Understanding School Board Effects on School Districts: A Framework With Empirical Results

• In Event: Leadership at the District Level

Abstract

Systematic inquiry into the effects of school boards on schools has been hampered not only by data challenges but also by the absence of theoretical frameworks for linking boards to school outcomes even where data exist. From research on boards in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors, we identify four lenses for conceptualizing school boards’ work: agency theory, resource dependence theory, stakeholder theory, and group decision-making theory. We then draw on survey data from California board members and superintendents matched to administrative data to illustrate possible operationalization of these perspectives. Findings from analysis linking these measures to district achievement growth are most consistent with the resource dependence hypothesis that school board member knowledge and expertise are markers of board effectiveness.

Authors

• Jason A. Grissom, Vanderbilt University

• Richard Blissett, Vanderbilt Peabody College