The factors of a voluntary school uniform policy

• Main Author: Soltner, Eugene F.
• Other Authors: Educational Administration
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Virginia Tech 2014
• Subjects: uniform; school; policy; dress code; politics; LD5655.V856 1997.S658
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39496; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10022007-144802/

The purposes of this study were to examine how a voluntary compliance school uniform policy was implemented at a public elementary school, what the results of the implementation were, and why the policy was rescinded. Utilizing a descriptive case study design, data were collected through document collection and interviews with a minimum sample (N = 25) of teachers, parents, and administrators who most intensely manifested an interest in the school uniform policy. Through interviewing the minimum sample, an additional information-rich sample (N = 2) was identified. Data were organized utilizing summary sheets and pattern coding, and matrices were used to display data and draw conclusions. Findings were presented in full narrative text and display, and conclusions were drawn from the data and the empirical framework established in the conceptual framework. An analysis of data indicated that the organization's adoption and implementation decisions were decentralized decisions in which decisions were shared by a wide variety of stakeholders. Individual decisions to adopt or reject occurred through the diffusion of information between and among opinion leaders and interpersonal networks. A "moderate plan" for implementation was in place, and the organization utilized regular feedback to reshape and develop the uniform policy. Initial compliance rates averaged 70%, and findings showed that no measurable outcomes were evident from the effects of uniforms. Initial compliance rates waned to a range between 30% and 40%; however, findings indicated that the decline was due to a variety of reasons other than outright rejection of the policy. As compliance waned, power and conflict were strategically used to create a dominant view and to influence rescission of the policy. The undesirable and unanticipated consequences of the policy outweighed those of the desirable and anticipated, and the policy was rescinded. === Ed. D.