TOWARDS BEST PRACTICES IN ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION OF SMALL-SIZE BASIC EDUCATION SCHOOL MODEL

The purpose of this quantitative study was to better understand the extent and impact within small-sized basic education schools of increasing autonomy, and to determine the relationship between that autonomy and the development of personalized autonomous school models. The authors of this research gathered data from 37 respondents and used this data to measure the level of autonomy in five domains: staffing, budgeting, curriculum and assessment, governance and policy administration, and the school calendar. Using one-sample statistics, the authors found relatively consistent responses across all indicators of autonomy, as all mean values exceeded the test value of 3.50, indicating a high degree of implementation. One-sample t-tests also demonstrated that all three domains of staffing, budgeting, and curriculum and assessment were implemented to a highly significant extent, whereas governance and school calendars were not statistically significant. Additionally, the authors examined the creation of autonomous schools through the lens of small personalized schools, incrementalism, and school-level accountability. The results indicated that the establishment of small, personalized schools had been implemented significantly, whereas incrementalism and school-level accountability had not. The authors also examined the moderating influences of (1) equity and access, (2) habits of mind, and (3) personalization on the creation of personalized autonomous schools. They reported that equity and access significantly moderated the area of curriculum implementation, while habits of mind did not significantly moderate any of the areas of autonomy measured in this study. Personalization significantly impacted the area of budgeting autonomy. Further, through the use of regression analysis, the authors demonstrated that the combined autonomy variables identified in this study accounted for 30.6% of the variance in the development of autonomous small sized basic education schools, with curriculum being a statistically significant predictor of the creation of this type of school. Finally, the authors developed a new conceptual framework for the purpose of outlining the best practices associated with academic administration to support the development of small sized basic education schools based on the results of this study, which place a great emphasis on the use of structured autonomy, stakeholder participation, equity and personalization. Key administrative areas are highlighted in this conceptual framework, which are moderated by contextual variables; therefore, the researcher concluded that the creation of effective, personalized small sized basic education schools requires autonomy in these key administrative areas.