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PREFACE
vii
viii • Preface
building-level politics. We then examine politics at the district level, particularly between
superintendents and local boards of education. Often, board turnover leads to superin-
tendent turnover, policy churn, and leadership instability.
For example, Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina, home to the 15th largest school
district in the country, has had four superintendents in seven years (one retired, one
resigned as a result of board turnover, and another was fired after even more board turn-
over). Politics at the local level often involves enduring conflicts between parents, teach-
ers, school leaders, and the communities they serve. These constants often apply equally
well to rural, suburban, or urban school districts.
We then move to politics at the municipal (mayoral) and state levels. Mayoral control
remains a contentious issue and state legislatures have stimulated a great deal of dis-
cussion about the politics of education as they have initiated reforms such as merit pay,
the elimination of teacher tenure, teacher personnel appraisal and value-added systems,
and school vouchers. These reforms have triggered an enormous amount of politicking
about education at the state level, with a class action lawsuit recently filed when the North
Carolina legislature (under unified Republican control) passed a statewide voucher plan.
Moving from the states to the larger U.S. political context, the next two chapters dis-
cuss the intense politics surrounding school law and finance, specifically the role of the
courts in these areas. This again reflects one of the constants in the politics of education—
arguing over who is entitled to get what type of educational provision, at what cost, and
who will pay for it. These are fundamental, enduring issues in the politics of education
that reflect fundamental differences in value preferences and belief systems.
The final two chapters in Part I of the Handbook address an old, yet in many ways, a
fundamentally new federal role in education reform. These two chapters explore how a
succession of U.S. “education presidents” has left their imprint on education politics and
policies, and how the growth of federal power and control over local education is reshap-
ing educational politics in profound and as yet undetermined ways.
The first part of this book, therefore, explores the “contexts” in which education policy
is made and by whom. Chapter 1 is by Betty Malen and Melissa Vincent Cochran and
explores the important theories and practices of “micropolitics” of education, which to
them are complex and often underdeveloped, as they involve, for example, “the space
from community politics to classroom and corridor dynamics, employ various theoreti-
cal orientations, focus on different units of analysis, encompass a maze of loosely defined
formal and informal arenas, and address an array of salient topics and prevalent policy
issues.”
Yet we know that politics is often personal and that good leaders understand their
colleagues and can work with them well. In fact, all relationships in organizations are
political in some sense, as educators, politicians, parents, and citizens all try to influence
schools in their organizations, staffing, programs, and outcomes.
Efforts to change school structures and controls, as with charter schools, also alter
the micropolitics of education, as smaller, more autonomous schools still require man-
agement, funding, leadership, and organization, whether on a large or small scale, and
vary state to state, place to place. Microanalysis is a useful tool as we look at individual
schools and organizations and at teacher and parent involvement. And as more peo-
ple are getting involved (e.g., parents, teachers, citizens, foundations, and other funding
agencies) the interactions are best understood, as Malen and Vincent Cochran explain,
at the micropolitical level.
Preface • ix
As this chapter found, others are aware of this level of analysis, as Blasé and Blasé
explain: “Now, more than ever before, school reform efforts require that principals and
teachers work together collaboratively to solve educational problems” (2004, p. 266).
And to update the chapter, Anchala Sobrin reviewed current literature on micropoli-
tics of education, appended to the end of Chapter 1, and found that Webb asserts that
“micro-political studies formalize the concept of power as a binary relationship between
the concepts of authority and influence” (2007, p. 127).
Chapter 2 by Thomas Alsbury explores the role changes and relationships between
school superintendents and the board of education that hired and supervises them. He
then explains the political theories of governance (by school boards) and management
(by superintendents), culminating, for example, in the Iowa Lighthouse Project, that
found that more effective schools with higher student achievement could be devel-
oped through a leadership partnership between the board and the superintendent.
In these districts, unique team approaches were employed including role negotia-
tion, shared training, shared goals development, joint accountability measures, policy
development, and alignment of superintendent hiring focus, job expectations, and
evaluation criteria.
