Perceptions of educational planning in the public elementary and secondary schools of Texas as they relate to the involvement of Education Service Centers

The purpose of the study was to determine those planning activities and areas of planning concern that are within the scope of Education Service Center operation as perceived by administrative leaders in the public elementary and secondary education system of Texas. In addition, perceptions of constraints and counterconstraints to educational planning were determined. A further purpose was to determine if there were differences of perceptions in each of the above among the three subsystems in the study--the Texas Education Agency, Education Service Centers, and local school districts. A review of the literature, relevant to educational planning as it relates to intermediate service units, served as the basis for developing an Educational Planning Questionnaire to provide data for the study. This questionnaire was mailed to a sample of administrative leaders represented by 13 Texas Education Agency personnel, 20 executive directors of Education Service Centers, and 156 local school district superintendents. A response of 85.2 percent was achieved. Those items perceived by the respondents as within the scope of Education Service Center operation were identified by ranking techniques. The chi-square statistical test for independence was used to determine any differences in perceptions of respondents by subsystem. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test provided supplementary information for the interpretation of data. Interpretation of the findings led to the delineation of the following major conclusions: 1. The Education Service Centers were perceived by administrative leaders in the public elementary and secondary schools of Texas as a source for many types of assistance in educational planning. 2. Support was given to the concept that Education Service Center participation in district planning efforts tends to promote the successful accomplishment of planning activities. 3. The Education Service Centers represent an important means of coordinating educational planning at the regional and state levels. 4. Although differing in certain respects, the perceptions of Education Service Center involvement in educational planning made by each subsystem tended to parallel each other. 5. Although differing in certain respects, all subsystems perceived the priorities in educational planning in a similar manner. 6. The executive directors tended to be more negative in viewing factors which affect the success of educational planning in a district than the other respondents. 7. Perceptions of Education Service Center involvement in educational planning and of priority assignment to planning activities appeared to be independent of the size of the local school district. Based upon this study, the following recommendations were made: 1. That the Education Service Centers conduct workshops, using outside consultants when needed, to train local district personnel in the application of new planning technologies to education. 2. That the Education Service Centers give full support to the computerized Education Management Information System as a means of making available information for educational planning at all levels. 3. That the Education Service Centers initiate appropriate means for the assessment of educational needs at the state and regional levels. 4. That the Education Service Centers promote the coordination of planning efforts between the local and state levels. 5. That the Education Service Centers maintain high levels of staff capability to provide assistance to local districts in the development of long-range plans particularly in the areas of early childhood education, instructional media and their utilization, data processing, special education, and pupil appraisal. 6. That the Education Service Centers refrain from those activities directed toward the evaluation of educational performance and outputs at the .local district level. 7. That the Education Service Centers explore means of reducing time and cost factors as inhibitors of educational planning. 8. That the Education Service Centers identify and utilize all funding sources which are applicable to educational planning.