Voluntary consolidation in rural Oklahoma schools: A descriptive study of the strategies that facilitate the process.

Abstract

Data analysis was performed following Holsti's (1969) four-step procedure for content analysis. The four steps include: (1) selecting a sample of data, (2) selecting content categories, (3) comparing the categories, and (4) drawing inferences (pp. 25-27). The emerging themes were identified as the strategies utilized by superintendents experienced in voluntary school consolidation to enhance the consolidation process.

The study was a descriptive, qualitative one. Its purpose was to identify the strategies utilized by Oklahoma superintendents involved in a voluntary school consolidation process since H.B. 1017. Data was collected on eight voluntary consolidations. The data included semistructured interviews with the superintendents serving the districts at the time of consolidation. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed. Other data included researcher notes, school board meeting minutes, newspaper articles, consolidation plans, and feasibility studies submitted by the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Clearly, more research is needed in the area of strategies utilized by superintendents that facilitate and enhance school consolidation processes. Research populations should be broadened to include school annexations and forced consolidations. A more in-depth study of a single consolidation may be productive in providing additional strategies, also. As the researcher found no other study of this type on the topic of school consolidation, the strategies reported, if implemented appropriately, may be used by school districts, State Department of Education personnel, and university professors to prepare for an enhanced school consolidation process.

Through data analyses, thirteen strategies utilized to enhance the consolidation process were identified. The thirteen strategies were utilized in at least five of the eight consolidations studied. Table 15 provides an outline of the significant strategies and the consolidations in which they were utilized. These identified strategies, if implemented appropriately, could provide for a more collegial, efficient consolidation process.