Bridging the Charter School Accountability Divide: Defining a Role for Nonprofit Charter School Boards

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 640-658
Author(s):  
Michael R. Ford ◽  
Douglas M. Ihrke
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Charter School ◽  
School Boards ◽  
School Accountability ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
School Board Members ◽  
Staff Performance ◽  
Board Performance ◽  
Governance Reforms

In this article, we use originally collected survey data to determine how nonprofit charter school board members in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota define accountability. We find that charter board members generally define accountability downward toward student achievement and staff performance, inward toward board performance, or upward toward authorizer compliance. We use the results of the survey to make a series of public policy recommendations to help charter school boards look outward in their accountability orientation as a means of addressing the calls for increased public accountability for the charter school sector. The results add practical value to policy discussions regarding charter school accountability and theoretical value to scholars studying public and nonprofit governance reforms.

Charter school board members’ readiness to serve and implications for training

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marytza Gawlik ◽  
Ann Allen
Keyword(s):  
School District ◽  
School Board ◽  
Charter School ◽  
School Boards ◽  
Training And Development ◽  
Board Members ◽  
School Board Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
The Usa

Purpose Analyzing data collected from the charter school board members and the superintendent in a charter school district in a southeastern state about the quality and usefulness of training, the purpose of this paper is to provide an important foundation for understanding training and development for charter school boards in the USA. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative case study approach to examine a charter school district and the preparedness of charter school board members to serve in that district. The authors sampled one charter school district in the southeast region of the USA and interviewed five charter school board members and the superintendent. Findings The first theme is composition and responsibility of charter school board members, which outlines the roles and responsibilities that charter school board members assume when they serve on this charter district board. The second theme is preparedness to serve, which traces the readiness of charter school board members to serve on a board. The final theme is training and documents related to the kind of training charter school board members receive once they are appointed to the board. Originality/value This study provides a conceptual framework about the dimensions and standards associated with preparedness to serve as a charter school board member and broadens the authors’ understanding of the roles and responsibilities of charter school boards, their preparedness to serve and the training and development they receive.

Backtalk: School boards and superintendents should work in concert

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-68
Author(s):  
Rachel S. White ◽  
Mark Y. Lineburg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
School District ◽  
School Board ◽  
School Boards ◽  
Board Members ◽  
School Board Members ◽  
Shared Language

In response to a column by Joshua Starr about how superintendents act as buffers between the school district and the community, Rachel S. White and Mark Lineburg suggest that school board members must also serve a buffering function. They encourage school board members and superintendents to work in concert when making decisions and communicating those decisions to the community. Specifically, they stress the importance of centering students in their decision making and of creating a shared language about the decisions they have made.

How Nonpartisan Ballot Design Conceals Partisanship: A Survey Experiment of School Board Members in Two States

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
School Board Members ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Ballot Design ◽  
Democrats And Republicans

Studies suggest that between one-fourth and one-third of localities elect their leaders on partisan ballots. Does the presence of a party label on the ballot affect the level of partisanship in local office? I leverage the fact that within select states, school boards vary as to whether their members are elected on partisan or nonpartisan ballots. Do the differences in policy preferences between Democrats and Republicans differ across these ballot contexts? Does a party cue treatment, where respondents are reminded of the general policy positions of both parties, differentially affect elected officials in different ballot contexts? Evidence from the survey reveals a group of “polarized nonpartisans” who tend to express more partisan views about public policy than their co-partisans elected in an explicitly partisan system. At the same time, providing party cues in policy debates disproportionately moves those elected on partisan ballots as opposed to nonpartisan ones. That partisan-elected officials are more influenced by party cues appears to validate the motivations of nonpartisan reformers, yet the “polarized nonpartisans” found in the control group should give those reformers pause and reveals the need for continued research into the behavioral consequences of nonpartisan ballots.

School board member definitions of accountability

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Ford ◽  
Douglas M. Ihrke
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
Public Education ◽  
School Board ◽  
Charter School ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Board Members ◽  
School Board Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Traditional Public School

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the differing ways in which nonprofit charter and traditional public school board members define the concept of accountability in the school or schools they oversee. The findings speak to the governing consequences of shifting oversight of public education from democratically elected bodies to unelected nonprofit governing boards. Design/methodology/approach The authors use originally collected survey data from democratically elected school board members and nonprofit charter school board members in Minnesota to test for differences in how these two populations view accountability. Open-ended survey questions are coded according to a previously used accountability typology. Findings The authors find that charter school board members are more likely than traditional public school board members to define accountability through high stakes testing as opposed to staff professionalization and bureaucratic systems. Originality/value The results speak to the link between board governance structure and accountability in the public education sector, providing new understanding on the way in which non-elected charter school board members view their accountability function.

Racial Inequality in Academia: Systemic Origins, Modern Challenges, and Policy Recommendations

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Cydney H. Dupree ◽  
C. Malik Boykin
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Scientific Impact ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
Recruitment And Retention ◽  
Ideal World ◽  
Future Leaders

In an ideal world, academia serves society; it provides quality education to future leaders and informs public policy—and it does so by including a diverse array of scholars. However, research and recent protest movements show that academia is subject to race-based inequities that hamper the recruitment and retention of scholars of color, reducing scientific impact. This article provides critical systemic context for racism in academia before reviewing research on psychological, interpersonal, and structural challenges to reducing racial inequality. Policy challenges include (a) the cultivation of harmful stereotypes, (b) the education of racially ignorant future leaders, and (c) the dedication of resources to science that informs only a few, rather than many. Finally, recommendations specify critical features of hiring, retention, transparency, and incentives that can diversify academia, create a more welcoming environment to scholars of color, and maximize the potential for innovative and impactful science.

Three Famous School Board Members

1931 ◽  
Vol 113 (20) ◽  
pp. 527-528
Author(s):  
Albert E. Winship
Keyword(s):  
School Board ◽  
Board Members ◽  
School Board Members

scholarly journals International Political Theory Meets International Public Policy

2018 ◽  
pp. 480-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Barry
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
International Political Theory

How should International Political Theory (IPT) relate to public policy? Should theorists aspire for their work to be policy-relevant, and if so in what sense? When can we legitimately criticize a theory for failing to be relevant to practice? In this chapter, I argue that it counts heavily against a theory if it is not precise enough to guide policy and reform given certain empirical assumptions, but that theorists should be very cautious when engaging with questions of policy and institutional design. Some principles of IPT can be criticized for being insufficiently precise, but a degree of abstraction from concrete policy recommendations is a virtue, rather than a vice, of IPT. I discuss this issue with reference to John Rawls’s principle of a duty of assistance.

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