Download School Reform - Kean University

School Reform
Organizational Behavior in Education: Leadership and School Reform, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Market-Based School Reform

Three main popular reforms are:
 Charter schools
 Vouchers
 Tax credits or tax deductions
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-2
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Market-Based School Reform


Supported by market-oriented theorists and private sector
investors.
John Chubb and Terry Moe wrote a popular book, Politics,
Markets, and America's Schools, published in 1990 by The
Brookings Institution.
 They argued that market-based schools would foster
the autonomy schools need to be effective.
 To shift control of schools from government to the
marketplace, they recommended providing guardians
of every student with a voucher they could use in any
school, public or private.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-3
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Economic Theory and School
Reform




Milton Friedman, an economist, designed the concept of school
vouchers.
Friedman’s views that favor public works in free markets to
stimulate the economy were in contrast to John Maynard
Keynes (Keynesian economics).
Keynes advocated public works and government spending in
free markets to stimulate employment and the economy.
Friedman pioneered the idea of open markets without
government interference or control.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-4
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Economic Theory and School
Reform (continued)


The scope of free markets taking control of education would be
enormous.
The free market theory is based on the belief that individuals
will make a rational choice in their own economic self interest.
It does not consider motivation, collaboration, conflict
management and other human issues in the workplace.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-5
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
School Reform as Investment
Opportunity

Many individuals and businesses have invested for profit in
educational initiatives:



Michael Milken—former junk bond king.
William Bennett—former Secretary of Education.
Edison Schools—one of the largest charter school
companies at one time.


Started by Christopher Whittle, who started
Channel One.
Benno Schmidt—CEO of Edison and former
President of Yale.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-6
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
School Reform as Investment
Opportunity (continued)

State took over schools in Philadelphia in 2001

Edison given control of 20 schools, with 25 others administered by the
community agencies, universities, and other charter operators. All schools
were low performing.

The school district managed and restructured 21 other low performing
schools.

Research studies in 2007 and 2008 found:




no differences in school achievement gains among the forprofits, nonprofits, and universities.
the restructured district schools had higher math scores for
four years.
no longitudinal differences between charters in existence for
four or more years and newer ones.
no competitive effects with local nearby public schools.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-7
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Current Status of Charter Schools

Studies have shown that:

public schools perform as well as, or better, than charters and
private schools.

there are no differences between for-profit charters and nonprofit
charters.

there are inconclusive results about the “competitive” effects of
charters on public schools.

charter schools are highly segregated by race and overall attract
more white students.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-8
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Vouchers



Research studies on voucher programs show no improvement in
academic achievement nor benefits for African American
students.
Conclusion:
 Schools using market-based reforms are not more effective
than traditional public schools in improving student
achievement.
Should market-based reforms be used to give parents more
choice options?
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
12-9
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Standards-Based School Reform




Since the right to an education was not established by the US
Constitution, the states guaranteed public education in their
state Constitutions.
All states initially chose to decentralize public schools putting
them in the hands of local authorities.
Local Education Agencies (LEAs) had much control of education
until the 1990s.
The first summit on education in 1989 started the movement
toward more centralized control focusing on state standards.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1210
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Standards-Based School Reform
(continued)



Two additional summit meetings continued pushing for
state control of education resulting in state “report cards”
comparing states on test scores across states, comparing
districts within states, and schools within districts.
States and districts also began using high-stakes testing
for students to qualify for promotion and/or graduating
high school.
Little attention has been paid to the effects of testing at
the school level, students daily lives, curriculum &
instruction, or student educational & career planning.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1211
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Have Higher Standards Worked?

Trends (not significance levels) in the Center on Education Policy (CEP)
report show (between 2002 and 2007) in higher standard states:



Higher percentage of gains than declines in test scores.
Higher percentage of achievement gaps that narrowed than have
widened, yet are still too wide.
Other studies have not found significant gains in test scores or
narrowing of achievement gaps due to NCLB.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1212
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Have Higher Standards Worked?
(continued)

High stakes testing has resulted in:
 Narrowing of the curriculum.
 Less student-centered pedagogy.
 More drop outs.
 State manipulation of “proficient” levels
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1213
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Whole School Reform

Whole school reform (also called comprehensive
school reform or CSR) is predicated on:
 Top-down methods have not been very successful.
 Demonstrated success of individual school renewal
efforts.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1214
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Increasing School Autonomy



One solution to the problems of systemic reform was site-based
management in which individual schools have more authority in
decision making.
This reform effort has had mixed results due to lack of true
decentralization of authority with freedom to use budgets as
needed in individual schools.
Nonetheless, school reform is recognized as having a better
chance of success when the local district offices encourage
individual school staff to collaborate in problem solving, i.e., to
create growth-enhancing environments.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1215
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Increasing School Autonomy
(continued)


This fusion of state and district control of standards and
empowerment of individual schools may be the new amalgam
that Giamatti had described.
This amalgam was suggested in 1999 by the Education
Commission of the States report, Governing America's Schools:
Changing the Rules, that identified two approaches:
 Institutionalize site-based management allowing schools to
prepare their own budgets and allocate resources as
needed.
 Authorize publicly funded, but independently owned and
operated schools under charters granted by the school
district.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1216
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Increasing School Autonomy
(continued)

Both approaches call for:
 Strengthening, not discarding, the public school system.
 Allowing money to follow the child.
 Providing information on students, teachers, and school
performance to parents.
 Giving parents more choice.
 Granting schools control of personnel and budgets.
 Focusing accountability systems on achievement.
 Redefining the role of teachers’ unions.
 Strengthening the role of school boards.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1217
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Support for School Leaders



These approaches provide greater opportunity for school
leaders to be more effective in making a difference, while
increasing their responsibility for results.
To be effective, school leaders need to reach out, connect with
people and use collaborative methods in selecting problemsolving strategies for schools.
Many schools, some because of mandates to choose programs
that are “scientifically-based”, have turned to CSR models.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1218
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Research Support for CSR Models


See Table 12.6 and discussion for CSR models and their
effectiveness.
Schools need to very deliberate when adopting CSR models.
The focus should be:
 Research support
 Available resources to support the implementation and
sustainability of the model
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1219
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Response to Intervention (RTI)



RTI is a CSR that provides differentiated instruction to students
who are struggling academically.
RTI uses a tiered approach to identify at-risk students and to
provide interventions.
Only when students do not respond positively to the highest
tiers of intervention, are they referred for special education
assessment.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1220
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Teacher Education and School
Reform




There has also been increased focus on teacher education
to prepare for the looming shortage.
John Goodlad’s National Network for Educational Renewal
calls for the renewal of schools and teacher education.
American Council on Education has called for the
strengthening of teacher education and research on
teacher education.
Using the Flexner Report as a precedent, Goodlad and
ACE’s proposals may be more potent in the reform of US
education than we suspect.
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1221
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
A Broader, Bolder Approach to
Education



The original signers of this policy statement on education and
social change include Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan, and
other influential people.
The message is that schools alone cannot solve the complex
social and economic problems that children encounter.
See http://www.boldapproach.org/
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1222
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
In a Nutshell

The human resources leader promotes the self-actualization of
teachers by adopting a Theory “Y” point of view. Teachers are
treated as adults not children. They gain satisfaction from
being part of a learning culture with the shared goal of
improving the achievement of the students. The leader
exercises professional and moral authority to insure that change
is expansive and not narrowed. He or she recognizes that
bureaucratic change is short lived and that professional,
cultural, moral and democratic strategies produce deep change
that endures.


Go be sardines!
Organizational Behavior in Education, 10e
Robert G. Owens and Thomas C. Valesky
1223
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.