No Contractual Obligation to Improve Education: School Boards and Their Superintendents

Maranto, Robert; Trivitt, Julie R.; Nichols, Malachi; Watson, Angela

doi:10.1111/polp.12216

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The evidence from some high-profile cases is consistent with the notion that mayoral control causes conflict between reform-oriented superintendents and traditional education actors such as school board members, teacher unions, and parent associations (Beck, 2003;Lofton, 2010;Maranto et al, 2017). This was the case in Washington, D.C., where the appointed superintendent, Michelle Rhee, decided to fire central office staff and implement a significant teacher compensation reform without broad community agreement 1 (Rhee, 2014;Wong, 2011).…”

Section: Mayoral Control In the United States And Japansupporting

confidence: 58%

Mayoral Control and School Superintendents: Lessons from Japan

Aoki

Henig

2022

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background/Context: Since the early 1990s, the United States has been witnessing reforms in large, high-visibility cities, with mayors granted the power to appoint school boards, superintendents, or both. This shift away from elected school board governance has been characterized as marginalizing traditional educators and ushering in reforms that traditional educators oppose. On the other hand, Japan’s experience with mayoral control of schools is nationwide and longer-lived. In 1956, mayors were given authority to appoint members of the school board, and in 2015 they were given further authority to appoint school superintendents. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study analyzes whether Japanese mayors appoint superintendents whose backgrounds make them likely to challenge the education establishment and introduce dramatic educational reforms. We provide some early evidence on how mayors have been using their new powers and how they interact with the superintendents they select. Research Design: We used data from nationwide surveys conducted by the Japanese government to map the broad pattern of superintendent characteristics over time as well as for a sampling framework to identify and select a smaller number of superintendents to be interviewed for obtaining in-depth information. Semistructured interviews of six superintendents were conducted to delve more deeply into the relationship between mayors and superintendents, and the communication between the superintendents and the school board members in Japan. To triangulate the interview data, transcripts of school board meetings, city council meetings, election bulletins (official campaign manifestos), demographic data, and national test scores of students were collected from 2015 to 2019. Conclusions/Recommendations: We identified important differences between the United States and Japan. Rather than aligning with the reform-oriented mayors against school boards and education bureaucracies, the Japanese mayor-appointed superintendents act as mediators between the mayors and the school boards. The difference may be that, in the United States, only mayors who sought mayoral control had the right to appoint school superintendents, whereas in Japan the national government gave all mayors the right to appoint superintendents, regardless of the political context.

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Section: Mayoral Control In the United States And Japansupporting

confidence: 58%

Mayoral Control and School Superintendents: Lessons from Japan

Aoki

Henig

2022

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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“…The success of these contracts in producing the intended outcomes often depends in part on the clarity and intentionality of the signal sent between principal and agent (Baker, 1992; Holmström, 1979; Moe, 1984). For instance, Maranto et al (2017) investigate superintendent contracts with school boards in North Carolina and find that very few contracts specify student performance targets for superintendents. These authors conclude that the lack of specificity around these expectations mean that school boards are unlikely to drive student achievement results through their management of superintendents.…”

Section: Conceptual Framework: Charter Authorizing As Contractingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charter Authorizing, Applications, and the Needs of Historically Marginalized Students: A Cross State Analysis

Bulkley

Fernandez

et al. 2023

Educational Policy

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Charter school authorizers shape which charter schools open, where they open, and who they serve. We draw on principal agent theory to investigate how the priorities and practices of nine authorizers intersected with charter school applications’ attention to the needs of historically marginalized students. Using data from interviews and applications, we find authorizers vary in orientations toward equity and the ways in which they signal that orientation to charter applicants. Our analysis suggests a robust relationship between authorizer mission and the content found in charter applications, demonstrating the influence of authorizing practices on the contents of charter school applications.

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“…Management comes next, essentially tied with standardized test scores. Similarly, Robert Maranto, Julie Trivitt, Malachi Nichols, and Angela Watson (2017) found that superintendent contracts seldom mention academic duties or goals, focusing instead on general management duties or formal job requirements such as degrees and work hours. In short, student academic learning has little effect on school board evaluations of superintendents.…”

Section: Work Histories School Boards and Career Outlooksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boys will be superintendents

Maranto¹,

Carroll²,

Cheng³

et al. 2018

Phi Delta Kappan

Self Cite

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Even though the teaching profession is dominated by women, men hold more superintendent positions. The authors examine the pipeline that leads to the principalship and the superintendency and how it has evolved over time. They note school boards are more likely to perceive high school principals and athletic coaches as plausible superintendents, in contrast to elementary principals and curriculum specialists. In addition, elementary education majors, mostly women, tend to be more conservative and thus may choose family over advancement to a more demanding position. They discuss why having more women in high-level leadership is valuable and ways to reform the gendered career track.

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No Contractual Obligation to Improve Education: School Boards and Their Superintendents

Cited by 6 publications

References 30 publications

Mayoral Control and School Superintendents: Lessons from Japan

Mayoral Control and School Superintendents: Lessons from Japan

Charter Authorizing, Applications, and the Needs of Historically Marginalized Students: A Cross State Analysis

Boys will be superintendents

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