Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Educational governance'

This position paper explores whether the current model of governance of public education is antiquated and in need of change. At present, the issue has not been included in any discussions regarding public education reform. Local boards of education are becoming obsolete due to federal and state mandates. School reform efforts have ignored the local governance factor, instead focusing on state-implemented curricula tied to federal funding. The literature shows us that local school boards focus on administrative issues and micromanagement which, along with such distractions as nepotism and “unholy alliances” with unions, indicates a need for change. However, the democratic foundation of our government makes it hard for legislators to implement a change that would be perceived as an attack on these basic principles. This position paper puts forth suggestions to these and other concerns related to local public education governance.

In 1983, the A Nation at Risk report stated that our educational institutions in the United States and especially in urban areas were not meeting the educational needs of our students. Since A Nation at Risk, elected school boards in urban areas were under fire from the media, parents, other civic and community leaders, and voters due to fiscal irresponsibility and poor student achievement. In selected urban cities across the nation, elected school boards were replaced in favor of mayoral control (e.g., Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington DC) and appointed school boards (Wong et al., 2007). In 1999, the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) was taken over by the state of Michigan in an effort to reform the district. In 1998 prior to the state takeover, DPS had 261 schools, 167,000 students enrolled in the district, and a $93 million budget surplus. In 2014 after several years of state control, DPS had 97 schools (−62%), 47,000 students enrolled (−71%) in the district, and a $232 million budget deficit (−349%). During this same time period, DPS had eight different district leaders under three different school governance models. This qualitative historical case study developed an understanding of the overall impact of school governance reform on the institutional progress in DPS from 1999–2014. Institutional Progress examines the overall functioning of a school district in the areas of: leadership, educational programs, finances, personnel, community support and political support. This study also described the external and internal barriers preventing DPS from making institutional progress. This qualitative study utilized four data sources: interviews of current and former Detroit Public School personnel (i.e., school board members, central and building administrators, teachers, parents and community activists), Detroit Board of Education meeting minutes reports, daily newspaper coverage of DPS from the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, and city of Detroit archives on the annual State of the City Address given by Detroit mayors to determine whether or not institutional progress was achieved in DPS from 1999–2014. The findings of this study were the following: 1.) there was a lack of institutional progress in Detroit Public Schools; 2.) school governance reforms in DPS did not have a positive impact; and 3.) internal and external barriers prevented DPS from making institutional progress.

Institutional accreditation in the last decades has been studies as an important assessment that ensures the quality of higher education institutions. The growth of the economy around the world has placed value on evaluating universities’ accountability and effectiveness. Therefore, one of the most significant current discussions in higher education institutions is obtaining international accreditation. Consequently, Saudi Arabia’s institutional accreditation system is seeking to improve higher education institutions’ quality assurance and accountability by preparing them for international accreditation. However, only 12 universities out of 34 have been accredited at the institutional level by the NCAAA. As a result, one of the major challenges facing Saudi institutions is their ability to meet accreditation standards concerning institutional effectiveness, governance, and leadership. Therefore, this quantitative study examined the extent to which Saudi universities prepare for international accreditation in the areas of governance and leadership. A comparison of accredited and non-accredited universities was done using a Mann-Whitney U test based on faculty and administrators’ perceptions of leadership and governance. The study concluded that Saudi universities are prepared to meet international institutional accreditation standards in the areas of governance and leadership. An effective strategy is needed to promote the accreditation process successfully.

School board governance matters. Past research has demonstrated that effective school boards are associated with higher student achievement. However, this research has been less clear about what those agreed upon effective practices are. The current study set out to identify effective school board governance practices and to determine the extent expert panelists agreed with these practices. Obstacles to effective governance were also identified and agreed upon. Differences in responses from panelists in five sizes of school districts were also explored.

Using a Delphi methodology, expert panelists in Montana provided information in the form of narratives and lists about their perceptions of effective school board practices as well as their encountered obstacles during round one. Qualitative analysis techniques were used to create a set of effective practices and a set of encountered obstacles. Further refinement was accomplished by using two additional rounds in which panelists provided feedback, reconsidered their responses and provided additional comments. A set of 17 highly agreed upon effective practices and a set of two highly agree upon obstacles resulted.

From this data, a model of effective school board governance was developed. This model aligns well with past research that was conducted based upon outside sources of judgment, such as high test scores.

