Abstract
Among of the most prevalent and widespread school reform initiatives of the 20th
century have been the decentralization of administrative services and decision making in
public school districts. The decentralization approach to educational leadership has
evolved into what is commonly called site-based management or school-based
management. The objective of this strategy is to locate primary decision-making for
curriculum, personnel and student support efforts as close to the point of impact as
possible. Unfortunately, very little research has been done to determine its direct impact
to student achievement and performance. This research is designed to examine the
impact of school-based management and student achievement on educational attainment
in schools with large minority populations or more specifically, Title I schools. The
study results have significant implications for both site-based management policy and for
increasing the knowledge of its impact and limitations in this in educational performance
and policy area. The primary sources of data come from state and national standardized
norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests as secondary data and a survey I designed
to administer to teachers and administrators who serve children in these Title I schools as
prim ary data. A major strategy in the analysis of the data was to cross-reference the
prim ary and secondary data sources to determine how well site-based management