“take over” schools, while we can also learn much from those who use influence and ideas
to help schools improve, while building community and business support for improv-
ing local urban schools across the United States. Edelstein acknowledges that the role of
mayors is changing in education, as they are more engaging, influential, and important to
reform in their local schools and the quality of urban life for the whole community.
Chapter 4 by Michael K. McLendon, Lora Cohen-Vogel, and John Wachen looks at
education politics from the perspective of the 50 states, as the states’ roles have changed
and increased in importance and activeness. The authors explain summarily that “In
K-12 education, we noted, states had adopted new curriculum standards, embarked on
innovative teacher certification regimens, established new assessment and accountabil-
ity regimes, experimented with incentives programs linking teacher compensation with
student performance, litigated hundreds of school finance lawsuits, and witnessed the
ascendancy and retreat—and re-ascendance—of countless other ‘reform’ initiatives at
the local, state, and national levels.”
Their chapter covers the states’ role at both the higher and K-12 (lower) levels of
education, and compares the two levels. Little research, the authors found, has compared
the competition by state between higher and K-12 education, and between states as they
vie for attention, resources, and political support. How do states vary in adopting and
changing policies that affect schools and universities? Pressures rise as more states imple-
ment new policies and programs, as Chapter 4 explores and explains.
Chapter 5 by Karen Seashore Louis, Karen Febey, and Molly F. Gordon examines the
“political culture” that is rising across the education landscape at both the state and
national levels for higher and K-12 education. In fact, states are now changing their edu-
cation in light of national trends and pressures. The authors explore Race to the Top
and No Child Left Behind, both key federal programs. They explain that the Obama
administration is creating “an historic moment in American education . . . that offers
bold incentives to states willing to spur systemic reform” (www.whitehouse.gov/issues/
education/k-12/race-to-the-top).
This chapter uses North Carolina as a place to study state-local relationships, and
finds that “Overall, the North Carolina schools did not talk about a need for local-level
autonomy in crafting policies to fit the context of their school or district, even when they
expressed a desire for more influence in the state policy process.” And in Nebraska, the
authors find, prevalence of the “individualist culture” showed that while local educators
were in favor of accountability, they also valued and stressed local beliefs and practices in
schools, based on local student needs and learning styles.
But higher education was different, as schools had a financial and practical interest in
students doing well and repaying their college loans. More research on higher education
policies and standards is called for, as Chapter 5 indicates, comparing and contrasting
higher and “lower” education, in its accountability, policy making, and outcomes. By
using the lens of “political culture,” we can begin to grasp the “linkages among state-
level policies, stakeholder involvement in the policy process, and teachers’ and principals’
interpretations of these policies in the classroom,” as Louis, Febey, and Gordon suggest at
the end of this useful chapter.
Martha McCarthy in Chapter 6 moves to the judicial role in education policy mak-
ing, as issues in education, often not easily solved, end up in court, usually the federal
judiciary. As this chapter explains, “The impact of the courts, particularly the federal
judiciary, on education policies and politics has evoked interest and critique for the past
Preface • xi
several decades.” Based on the principle of “separation of powers,” this chapter explores
and explains the judicial role (Section III of the U.S. Constitution and many state consti-
tutions), in comparison to the legislative and executive branches that govern our schools.
The courts interpret the laws, not make them, as McCarthy explains, and are accountable
to the law, not to an electorate or political party (and judges often serve for life).
This chapter treats cases like Brown (1954) on racial desegregation and Engle v.
Vitale (1963) on school prayer that have shaped key policies and practices in our
schools. And Martha McCarthy reminds us that the courts are usually the “last resort”
in politics, and that school leaders, teachers, and school boards still make and enact
school policies and go to court only when they feel they have no choice. For “going to
court” over education problems and issues is still a big step and needs to be observed,
researched, and analyzed regularly.