However, some important deviations from past recommendations are also noted. Data from the current study places an increased emphasis on the actual operations of school boards, such as on the types of discussions that are held, as well as the mechanics of productive and collaborative school board meetings.

The power of school boards occurs when acting collectively as a group in a school board meeting and this study supports focusing improvement efforts in making that time more effective. School board members many gain knowledge and experience individually, but it is only through working together that they shape and guide the cultures that are needed to improve our public schools for the future.

Prior research has explored many facets of innovation, provided models of governance maturity, and analyzed the impact of corporate decision-making on innovation. However, there is little research on IT governance maturity in higher education or on IT innovation in organizations outside of the IT industry. Findings from previous research were ambiguous regarding whether a mature IT governance process helps or hinders innovation. This study fills a gap in existing knowledge by reviewing the literature and examining the interaction of IT governance and information technology innovation at five major U.S. universities. It provides insights into the structures and processes necessary for IT governance to facilitate technology innovation and the factors required for effective IT governance in higher education.

Highly effective IT governance processes focused on collaboration and communication were associated with greater integration of radical innovation into institutional processes than effective IT governance processes that focused primarily on the prioritization of large enterprise projects. Incremental technology innovations were pervasive among all schools studied. IT governance was found to be more effective under a delegated model of decision-making authority that empowers IT governance bodies than under a CIO-centric model. The inclusion of a faculty, students and business units in IT governance committees was associated with a stronger innovation culture.

Many faith-based liberal arts institutions are tuition-dependent and are forced to compete with both public institutions as well as private for-profit colleges and universities to maintain student enrollment levels. Some faith-based institutions have adopted strategic enrollment management policies and procedures that emulate the best practices used by aggressive for-profit colleges. In many institutions, the point person for this marketing and recruiting strategy is the enrollment manager/admission director. The roles and titles vary across institutions, but using the descriptions of Presswood (2011) and Higher Education Publications (2016), the job functions are interchangeable. This study will therefor refer to the enrollment manager/admission director throughout.

The Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) is a coalition of 118 faith-based institutions founded in 1976 “to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education…” (Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, 2013). Between 1990 and 2004, CCCU institutions enjoyed growth rates that were considerably higher than those experienced by public institutions and other independent colleges.

This study asked four research questions. First, is there a relationship between the reported level of shared governance in decision making by CCCU enrollment managers/admission directors and the organizational commitment they claim to their institutions? Second, are the respondent characteristics of age, gender, and tenure related to the organizational commitment of CCCU enrollment managers/admission directors? Third, is the faith-based mission of the institution related to the degree of organizational commitment claimed by CCCU enrollment managers/admission directors? Forth, is institution size (student enrollment) related to the degree of organizational commitment claimed by CCCU enrollment managers/admission directors?

Enrollment managers/admission directors from all 118 CCCU institutions were invited to participate in this study. Surveys were collected via SurveyMonkey and data analysis was compiled using SPSS 23.0 software. Results indicated that CCCU enrollment managers/admission directors report high levels of organizational commitment and positive levels of shared governance in decision making. Respondents also reported that their commitment to their respective organizations was related to the historic faith-based mission of their institutions. Statistical analysis found no correlation between reported levels of organizational commitment and shared governance, demographic characteristics, institution size, or the historic faith-based mission of the university.

Purpose: Community colleges across the United States are implementing systemic reforms in response to calls for increased student success. Guided pathways is a framework for holistic redesign that coordinates institutional improvements in multiple areas to increase impact. Since California community colleges are in the early stages of adopting guided pathways, research on the decision-making processes of college leadership in applying this framework is limited. The purpose of this multiple case study was to describe the role of strategic governance in the implementation of guided pathways at scale at California community colleges.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study used a multiple-case embedded case study methodology to collect data aligned with the four imperatives of strategic governance theory. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 campus leaders involved in guided pathways implementation at three community colleges in Southern California. Archival records and documentation were used to triangulate the data.

Findings: Colleges balance the imperatives of involvement, efficiency, environment, and leadership across the domains of strategic planning and governance when implementing guided pathways. Inclusiveness, intentional alignment, interdependent leadership, and internal/external synergy emerged as essential elements of strategic governance during pathways efforts.

