Equity, Oversight, and School Autonomy: Evidence From a Case Study

• In Event: Park Central Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Autonomy Issues for Schools and Leaders

Abstract

Advocates of decentralization argue that increasing school administrators’ autonomy is in the best interests of students. However, historical examples suggest that autonomy may leave certain students vulnerable to educational inequities. The approval process upon which autonomous authorization is based provides a possible mechanism for preventing inequities. However, few studies have examined the extent to which this mechanism functions, motivating this three-year ethnography of an autonomous school. I found substantial contradictions between schools’ and districts’ policies and practices. Further, the school’s autonomous status was reauthorized, despite continued policy and practice disconnects, suggesting that the oversight mechanism for autonomous schools is loose-coupled with educational practices, the equity implications of which are relevant to broader discussions about school autonomy.

Author

• Kathryn Elizabeth Wiley, University of California San Diego