Chapter 7, coauthored by Bruce D. Baker and Preston C. Green, explores the key role
of politics and finance in education, for who pays, how much, and drawn (e.g., taxed)
from whom are certainly hot political issues. Money matters, to tax providers and school
users and educators. We learn that money matters now more than ever, as 26 states are
cutting funding for schools on a per-pupil basis, when Baker and Green report that:
“Three states—Arizona, Alabama, and Oklahoma—each have reduced per-pupil fund-
ing to K-12 schools by more than 20 percent. (These figures, like all the comparisons in
this chapter, are in inflation-adjusted dollars and focus on the primary form of state aid
to local schools.)”
And the role of financing is distinct, as societies “invest” in their children at different
levels and in different ways. Money matters, and Baker and Green show us how. As Baker
explains elsewhere:
Sustained improvements to the level and distribution of funding across local public
school districts can lead to improvements in the level and distribution of student
outcomes. While money alone may not be the answer, more equitable and adequate
allocation of financial inputs to schooling provide a necessary underlying condition
for improving the equity and adequacy of outcomes. The available evidence suggests
that appropriate combinations of more adequate funding with more accountability
for its use may be most promising. (Baker, 2012, p. 18)
Thus funds, as shown in Chapter 7, are related to the quality of resources, programs,
and outcomes.
Chapter 8 by Lance D. Fusarelli and Bonnie C. Fusarelli traces the role and impact of
U.S. presidents, ranging from Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) to our current leader, Barack
Obama (2009 to present), and explores how these leaders have and are influencing edu-
cation at the national, state, and local levels, a movement often termed “federalization”:
as we are “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Starting with the early 1980s, this chapter traces the rising role of education in Ameri-
can life and politics; this chapter links our quality of life and economic well-being to our
schools when the Fusarellis write: “Concerned by this lack of economic competitiveness,
big business became a major player in pushing for system-wide, school-based accountabil-
ity by linking reform to international economic competition (Jackson & Cibulka, 1992).”
When the federal government got involved, national leaders put together the levels of
government and found them more “tightly coupled” than previously believed, starting
xii • Preface
with the idea that presidents can mount the “bully pulpit” and call attention to problems
of equity, quality, and outcomes for all. And this interesting chapter even looks at the
effects of left- and right-wing politics, and how presidents and their party can influence
school policies, programs, and outcomes.
Even the lingo has changed, as presidents and other leaders now talk about a Race to
the Top (RTTT), the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and changes in the eval-
uation of teachers. Earlier presidents hardly ever mentioned teachers, much less class-
room practices and outcomes. Although Chapter 8 explains that we don’t (yet) have
true “national standards” for the 14,000 plus school districts, the Common Core State
Standards are moving us in that direction—national associations of school superinten-
dents and state governors are getting strong support from President Obama and other
groups. These national leaders are pushing ideas, according to Lance Fusarelli and Bon-
nie Fusarelli, to use “merit pay” to recognize and push school classroom instruction and
attainment.
Thus, an ever-widening “circle of control” is occurring, “inserting” the federal govern-
ment into state and local school policies and outcomes, more now than ever. Thus, we see
“the limitations imposed by constitutional design can be overcome” (Fusarelli & Cooper,
2009, p. 263), as education becomes an important national concern, a policy area, that is
more open to federal regulations.
In Chapter 9, Kenneth K. Wong puts the pieces all together, looking at federalism,
equity, and accountability—the setting (called “federalism”), the values (e.g., “equity”),
and process (through “accountability”), in that order. Wong describes the three levels
of education (federal, state, local, and now even school) as in constant flux, depending
on the regime in Washington, DC, the leadership in the states, and local control, where
money and power come together.
Wong believes that we need all the levels, and that the federal level is most vulnera-
ble as education becomes more local and state controlled. But he argues at the end of
his chapter that keeping federal investments in education alive has four key benefits to
education across the 50 states and 14,000 or so districts: (1) investing in a national data
system that is both reliable and comprehensive; (2) providing a national detailed view of
what works in every community; (3) the importance of national-presidential leadership
and influence for school improvement, rather than having each community get stuck in
its own rut; (4) coordination among agencies and departments, beyond just education.
