Community Engagement for Better Schools
Community Engagement for Better Schools

Author: Michael Guo-Brennan

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-09-18

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 3030540383

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In the United States, government participation in education has traditionally involved guaranteeing public access, public funding, and public governance to achieve accountability, representativeness and equality. This volume discusses the role of broad regimes of local community actors to promote school improvement through greater civic engagement. Taking a historical perspective, this text examines the relationship between government at the federal, state, and local level and local actors both inside the traditional education regime and those stakeholders outside the schools including parents, non-profit organizations, and businesses. It then drills deeper into the role of state legislatures and finally local leadership both inside and outside the schools to promote change, focusing on efforts that include parental choice through tax incentives, charter schools, magnet schools, and school vouchers to achieve accountability, representativeness and equality. The text examines the perceptions and relationships of various actors in urban education reform in numerous cities across the country with special attention dedicated to Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin to offer a deeper understanding of the barriers to and opportunities for fostering greater civic capacity and engagement in urban education reform, as well as developing inclusive educational policy. Attention is also given to accountability and measuring success, traditionally defined by high stakes testing which fails to consider non-classroom factors within the community that contribute to student performance. An alternative approach is offered driven by a wholistic accounting of various factors that contribute to school success centered around third-party inspections and accreditation. Providing insight into school reform at the local level, this book will be useful to researchers and students interested in public policy, education policy, urban governance, intergovernmental relations, and educational leadership, as well as teaching professionals, administrators, and local government officials.

Who's in Charge Here?
Who's in Charge Here?

Author: Noel Epstein

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 9780815724728

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Few Americans are aware that their nation long ago created a separate government for education, supposedly to shield it from political interference. Some experts believe that at the heart of todays school debates is a push to put the larger government-- presidents, governors, mayors-- in the drivers seat, or even to dump democratic school governance entirely. The results are mixed. One clear result, however, is a vexing tangle of authority and accountability. "Whos in Charge Here?" untangles it all.

School Accountability and Principal Behaviors
School Accountability and Principal Behaviors

Author: Laura Casey Amo

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13:

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School accountability policies were created in response to concerns that the United States was under-performing and losing its position as an international leader in education. These policies are currently an integral part of the American educational system. The effectiveness of school accountability policies, however, remains unclear and research on how performance-based accountability is related to principal behavior is largely undeveloped. This dissertation examined the relationships between performance-based school accountability and the behaviors of school principals. Using a nationally-representative database of public elementary schools (the Schools and Staffing Survey 2003-04), this dissertation explored the associations between different aspects of performance-based educational policy on principal work engagement, supportive leadership, and shared instructional leadership. Findings suggest that most associations between performance-based rewards and interventions and principal behaviors are negligible or negative. State policy for rewards had a negative association with supportive leadership, and state policy for intervention had a negative association with principal engagement. Among schools meeting all performance goals in the previous academic year, nearly all of the associations were statistically negligible; the only significant association was that between exposure to school-wide monetary rewards and principal engagement. Specifically, exposure to school-wide monetary reward had a significant negative association with principal engagement. Among schools failing to meet all performance goals in the previous academic year, exposure to intervention was negatively related to all three principal behaviors and three associations were statistically significant. Specifically, exposure to evaluation cycle was associated with significantly less supportive leadership, exposure to reduced resources was associated with significantly less shared instructional leadership, as was exposure to school choice. The interactions with school size and school poverty varied by type of incentive and by principal behavior, and generally suggest that the relationships between policy and principal behavior are stable across different contexts. Findings from this dissertation resound previous concerns with present performance-driven school accountability policy and introduce a new point of concern into the argument against the practice. While negative associations between accountability policy and principal behaviors may not be deemed directly pertinent to the bottom line (i.e. student achievement), that the only significant relationships are negative is an important consideration and refutes the theory of action in accountability. Reconsideration of performance-based accountability is recommended, as neither reward nor intervention consistently related positively to principal behavior; state policy for reward and intervention, exposure to monetary rewards, and exposure to nearly all interventions were negatively related to at least one principal behavior.

Who Governs Our Schools?
Who Governs Our Schools?

