Dissatisfaction Theory: Policy Change as a Function of School Board Member-Superintendent Turnover

Weninger, Terence A.; Stout, Robert T.

doi:10.1177/0013161x89025002004

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Other researchers also have concluded that politically motivated school board and superintendent turnover resulted in policy change influencing student achievement (Merz, 1986;Weninger & Stout, 1989); however, a few do not support that conclusion (Disanti, 1988;Peterson, 2000). The demonstration of change in a district resulting from superintendent turnover is critical to the efficacy of the dissatisfaction theory.…”

Section: Superintendent Turnover and School Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers in the area of school board governance are interested in whether superintendent turnover affects schools and, consequently, students (lannaccone & Lutz, 1970, Johnson, 1988Johnson-Howard, 1991;Weninger & Stout, 1989, Wirt & Kirst, 1992. Many believe that school board member and superintendent turnover creates a disruption to the educational progress of schools, particularly during periods of educational reform or systemic school change (Cunningham & Carter, 1997;Fullan & Miles, 1992;Grady & Bryant, 1989;Kowalski, 1995;Olson, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School Board Member and Superintendent Turnover and the Influence on Student Achievement: An Application of the Dissatisfaction Theory

Alsbury

2008

Leadership and Policy in Schools

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District-level leadership often has been perceived as irrelevant to educational reform. This study compared district political and apolitical board and superintendent turnover to student performance change on the state criterion-referenced test. Results included student test score decline as board turnover increased, particularly in smaller districts and when delineating politically motivated board turnover. Also, student test scores declined in small, rural districts where there was no superintendent change over the course of the eight-year study. Conclusions included support for the dissatisfaction theory, which predicts that politically motivated board and superintendent turnover may influence student performance.

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Section: Superintendent Turnover and School Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School Board Member and Superintendent Turnover and the Influence on Student Achievement: An Application of the Dissatisfaction Theory

Alsbury

2008

Leadership and Policy in Schools

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“…Certainly the work done by those who use dissatisfaction theory begins there. These researchers (Chriswell and Mitchell 1980, Danis 1981, Iannaccone and Lutz, 1970, Lutz and Iannaccone 1978, Weninger and Stout 1989) have attempted to understand how shifts in dominant community values produce electoral conflict over school board seats, replacement of school superintendents, and major changes in policy directions in school districts.…”

Section: Who Should Decide Issues Of School Direction and Policy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

1. Values: the ‘What?’ of the politics of education

Stout¹,

Tallerico²,

Scribner³

1994

Journal of Education Policy

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“…Studies attempting to confirm relations between school board defeat and superintendent turnover have met with varying success (Ledoux & Burlingame, 1973;Lutz & Iannaccone, 1978, Mitchell & Thorsted, 1976Rada, 1984;Weninger & Stout, 1989).…”

Section: The Dissatisfaction Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early studies focusing on the relation between incumbent school board and superintendent turnover indicated a significant connection (Carlson 1972, Ledoux and Burlingame 1973, Mitchell and Thorsted 1976, Lutz and Iannaccone 1978, Anderson 1989, while more recent research has been less supportive of the theory (Rada 1984, Weninger and Stout 1989, Hosman 1990, Chance and Capps 1992. Ledoux and Burlingame (1973), while finding no clear relation between a change in community values , and school board member and superintendent turnover, suggested that the problem might be the inability of researchers to select cogent variables to identify the phenomenon.…”

Section: The Dissatisfaction Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does school board turnover matter? Revisiting critical variables in the Dissatisfaction Theory of American democracy

Alsbury

2004

International Journal of Leadership in Education

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The frequent turnover of school board members in the US represents a concern for many educational practitioners who worry about the discontinuity of leadership, leading to negative impacts on students and staff. School board member turnover is also a key variable in studies of democratic theories of public school governance. Using descriptive and comparative quantitative methods, through a survey of 176 school superintendents in Washington State, USA, data were collected on why school board members retire and resign. The purpose of the study was to rank the reasons given for school board turnover, delineate between political and apolitical turnover, and compare turnover results by district size and rate of superintendent turnover. Results indicated that in 807 school board turnovers from 1993-2000, 73% were apolitical turnover, with politically-motivated turnover and defeat increasing with district enrollment. Generally, superintendent turnover increased as politically-motivated school board turnover increased and districts grew in enrollment. However, superintendent turnover was highest in schools of 0-500 enrollment, despite the lowest rate of politically-motivated school board turnover, and lowest in schools of 5000-9999 enrollment with nearly the highest rate of politically-motivated school board turnover and defeat. The study concluded that unique contextual factors have a major impact on results in school governance studies and are difficult to measure with traditional quantitative methods and analysis.

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Dissatisfaction Theory: Policy Change as a Function of School Board Member-Superintendent Turnover

Cited by 12 publications

References 2 publications

School Board Member and Superintendent Turnover and the Influence on Student Achievement: An Application of the Dissatisfaction Theory

School Board Member and Superintendent Turnover and the Influence on Student Achievement: An Application of the Dissatisfaction Theory

1. Values: the ‘What?’ of the politics of education

Does school board turnover matter? Revisiting critical variables in the Dissatisfaction Theory of American democracy

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