As Wong explains toward the end of his chapter:
Currently, federal appropriations in key education and related services are managed
by more than a dozen federal agencies. In addition to the Department of Education,
these agencies include Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland
Security, Interior, Justice, Labor, Veteran Affairs, Appalachian Regional Commission,
National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and
National Science Foundation.
With so many groups, Wong ends his chapter with a call for a continued investment in
education and education research, to give us a national view of what works and to what
extent across the whole country. Intergovernmentalism must work if U.S. schools are to
benefit and work for all children, regardless of background, ability, language or race, or
location, as Wong explains.
Preface • xiii
In Chapter 13 Michael Q. McShane and Frederick M. Hess analyze how current insti-
tutional frameworks in education impede innovation and its handmaiden, entrepre-
neurship. The current system, they argue, produces lots of innovation but little systemic
change. They review entrepreneurship as a potential “disruptive change” that can drive
needed innovation to improve educational opportunities for children who have been ill
served by the present system, can improve the quality of educators, and create better edu-
cation tools and services. They review barriers to entrepreneurship such as politics, atti-
tudes, beliefs, and habits, as well as formal ones enshrined in laws, rules, and regulations.
While McShane and Hess assert that professional authority and entrepreneurship are
not fundamentally at odds, they do distinguish between two competing worldviews—
bureaucracy and professionalism on the one side and the alternative that “accepts the
risk that some new ventures will fail so as to address a larger risk . . . staid mediocrity.” It
is clear that McShane and Hess embrace the latter worldview and the education politics
that flow from that embrace.
But this chapter also discusses the antiunion movements in several states, as politi-
cians attempt to withdraw the right to bargain and strike. As President Obama com-
mented about such movements in Michigan, “They have everything to do with politics.
What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money” (Davey,
2012, p. 1). Karl Marx would understand this effort, we think.
In Chapter 16, Frances R. Spielhagen, Elissa F. Brown, and Claire E. Hughes move
from teacher politics to the twin concerns for gifted and disabled children and the pol-
itics of these key groups. While much research has been done on high- and low-ability
children, few analyses are available comparing the politics of kids of all backgrounds and
levels. For as President John F. Kennedy explained, “Not every child has an equal talent
or an equal ability or equal motivation; but children have the equal right to develop their
talent, their ability, and their motivation.”
This chapter explores the politics of educating all children, without sacrificing any
students, based on their backgrounds, needs, or abilities (and disabilities) and how we as
a nation within our schools help some without shortchanging others—equity at work.
Does meeting the needs of all children lead to ignoring the exceptional ones?
Chapter 17 by Paul Green explores and explains the newest policies of school inte-
gration, based on race. It appears, as analyzed in this chapter, that public education in
states likes Kentucky and Washington are reinterpreting the Brown (1954) decision: that
assigning children to school based on race was no longer unconstitutional. In fact, Green
warns that this movement away from integration was also an effort to make our schools
apartheid. He also warns us that retreating from desegregation, much less integration,
will have a terrible effect on our children and society.
Green argues, in fact, that “regional versus local planning is also required to link hous-
ing, school, and employment, as well as political and cultural opportunities, to spread
accountability throughout entire metropolitan areas.” Thus, in this chapter, we learn that
integration of life, society, and schools go together, “integrally.”
And in Chapter 18, Tamara V. Young, Catherine DiMartino, and Brian Boggs revisit
the important role of “interest groups” that are key to any understanding of politics
in any field. Thus these five chapters are a nearly perfect circle, starting with “interest
group” analysis in Chapter 14, and ending with Chapter 18 on similar issues. We hope
that these analyses help everyone to understand politics and policies and how various
groups and processes affect the schooling of our children.
