Date of Award

2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Larry McNeal, Ph.D

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore reasons why most public school superintendents have not applied for the creation of a charter school, and to ascertain whether or not public school superintendents in Arkansas plan to open a charter school in their school district. In essence, this study investigated current knowledge and attitudes of Arkansas public school superintendents toward charter schools and Act 890 legislation. A non-experimental research design was conducted using a modified survey instrument (Ogden, 1995), which included all 310 public school superintendents in the State of Arkansas. A nonprobability sample of 160 superintendents completed and returned a survey for a return rate of 51.6%. Part I of the instrument was used to collect demographic data from the superintendents. Part II of the survey instrument had two topical areas consisting of 37 items about charter schools. Descriptive statistics were used to describe, analyze, and interpret Arkansas public school superintendents' personal and professional qualifications. Inferential statistics including correlations and linear regression, general linear model univariate ANOVA test, were used to answer each of the research hypotheses posed in this study. In addition, two open-ended questions were analyzed and categorized that sampled superintendents' plans to open a charter school or reasons why they would not open one. An alpha level of .05 was used to determine all decisions on the statistical significance of the data collected. Findings and conclusions of the study are discussed with recommendations for further study.

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