Conclusions: Community colleges leverage inclusive and credible strategic planning and governance systems to create a stable foundation for institutional redesign. A networked system that interfaces informal elements with formal structures promotes and accelerates efficiency, while a proactive, reflective, student-centered approach to managing environmental demands helps maintain focus. Interdependent leadership mechanisms that are culturally compatible and responsive to institutional needs facilitate efficiency and involvement in implementation. The guided pathways framework provides colleges with a systemic model for developing overall institutional effectiveness.

Recommendations: Community college leaders should deliberately increase engagement in decision-making processes and strengthen the integrity of strategic planning and governance systems. Leaders should define the parameters of pathways teams, establish logical connections between informal and formal structures, and encourage mutual reliance in pathways leadership. Leaders should cultivate a systems mindset and use embedded reflective practices to guide implementation.

This study utilized a qualitative approach to examine academic leaders’ perceptions of the impact of the changes occurring in the higher education environment on leader development and the faculty governance model. Interviews were conducted with academic leaders in four regionally accredited, 4-year, private, similarly-sized, religiously affiliated institutions in a rural region of a Midwestern state. The interviews explored the perceptions of academic leaders on the impact of changes within the context of the social construct of the higher education environment, the contextual influence on leaders and leadership development, and the faculty governance model. The results suggested that individuals socially reconstruct their environments by revisioning the challenges in the context of the mission of the institution. The results further revealed the philosophies of trust, support, mentoring, followership, and decision making as critical to shared leadership in the higher education environment. Academic leader development, the faculty governance process, and shared governance were influenced by the changes occurring in the environment. These findings have important implications suggesting the need to examine the construct of leadership in the higher education environment and academic leaders’ influence on faculty governance and shared governance. The findings also raise interesting possibilities for advancing an augmented view of leadership in the higher education environment.

This study examines the organizational structures and decision-making processes used by school districts to recruit and hire school librarians. For students to acquire the information and technology literacy education they need, school libraries must be staffed with qualified individuals who can fulfill the librarian’s role as leader, teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator. Principals are typically given decision rights for hiring staff, including school librarians. Research shows that principals have limited knowledge of the skills and abilities of the school librarian or the specific needs and functions of the library program. Research also indicates that those with specific knowledge of school library programs, namely school district library supervisors, are only consulted on recruiting and hiring about half the time. School districts entrust library supervisors with responsibilities such as professional development of school librarians only after they are hired.

This study uses a theoretical lens from research on IT governance, which focuses on the use of knowledge-fit in applying decision rights in an organization. This framework is appropriate because of its incorporation of a specialist with a specific knowledge set in determining the placement of input and decision rights in the decision-making processes. The method used in this research was a multiple-case study design using five school districts as cases, varying by the involvement of the supervisors and other individuals in the hiring process. The data collected from each school district were interviews about the district’s recruiting and hiring practices with principals, an individual in HR, library supervisors, and recently hired school librarians. Data analysis was conducted through iterative coding from themes in the research questions, with continuous adjustments as new themes developed.

Results from the study indicate that governance framework is applicable to evaluating the decision-making processes used in recruiting and hiring school librarians. However, a district’s use of governance did not consistently use knowledge-fit in the determination of input and decision rights. In the hiring process, governance was more likely to be based on placing decision rights at a certain level of the district hierarchy rather than the location of specific knowledge, most often resulting in site-based governance for decision rights at the school-building level. The governance of the recruiting process was most affected by the shortage or surplus of candidates available to the district to fill positions. Districts struggling with a shortage of candidates typically placed governance for the decision-making process on recruiting at the district level, giving the library supervisor more opportunity for input and collaboration with human resources. In districts that use site-based governance and that place all input and decision rights at the building level, some principals use their autonomy to eliminate the school library position in the allotment phase or hire librarians that, while certified through testing, do not have the same level of expertise as those who achieve certification through LIS programs. The principals in districts who use site-based governance for decision rights but call on the library supervisor for advisement stated how valuable they found the supervisor’s expertise in evaluating candidates for hire. In no district was a principal or school required to involve the library supervisor in the hiring of school librarians. With a better understanding of the tasks involved, the effect of district governance on decision-making, and the use of knowledge to assign input and decision rights, it is possible to look at how all of these factors affect the outcome in the quality of the hire. A next step is to look at the hiring process that school librarians went through and connect those with the measurable outcomes of hiring: school librarian success, retention, and attrition; the quality of school library program services, outreach, and involvement in a school; and the perceptions of the success of the school librarian and the library program as seen from students, teachers, administrators, parents, and other community stakeholders.