FEARLESS FORECASTS
Given the changes in the politics of education since the original edition of the Handbook
came out six years ago, we offer some intrepid forecasts of political battles over education
policy and reform in the coming decade. First, we forecast continuing conflict between
the federal role and state and local responsibilities. It is not clear whether this playbook
will continue to evolve in new ways or persist largely as it is framed at present.
Second, we anticipate continuing political challenges to established bureaucratic
institutions and funding patterns, as well as to established professional autonomy and
authority, largely from advocates of market choice and innovation. Third, we see grow-
ing political mobilization to challenge social and educational inequality and its impact
on educational opportunities and outcomes, with implications for educational service
delivery and resource allocations.
xvi • Preface
Fourth, we believe debates over testing, its expenditures and impacts on children,
teaching, and schools will expand in the coming decade as will debate over efforts to rate
and evaluate teachers and schools within the United States and in international contexts
for global competitiveness. Finally, we see the continued proliferation of groups mobi-
lizing around ideas, ideologies, and interests. And battles over educational policy and
reform now include diverse areas: for example, merit pay, teacher evaluation, Common
Core, testing and accountability, and expanded school choice, are heating up in the com-
ing decades. And this book anticipates and elaborates them in the following sections and
chapters.
REFERENCES
Baker, B. D. (2012). Revisiting the age-old question: Does money matter in education? Albert Shanker Institute.
Blasé, J., & Blasé, J. (2004). The dark side of school leadership: Implications for administrator preparation. Leader-
ship & Policy in Schools, 3(4), 245–273.
Brown v. the Board of Education. (1954).
Davey, M. (2012). Michigan governor signs law limiting unions. New York Times:nytimes.com/2012/12/12/us/
protesters-rally-over-michigan-union-limits-plan.html?
Fusarelli, B. C., & Cooper, B. S. (2009). The rising state: How state power is transforming our nation’s schools. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press.
Jackson, B. L., & Cibulka, J. G. (1992). Leadership turnover and business mobilization: The changing political ecol-
ogy of urban school systems. In J. G. Cibulka, R. J. Reed, & K. K. Wong (Eds.), The politics of urban education
in the United States (pp. 71–86). Washington, DC: Falmer Press.
Kowalski, T. J. (2008). School reform, civic engagement, and school board leadership. In T. L. Alsbury (Ed.),
The future of school boards governance: Relevancy and revelation (pp. 225–246). Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield.
Opfer, V. D., Young, T. V., & Fusarelli, L. D. (2008). Politics of interest: Interest groups and advocacy coalitions in
American education. In B. S. Cooper, J. G. Cibulka, & L. D. Fusarelli (Eds.), Handbook of education politics
and policy (pp. 195–216). New York: Routledge.
Webb, T. P. (2008). Re-mapping power in educational micropolitics. Critical Studies in Education, 49(2), 127–142.
Part I
The Institutional Context of Educational Politics
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1
BEYOND PLURALISTIC PATTERNS OF POWER
Research on the Micropolitics of Schools
Betty Malen and Melissa Vincent Cochran
with updated references by Anchala Sobrin
3
4 • Malen and Vincent Cochran
and its companion terms, authority, influence, and control. Some employ “pluralist”
views that concentrate on the overt manifestations of power evidenced by influence (or
noninfluence) on visible, contentious, and consequential decisions. Others draw on “elit-
ist” views that expose the more covert expressions of power apparent in the suppression
of dissent, the confinement of agendas to “safe” issues, the management of symbols, and
the “suffocation . . . [of] . . . demands for change in the existing allocation of benefits
and privileges” (Bacharach & Baratz, 1970, p. 44). Still others draw on “radical” or “crit-
ical” views that delve into the more opaque “third face” of power and derive inferences
on how power relations shape aspirations and define interests through subtle but pre-
sumably detectable processes of socialization/indoctrination that elude the awareness
of individuals who succumb to them but may be evident to the analyst who searches
for them (Gaventa, 1980; Lukes, 1974). All these views have their advocates and critics
(Clegg, 1989; Geary, 1992). All these views are reflected in studies of the “micropolitics”
of schools.
