The improvement of problem-solving and decision-making of educational administrators through training in sensitivity to values.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze Sensitivity To Values (STV) training on problem-solving and decision-making behavior. Areas deemed important for effective decision-making and problem-solving as defined by the NASSP included: sensitivity expanded to people-oriented measures of essential educational values and stereotypic educational values; educational values including counted educational values; stakeholder request for further information as part of problem analysis; and item disposal as part of judgment. To address the effect of this training, 22 educational professionals participated in a quasi-experimental, two-group, pretest/posttest experiment. Eleven subjects were randomly assigned to the STV group with the other 11 subjects assigned to a Comparison group. These subjects participated in an eight week program using the STV version of the Administrative Problem-Solving/Decision-Making (PS/DM) Facilitator Checklist. The subjects in the STV group received six weeks of training using this procedure focusing on people-oriented analytic behavior. The Comparison group had six weeks of training using a Participatory/Efficiency approach to decision making. The two groups received the alternative approach for the final two weeks of the program. Two questions were posed for this study. The first was concerned with subjects in the STV group improving their decision-making skills using people-oriented behaviors, with results indicating that the STV group scored higher than the Comparison group in the four included areas indicating that people-oriented decision-making could be taught using the STV version of the Administrator PS/DM checklist. The second question was exploratory and was concerned with the ability of the administrators to use problem-oriented analytic behaviors, with subjects in the STV group not doing as well as subjects in the Comparison group. Generalizability of this study was limited as the small sample size may not have been representative of the population of administrators and subjects had not been drawn from inner city schools. The major conclusions obtained from this study were: STV training was able to change people-oriented behaviors; more time was needed to change problem-oriented behaviors; and this type of training program was teachable.