The primary interest of this dissertation was the role of the principal in eight urban high schools restructuring through site based management (SBM). The study compared the role of the principal in high schools having a range of success with SBM implementation. The high schools were characterized as either "actively restructuring" or "struggling" with implementation by their respective superintendents. Schools that were "actively restructuring" were successful in making changes aimed at decentralizing authority and were making a strong push for curriculum and instruction reform. Comparatively, "struggling" schools were active in SBM implementation but less successful in making changes leading toward the improvement of instructional practices.
School-based management (SBM), a form of restructuring, evolved in this rapidly changing and turbulent environment. SBM, a process of decentralization, makes the school the primary unit of management and educational improvement. This occurs through the redistribution of decision-making authority within the district and school. First attempts were viewed primarily as a political reform that transferred power (authority) over budgets, personnel and curriculum from the district to the local school and empowered teachers. Some researchers suggested that the empowering of one group reduced the power of another. Other researchers, however, offered a different conclusion; they suggested that the demands for SBM offered an enhanced role for school leaders.
Based on previous research, it was expected that the principal's role in the "actively restructuring" schools was critical to the change process, had changed from its traditional administrative focus, and included behaviors which decentralized four high involvement resources--power, knowledge and skills, information and rewards--within the local school community. The study interest was to identify characteristics of principals that supported organizational transformation through SBM. The dissertation question focused on the principal's role during two specific aspects of SBM implementation: during the change process and when decentralizing four high involvement resources. The study, a cross case comparison, was designed to answer the following research question: What was the principal's role in high schools restructuring through SBM (A) during the change process and (B) when decentralizing Lawler's four high involvement resources?