We draw on this multidimensional view of power to anchor our review of research on
select but significant aspects of the micropolitics of schools. Because this field of study
has not arrived at a consensus definition of “micropolitics,” we adopt a general and inclu-
sive construction. In our view, micropolitical perspectives characterize schools as mini
political systems, nested in multilevel governmental structures that set the authoritative
parameters for the play of power at the site level. Confronted by multiple, competing
demands, chronic resource shortages, unclear technologies, uncertain supports, critical
public service responsibilities, and value-laden issues, schools face difficult and divisive
allocative choices. Like actors in any political systems, actors at the site level manage the
endemic conflict and make the distributional choices through processes that pivot on
power exercised in various ways in various arenas (Malen, 1995). With others, we main-
tain that micropolitical perspectives cast schools as “arenas of struggle” (Ball, 1987; Blasé,
1991) where actors use their power to advance their interests and ideals; where con-
flict, competition, cooperation, compromise, and co-optation coexist; and where both
public and private transactions shape organizational priorities, processes, and outcomes.
Always conditioned and often constrained by broad institutional, economic, and socio-
cultural forces, these actor relationships, interactions, and exchanges, and their impact
on the distribution of valued outcomes, become the foci of study.
We analyze adult relationships, namely the professional-patron, principal-teacher,
and teacher-teacher interactions that occur in select formal and informal arenas in pub-
lic school systems in the United States because they provide telling glimpses into the mic-
ropolitics of schools.1 We synthesize information on the sources of tension, the patterns
of politics, and the outcomes of transactions in those arenas. Although most definitions
of micropolitics direct attention to “those activities and strategies used by organizational
participants to influence decisions that allocate scarce but valued resources within the
organization” (Johnson, 2001, p. 119), scholars recognize that context situates and medi-
ates the play of power in organizations generally and in schools more specifically (e.g.,
Bacharach & Mundell, 1993; Townsend, 1990). Therefore, we highlight policy develop-
ments that condition the play of power at the school site to set the stage for our analysis
of key aspects of politics within U.S. public schools.
Our analysis is based on studies identified through a search for research-based arti-
cles that directly address the micropolitics of schools, for articles that might enable us
to draw inferences about power relationships in school contexts even though the term
Beyond Pluralistic Patterns of Power • 5
“micropolitics” is not used in the text, and for articles that examine the manner in which
policy developments in the broader context may affect the autonomy of schools and
the discretion afforded site actors.2 We began our search with major refereed journals
dating from 1992–2006, and then expanded it to include citations uncovered during
that process as well as other books and research reports that addressed the major themes
we were uncovering.3 While we located and reviewed more than 200 articles and more
than 75 additional works, we do not cite all the sources we consulted. Rather we use
citations selectively, to illustrate the major themes we uncovered in the literature and to
highlight disconfirming as well as confirming evidence regarding the observations and
interpretations we set forth. Because much of the research takes the form of case studies,
we underscore that the political dynamics we describe are not necessarily typical of the
dynamics found in the vast universe of U.S. public schools. We draw on this research to
generate insights, not to make definitive claims, about the micropolitics of schools and
how the broader policy context may be shaping those dynamics.
Second, resource constraints and the “web of rules” embedded in the broader sys-
tem continue to restrict site autonomy. Oftentimes site actors are empowered to manage
budget cuts, not to initiate program improvements (Croninger & Malen, 2002; Fine,
1993; Handler, 1998). While some state governments have tried to relax rules and reg-
ulations for “high-performing” schools or to engage in various forms of “differential
regulation,” these exemptions have not operated to significantly enhance site autonomy
(Fuhrman & Elmore, 1995). On the contrary, they may further limit autonomy because
these policies remind schools that states can deploy the punishment of a takeover as
well as the reward of regulatory relief (Malen & Muncey, 2000). Whether other forms
of deregulation such as charter schools, choice plans, and for-profit educational man-
agement arrangements will enhance the discretion afforded site actors remains an open,
empirical question (Crawford & Forsythe, 2004; Johnson & Landman, 2000; Mintrom,
2001). But for “traditional” public schools, and particularly for low-performing schools,
rule and resource constraints still limit the autonomy of site actors (Malen & Muncey,
2000; Sipple et al., 2004; Timar, 2004).
