<$.05, was used to determine for each hypothesis whether there was a relationship between the independent variable (student enrollment) and dependent variable (educational factor). In addition to testing the hypotheses, three types of descriptive statistics (range, mean, median) were used to provide additional information about the variables being tested. A test of the corresponding hypotheses formulated showed that the measures of some selected educational factors varied with student enrollments, but others did not. With more students enrolled, school districts tend: (1) to offer more instructional units, and more NSAA sanctioned activities, and (2) to have a higher percentage of courses taught by properly endorsed teachers, and higher pupil-teacher ratios. No relationship was found between the number of students enrolled and the tax rate assessed on local real property, the percent of total school expenditure allocated for: (1) administration and related support services, (2) instruction and related support services, (3) operation and maintenance, or (4) transportation of students. As student enrollments increased the cost per pupil, the number of pupils transported and the percent of pupils transported to and from school decreased.
Subject Area
School administration|Curricula|Teaching
Recommended Citation
Radtke, Douglas D, "School district reorganization: An investigation of the relationship between student enrollments and selected school system characteristics" (1989). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9004703.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9004703