The examination of teachers' perceptions of the role of parent and teacher participation in shared decision making provides insight on whether teachers view themselves as influencing decision making at their schools. The study explored the perceptions that Florida teachers of the year have about the involvement of teachers, administrators, and parents in schoolwide decision making and the influence of teachers and parents on decisions made in specific areas. The data used in this study is from a survey that was mailed to 1996 and 1997 Florida Teachers of the Year, representing 67 counties. The award teachers received three copies of the survey with instructions for them to select two associate teachers to complete and return two of the surveys. The return rate was 49.5 percent, including 92 award teachers. Results of principal components analyses suggest that survey item intercorrelations were explained by three constructs. These constructs, identified as Shared Decision Making, Teacher Influence and Parent Influence, summarized the respondents' perceptions regarding the nature of the role of parent and teacher participation in making shared decisions. The responses on teacher influence were divided into two categories--High and Low--to further examine possible if differences between these two groups may be attributed to teacher and school characteristics. The majority of the respondents, 67.6%, viewed themselves as having high influence; 73% viewed parents as having high influence too. Among respondents, teachers in the middle and high school are more likely to view themselves as having low influence in decision making, whereas elementary school teachers are more likely to view themselves as having high influence in decision making. Teachers who view themselves as having high influence tend to express greater satisfaction with the level of shared decision making at their school than those teachers who view themselves as having low influence in decision making. Contains 31 references. (Author/SM)