Third, the responsibilities of site actors have intensified, in part because policy pack-
ages exacted a price (stronger accountability for the promise of greater autonomy) and in
part because policy rhetoric located the blame for low performance squarely on schools
(Elmore, 2002; Malen et al., 2002). Schools have been given additional assignments, such
as developing school improvement plans, implementing curricular frameworks, incor-
porating new testing procedures, adapting to various “external partners,” and other-
wise “demonstrating” that they are meeting the terms of more stringent “results-based”
accountability systems. These responsibilities have come in addition to, not in lieu of,
other demands and obligations (Anagnostopoulos, 2003; Booher-Jennings, 2005; Min-
trop, 2004; Sunderman, 2001; Wong & Anagnostopoulos, 1998).
In short, for site actors, various “empowerment” reforms resulted in a substantial
increase in responsibility but not a commensurate increase in authority, a depend-
able increase in relevant resources, or a meaningful measure of relief from the sets
of regulations and obligations that guide and govern what site actors may and must
do. While “empowering” reforms did little to expand and much to limit the latitude
of site actors, other initiatives, launched primarily at the state level and reinforced
by federal legislation and district reaction, further constrained the autonomy of site
actors (Anagnostopoulos, 2005; Conley, 2003; Timar, 2004). Recognizing that data are
limited,5 we point to the standards and high-stakes accountability policies to illustrate
that observation.
The stark reality of stricter accountability. During the 1980s and 1990s states inten-
sified their efforts to control schools. Under the auspices of stronger accountability
and coherent policy, states stepped up their efforts (a) to articulate curriculum content
through various requirements, frameworks, and tests; (b) to define school programs
through mandates that make schools select programs for at-risk students from a fairly
short list of state-approved options, and, in so doing, to regulate the professional devel-
opment that school staffs receive; and (c) to issue public sanctions ranging from public
listing of “low-performing schools” to focused state interventions or full-scale reconsti-
tution, privatization, or takeovers (Ladd, 1996; Malen, 2003). While not all states have
been equally active in all domains of education, generally speaking, states appear to be
coupling policy instruments in potent ways and asserting unprecedented levels of con-
trol over schools (Conley, 2003; Malen, 2003; Neuman-Sheldon, 2006; Timar, 2004).
Beyond Pluralistic Patterns of Power • 7
Over the past decade, the federal government also stepped up efforts to control
public schools with its rhetorical press for “results-based” accountability and its for-
mal endorsement of graduated but stringent sanctions for schools that fail to meet the
requirements of No Child Left Behind. While federal policies have been contested, they
represent a renewed effort to influence the core of schooling (Cohn, 2005; McDonnell,
2005; Superfine, 2005). Likewise, districts in some settings have generated initiatives and
developed responses that may limit the latitude of site actors (Anagnostopoulos, 2003;
Booher-Jennings, 2005; Ogawa, Sandholtz, & Scribner, 2003; Sunderman, 2001; Wong &
Anagnostopoulos, 1998).
