Abstract
Problem and purpose. Considerable change is necessary on the part of high school staffs to implement the comprehensive reform strategies outlined in Second to None: A Vision of the New California High School. High school leaders must change those existing norms that are nonproductive and ineffective in implementing the high school program. This study identified the behavioral norms, both productive and nonproductive, related to decision making, risk taking, communication, and conflict in high school, and compared the identified norms for network high schools and non-network high schools within California. This study is a replication of a 1992 dissertation by Bonita Drolet entitled "The Power Beneath the Surface: Identifying Behavioral Norms in Elementary schools" and a 1994 dissertation by Betty Ann Lawson entitled "Weaving Change Through Norms: Identification of Behavioral Norms in Middle Schools." Methodology. Descriptive and ex post facto research were used in this study. One hundred network high schools and one hundred non-network high schools were used in this study with 87 percent of the network high schools and 81 percent of the non-network high school principals responding. Participants were asked to respond on a Likert scale to thirty-nine items on the Behavioral Norms Index. A frequency distribution and computation of mean, percentage, and standard deviation were used. A t-test was used to determine if there was a significant difference in the norms. Findings. The overall scores for decision making, risk taking, communication, and conflict norms indicated that there was not a significant difference between the network and non-network high schools. Norms were found to be important and existed in all schools surveyed. When asked to identify norms that contribute most to the effective functioning of the schools, principals indicated the same ten norms as being prevalent. The four norm categories were ranked as follows: risk taking, decision making, communication, and conflict. Conclusion. It was concluded that norms are less positive at the high school level than at the elementary and middle school levels. Results from Drolet and Lawson indicated significant differences between the elementary school and middle school levels studied; however, this fact was not true at the high school level. It is possible that most of the energies spent at the high school level are on imparting knowledge to students as opposed to implementing a new governance system. It was determined that there is a strong need to introduce methods and procedures to increase the ability to communicate in a positive manner at the high school level due to structural differences. In order to implement the restructuring effort to form a new governance system as outlined in Second to None, staff members should invest time in identifying existing norms and be trained in setting explicit norms in decision making, risk taking, communication, and conflict.