The Process and Politics of Educational System Change in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Denver

• In Event: Redesigning Educational Systems: Influences and Practices Around Structural Changes in U.S. Education

Abstract

Purpose

As described in the session overview, system changes consistent with the idea of a “Portfolio Management Model” (PMM) are becoming widely used. However, there is little systematic, empirical evidence of the dynamics driving this shift in governance and the variation in form it takes across districts. This paper addresses the question: What factors and conditions shaped changing educational governance in three cities that have moved towards a PMM?

Theoretical Framework

We draw on punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) (Baumgartner, Jones, & Mortensen, 2014; Parsons & Fidler, 2005; Tushman & Romanelli, 2008) to analyze what led to structural changes over time in the three systems and why the nature of these changes differed across the three sites. PET posits that the deep structures of systems (core values, strategy, distribution of power, organizational structure, control systems) are highly stable and persist for long periods with only incremental adjustments, and that external and internal triggers occasionally challenge this equilibrium to create brief periods of profound change. Applied to policy, PET asserts that strategically minded political actors play important roles, seeking “new venues” that draw in new participants to challenge policy monopolies – in our case, school districts (Baumgartner et al., 2014; McLendon & Cohen-Vogel, 2008).

Methods & Data Sources

We conducted a multiple case study (Yin, 2013) of Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Denver, purposively selected to demonstrate variations in conceptualizations of the PMM idea, local capacity and context, and school management structures. We analyzed 66 interviews with system-level actors including individuals working with central offices, charter organizations, mayors, foundations, and advocacy organizations, and a range of documents (e.g., historical and current reports, media articles) in each city, conducting multiple rounds of coding and analytic memos to understand the process of change over the past two decades within and across case sites (Maxwell, 2012; Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2013).

Results

The process of change differed significantly across the three sites, with New Orleans demonstrating rapid and profound transformation to a system with no centralized control over schools, Denver a slower-paced yet dramatic shift to a system overseeing traditional and non-traditional school options, and Los Angeles incremental change within the district paired with a gradual emergence of a parallel charter system. Across the three cities we find that external (new state policy, crises, declining enrollment) and internal (new and lasting leadership) triggers contributed to the different patterns of change, and that political actors—including foundations and reform advocates mobilizing support and venue shopping, as well as union leaders bolstering positive images of districts as defenders of the public good and neighborhood schools—helped advance or resist change.

Scholarly Significance

This study yields insights about the understudied political dynamics driving governance change at the district level and provides implications for policy and practice.

Authors

• Julie A. Marsh, University of Southern California

• Taylor N. Allbright, University of Southern California

• Danica Brown, Tulane University

• Katrina E. Bulkley, Montclair State University

• Douglas N. Harris, Tulane University

• Katharine Omenn Strunk, Michigan State University