A small but growing body of evidence indicates that these policies are changing (for
better or worse) the content of curriculum (Dorgan, 2004; Firestone, Fitz, & Broadfoot,
1999; Firestone, Mayrowetz, & Fairman, 1998; Sandholtz et al., 2004; Trujillo, 2005), the
pace if not the pedagogy of instruction (Dorgan, 2004; Finkelstein et al., 2000; McNeil,
2000; Swanson & Stevenson, 2002), and the allocation of time and personnel (Dor-
gan, 2004; Stetcher & Barron, 1999; Wong & Anagnostopoulos, 1998). In some cases
schools “pull resources away from the most needy students . . . [in order to concen-
trate] on students most likely to improve school-wide achievement test scores” (Sunder-
man, 2001, p. 526; see also Booher-Jennings, 2005; Diamond & Spillane, 2004; Elmore,
2002; Neuman-Sheldon, 2006). Although the evidence is not as extensive, it appears that
these policies are changing other important aspects of schooling, such as: the nature
of professional development (Fairman & Firestone, 2001; Firestone et al., 1999); the
substance and structure of site-level school improvement deliberations (Finkelstein
et al., 2000; Maxcy & Nguyên, 2006); the nature and attractiveness of teachers’ work
(Anagnostopoulos, 2005; Dorgan, 2004; Finkelstein et al., 2000; Swanson & Stevenson,
2002); conceptions of the primary purposes of schooling; views of the appropriate roles
of governmental units (Malen & Muncey, 2000); and views of what counts as good teach-
ing (Booher-Jennings, 2005). Although the effects vary depending on the severity of the
stakes attached to accountability systems and, at times, the level of schooling, survey
and case study data suggest that standards and accountability policies are limiting the
autonomy of site-level actors (Dorgan, 2004; Finkelstein et al., 2000; Pedulla et al., 2003).
While external policies are not the only factor shaping what site actors do, and while
site responses vary (Grant, 2001; Pedulla et al., 2003; Zancanella, 1992), the develop-
ments highlighted here suggest that school-level actors may not be in a position to
evade, remake, or rebuff directives from afar as readily as they have in the past (Cohen &
Spillane, 1992; Hill, 2001; Kirp & Driver, 1995; Rossman & Wilson, 1996; Schon, 1981).
Rather, it appears that through various combinations of symbols, sanctions, rules, regu-
lations, and exhortations, the broader system has exerted considerable control over the
agenda of public schools, rewritten the rules of the game, and created what Mazzoni
terms “a new set of givens” that restrict the range of options open to and the degree of
discretion available to site actors (Malen & Muncey, 2000).
While it appears that these policy developments may be marginalizing site actors, we
are reminded that “reforms that appear to be centralizing control over schools might
well serve to promote local democratic practice” (Mintrom, 2001, p. 638). For example,
standards and accountability policies have the potential to produce information that
attentive publics or what Gamson (1960) terms “potential partisans” might use to press
for school reforms that they view as key (Cibulka, 1991; Mintrom, 2001). More drastic
measures, such as the creation or imposition of new organizational forms or “top-down
8 • Malen and Vincent Cochran
takeovers of schools,” might “clear new spaces for democratic practice to emerge” (Min-
trom, 2001, p. 638). Thus, these new organizational forms along with other changes in
the policy landscape hold important implications for our understanding of the micro-
politics of schools.
Sources of Tension
Consistent with the findings of the initial review (Malen, 1995), professional-parent ten-
sions still center on who has the legitimate right to decide policy and whether the school
has provided appropriate and equitable educational services to various groups of stu-
dents within the school. Because professionals realize that, at any time, their constituents
can level criticisms that threaten the stability and legitimacy of the school (Greenfield,
1995; Johnson & Fauske, 2000; Malen, 1995), anxieties about the school’s ability to with-
stand scrutiny and to contain conflicts rooted in divergent views of appropriate and
equitable policies, programs, and services are ever-present. These enduring tensions are
brokered through patterns of politics that reveal the capacity of professionals and select
parents to gain, at least momentarily, a relative power advantage.
Ei ole ainoastaan tyhjä lause tuo: "muuta apua ei ole. Sillä muuta
ei ole."
Kunnalliset aputoimet.
V.
Yleiset työt.
R
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W
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m
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k
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Waltiovarat ja rahanhankkeet.