A Paradox of High Achievement: Implementing Race to the Top Policies in a High-Achieving School District

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Improving Districts: Organizational Climate, Leadership, and District-Wide Efforts

Abstract

The Threat-Rigidity Hypothesis (Staw et al., 1983; Daly, 2009) suggests that when faced with a threat, organizations (and/or individuals) may close down, reduce information flow, engage in poor decision-making, and limit divergent views. In a time of top-down policy implementation, which includes Common Core State Standards, high-stakes assessments, and APPR, school district stakeholders’ levels of threat-rigid response may increase in order to “survive” the high demands of today’s educational system. Research suggests (Daly, 2009) that increased levels of trust and leadership have the ability to decrease levels of threat-rigidity within the local school system (buildings and district).

Author

• Dean L. Ramirez, Lewiston-Porter Central School District