Decisions To Innovate: A Model of School Organizations and Section 306, Title III.

What social structure underlies the initiation of new program proposals in the American education system? This study focuses on the decision to innovate and takes an exploratory approach to testing the impact of a few organizational, economic, and institutional variables on the decision to pursue change. Applications for a federal grant offered in 1970-1971 to school districts having a well-planned innovative school program formed the basis for the study. A multivariate ordinary least squares regression model was constructed to analyze the effect of a small number of variables on a school district's decision to submit an innovative proposal: enrollment, the district's metropolitan character, poverty, fiscal status, board selection, and superintendent's tenure. Results indicate that (1) program initiation rises with fiscal dependence and with the appointment of board members, (2) poverty's effects are small and diffuse, (3) the effect of enrollment is small, (4) central cities are more likely to initiate than nonmetropolitan districts and suburbs, and (5) length of tenure tends to decrease proposal-submitting. 67 pp. Ref.