A Case Study of the New Elementary School in Kingsport, Tennessee

• Main Author: Lee, Debra R.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 1992
• Subjects: Education; Elementary school; School administration; School development; Educational Administration and Supervision
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2717; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4108&context=etd

The statement of the problem was taxpayers and the general populace have expressed dissatisfaction with the current schooling/education results. Influential educators, similarly, have stated their belief(s) that educational practice no longer meets the requirements for production of a competitive citizenry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the process of developing a new elementary school in Kingsport, Tennessee. This study explores the process used by the Kingsport City School System to determine the sequence of analyzing, planning and implementing a new elementary school designed for the twenty-first century. In this qualitative study, four research questions were formulated. A reputational model developed by Becker and Geer identified twelve interviewees for the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, limited participant observations and document analysis. The field effort concentrated on the respondents' perceptions of the process of the development of the new elementary school. Verbatim transcripts, field notes and documents were analyzed using qualitative techniques. Results suggested that there was planned process for developing/designing the new elementary school. During the analysis, twenty events emerged which form the sequence of the planned change for the implementation of the new elementary school. A visionary model of the new elementary school was reported from the three areas of analysis.