State Leadership for School Improvement: An Analysis of Three States

Autor/inn/en	Louis, Karen Seashore; Thomas, Emanda; Gordon, Molly F.; Febey, Karen S.
Titel	State Leadership for School Improvement: An Analysis of Three States
Quelle	In: Educational Administration Quarterly, 44 (2008) 4, S.562-592 (31 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0013-161X
DOI	10.1177/0013161X08323858
Schlagwörter	Accountability; Educational Policy; Instructional Leadership; State Surveys; Educational Improvement; Policy Analysis; Partnerships in Education; Politics of Education; Policy Formation; Organizational Culture; Interviews; Administrator Attitudes; Educational Administration; Indiana; Nebraska; Oregon + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Verantwortung; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Instruction; Leadership; Bildung; Erziehung; Führung; Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Politikfeldanalyse; Hochschulpartnerschaft; Educational policy; Politische Betätigung; Unternehmenskultur; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Bildungsverwaltung; Schuladministration; Schulverwaltung
Abstract	Purpose: Extant reports on states' policy differences are mostly descriptive and largely ignore the pervasive role of political culture on their educational policy-making processes. This article examines the effect of policy culture on states' policy-making mechanisms. There is evidence that a state's political culture is a significant mediating influence on its educational policy making and leadership practices at the state, district, and local level. Data Collection and Analysis: We conducted an empirical, comparative case study of educational leadership and policy-making mechanisms in three states--Indiana, Nebraska, and Oregon. Those three states, chosen because of their similarities in size but differences in educational policy histories, were part of a larger leadership study of nine states. Within each state, researchers interviewed between 8 and 11 educational policymakers who represented a diverse array of positions and organizations. The interviews were 1 hr in length, conducted in a semistructured format, and revolved around their states' accountability and school leadership policies, key educational stakeholders, and levels of collaboration among those stakeholders. Findings: Each state in the study had very different means through which they pursued educational policies. Indiana had centralized decision-making structures that sought to promote leadership and accountability through policies that revolved around equity and efficiency. Oregon had a high level of participation and collaboration at all levels in the state's mostly decentralized but very open educational policy-making process that emphasized quality. Nebraska's policy culture, which was more independent and decentralized than Oregon's, was highly collaborative but had comparatively low levels of support for state-supported leadership and accountability initiatives. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that political culture is a mediating factor for states' responses to increasing demands for leadership and accountability initiatives; it is therefore necessary to account for the impact of each state's unique political culture when planning for and explaining results of these initiatives. (Contains 1 table and 12 notes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10