Author: David T. Conley

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2003-01-01

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0807743321

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This book provides valuable insights into a dynamic structural change that is being experienced, but not completely understood, by educators and policymakers alike--the transfer of power from the local to the state and national levels. What will become of our public schools in this new era of leadership? The author traces the origins of this process, examines the implications, and considers where these changes might lead. This extremely timely volume: -Explores the direction of education policy and the ways in which both policymakers and educators can adapt and provide leadership in this new landscape.-Offers a concise, accessible summary of a multitude of specific programs and policies, helping us to think more systematically about the shifts in power relationships among education governance levels.-Presents an outline of actions that can be taken at the local, state, and national levels to help facilitate better working relationship and to help improve schools.-Examines the new federal role and recent federal legislation, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Education Governance for the Twenty-First Century
Education Governance for the Twenty-First Century

Author: Paul Manna

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013-01-03

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0815723954

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A Brookings Institution Press with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Center for American Progress publication America's fragmented, decentralized, politicized, and bureaucratic system of education governance is a major impediment to school reform. In this important new book, a number of leading education scholars, analysts, and practitioners show that understanding the impact of specific policy changes in areas such as standards, testing, teachers, or school choice requires careful analysis of the broader governing arrangements that influence their content, implementation, and impact. Education Governance for the Twenty-First Century comprehensively assesses the strengths and weaknesses of what remains of the old in education governance, scrutinizes how traditional governance forms are changing, and suggests how governing arrangements might be further altered to produce better educational outcomes for children. Paul Manna, Patrick McGuinn, and their colleagues provide the analysis and alternatives that will inform attempts to adapt nineteenth and twentieth century governance structures to the new demands and opportunities of today. Contents: Education Governance in America: Who Leads When Everyone Is in Charge?, Patrick McGuinn and Paul Manna The Failures of U.S. Education Governance Today, Chester E. Finn Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli How Current Education Governance Distorts Financial Decisionmaking, Marguerite Roza Governance Challenges to Innovators within the System, Michelle R. Davis Governance Challenges to Innovators outside the System, Steven F. Wilson Rethinking District Governance, Frederick M. Hess and Olivia M. Meeks Interstate Governance of Standards and Testing, Kathryn A. McDermott Education Governance in Performance-Based Federalism, Kenneth K. Wong The Rise of Education Executives in the White House, State House, and Mayor’s Office, Jeffrey R. Henig English Perspectives on Education Governance and Delivery, Michael Barber Education Governance in Canada and the United States, Sandra Vergari Education Governance in Comparative Perspective, Michael Mintrom and Richard Walley Governance Lessons from the Health Care and Environment Sectors, Barry G. Rabe Toward a Coherent and Fair Funding System, Cynthia G. Brown Picturing a Different Governance Structure for Public Education, Paul T. Hill From Theory to Results in Governance Reform, Kenneth J. Meier The Tall Task of Education Governance Reform, Paul Manna and Patrick McGuinn

Holding Schools Accountable
Holding Schools Accountable

Author: Helen Ladd

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 9780815721215

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"Perhaps the most urgent—and complex—task facing American education today is to figure out how to hold schools accountable for improved academic achievement. In this important new work, Helen Ladd and her colleagues describe the options available to policymakers, weigh their respective strengths and pitfalls, and lay out principles for creating schools where learning is the number one objective. This book should be at the top of the reading list for anyone seriously interested in transforming the quality of American schools."—Edward B. Fiske, Former Education Editor, The New York Times A central theme of current efforts to reform elementary and secondary education in the United States is a more explicit focus on the outcomes of the educational system. This volume examines efforts throughout the country to hold schools accountable for the academic performance of their students. Researchers from various disciplines—most notably, economics, educational policy and management, and political science—address a range of questions related to performance- based strategies for reforming education. The authors describe and evaluate programs that recognize and reward the most effective schools, discuss the costs of achieving high performance, summarize what is known about parental choice as an accountability mechanism, and provide new evidence on the relationship between school inputs and educational outcomes. Grounded in the actual experiences of various states and school districts, the book provides a wealth of new information and provocative insights. Contributors argue that programs to hold schools accountable for student performance must be carefully designed to assure that schools are treated fairly; that vouchers, if used, should be directed toward low-income families; that resources do indeed matter—poor school districts may well require additional funding to increase student learning. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Charles T. Clotfelter, David K. Cohen, Richard F. Elmore, Ronald F. Ferguson, Susan H. Fuhrman, Eric A. Hanushek, Caroline Minter Hoxby, Richard J. Murnane, John F. Witte, and John McHenry Yinger.

No Child Left Behind?
No Child Left Behind?

Author: Paul E. Peterson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2003-11-18

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9780815796206

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The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act is the most important legislation in American education since the 1960s. The law requires states to put into place a set of standards together with a comprehensive testing plan designed to ensure these standards are met. Students at schools that fail to meet those standards may leave for other schools, and schools not progressing adequately become subject to reorganization. The significance of the law lies less with federal dollar contributions than with the direction it gives to federal, state, and local school spending. It helps codify the movement toward common standards and school accountability. Yet NCLB will not transform American schools overnight. The first scholarly assessment of the new legislation, No Child Left Behind? breaks new ground in the ongoing debate over accountability. Contributors examine the law's origins, the political and social forces that gave it shape, the potential issues that will surface with its implementation, and finally, the law's likely consequences for American education.