Toolkits for Centralization: Logics of School District Takeover

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 2:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Logics & Learning: Organizational Theory as a Tool for Improvement and Reform

Abstract

State takeover is an accountability policy tool that often requires strategic framing and narrative building to justify its undemocratic design and top-down implementation. Applying an institutional logics perspective, we conduct a critical review of the literature to identify four field-level logics interveners have drawn on to advance takeover: systemic reform, political regime change, moral rescue, and democratic community engagement. We then apply our typology of logics to analyze how interveners activated and mobilized different logics to implement takeovers in Massachusetts and Texas. Our analysis shows how institutional logics shape the design and implementation of takeover and offers a theoretical foundation for researchers to critically engage with takeover as a policy instrument that assumes diverse forms across different contexts.

Authors

• Simone Fried, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Daniel Dawer, University of Texas at Austin

• Sarah L. Woulfin, University of Texas at Austin