Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

We investigate policy actors’ experiences of the implementation of state takeover policy in three primarily Black school districts in St. Louis, MO using a systems theory approach. Authors conducted qualitative interviews with policy actors from three St. Louis districts and other select districts across the nation who experienced a state appointed governance intervention. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify major themes. Three major themes emerged across 18 respondents: state-community divide, community suffering, and oppressive mechanisms. Results suggest an environment that may contribute to or create experiences of trauma. The implementation of state takeover policy intersects with heightened emotionality among many community members in primarily Black school districts. Health and trauma are rarely considered as educational policy feedback in the literature, particularly in discussions around state takeover. Future research must consider psychological implications of policy in historically marginalized districts and wider communities.

Keywords

state takeover educational policy community Black education health

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alvarez

Tulino

(2023). Racial conflict, violence and trauma: why race dialogues are critical to healing. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 36(8), 1487–1495. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2025480

Arsen

DeLuca

(2016). Which districts get into financial trouble and why: Michigan’s story. The Education Policy Center at Michigan State. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED574659.pdf

Arsen

Mason

M. L.

(2013). Seeking accountability through state-appointed emergency district management. Educational Policy, 27(2), 248–278. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904813475711

Bailey

(2023). Open Meetings and Records Law Missouri Attorney General. https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/SunshineLawHandbook-BAILEY-FINISHED-2023-2.pdf

Banathy

B. H.

(1991). Systems design of education: A journey to create the future. Educational Technology Publications.

Bowen

F. R.

Lewandowski

L. A.

Snethen

J. A.

Childs

Outlaw

F. H.

Greenberg

C. S.

Burke

P. J.

Sloand

Gary

DeSocio

(2022). A schema of toxic stress informed by racism, transgenerational stress, and disadvantage. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 36(2), 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2021.08.005

Buchanan

Fessenden

Lai

Park

Parlapiano

Tse

Wallace

Watkins

Yourish

(2015 August 10). What happened in Ferguson? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html#aug09_shooting

Burns

(2010). Race and support for state takeovers of local school districts. Urban Education, 45(3), 274–292. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085908322653

Cénat

J. M.

(2023). Complex Racial Trauma: Evidence, theory, assessment, and treatment. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(3), 675–687. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221120428

10.

Derfner

(1973). Racial discrimination and the right to vote. Vanderbilt Law Review, 26, 523.

11.

Fullilove

M. T.

(2004). Root shock: How tearing up city neighborhoods hurts America and what we can do about it. Ballantine Books.

12.

Furtado

Vargas

Corbett

Dwight

(2020). Still separate, still unequal: A call to level the uneven education playing field in St. Louis. Forward Through Ferguson. https://stillunequal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FTF_StillUnequal_Report_2020_web.pdf

13.

Gale

R. C.

Erhardt

Bounthavong

Reardon

C. M.

Damschroder

L. J.

Midboe

A. M.

(2019). Comparison of rapid vs in-depth qualitative analytic methods from a process evaluation of academic detailing in the Veterans Health Administration. Implementation Science : IS, 14(1), 11–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-019-0853-y

14.

Garira

(2024). A systemic perspective to realizing and improving quality of education in schools. International Journal of Educational Reform, 0(0), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/10567879231222862

15.

Goldsmith

R. E.

Martin

C. G.

Smith

C. P.

(2014). Systemic trauma. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 15(2), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2014.871666

16.

Helms

J. E.

Nicolas

Green

C. E.

(2010). Racism and ethnoviolence as Trauma: Enhancing professional training. Traumatology, 16(4), 53–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534765610389595

17.

Hennink

Kaiser

B. N.

(2022). Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: A systematic review of empirical tests. Social Science & Medicine, 292, 114523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114523

18.

Ifatunji

M. A.

Faustin

Lee

Wallace

. (2022). Black nativity and health disparities: A research paradigm for understanding the social determinants of health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15), 9166. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159166

19.

Jochim

(2016). Measures of last resort: Assessing strategies for state-initiated turnarounds. Linking state and local school improvement. Center on Reinventing Public Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED570486.pdf

20.

Kirkinis

Pieterse

A. L.

Martin

Agiliga

Brownell

(2021). Racism, racial discrimination, and trauma: A systematic review of the social science literature. Ethnicity and Health, 26(3), 392–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2018.1514453

21.

Kirmayer

L. J.

Gone

J. P.

Moses

(2014). Rethinking historical trauma. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(3), 299–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461514536358

22.

Lewinski

A. A.

Crowley

M. J.

Miller

Bosworth

H. B.

Jackson

G. L.

Steinhauser

White-Clark

McCant

Zullig

L. L.

(2021). Applied rapid qualitative analysis to develop a contextually appropriate intervention and increase the likelihood of uptake. Medical Care, 59(3), S242–S251. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001553

23.

Lincoln

Y. S.

Guba

E. G.

(1986). But is it rigorous? Trustworthiness and authenticity in naturalistic evaluation. New Directions for Program Evaluation, 1986(30), 73–84. https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.1427

24.

Liu

S. R.

D’Anna-Hernandez

Sandman

C. A.

Davis

E. P.

Glynn

L. M.

(2025). Discrimination and adverse birth outcomes among Latina women: The protective role of social support. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 31, 221–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000628

25.

Lopez

Riesco

H. S.

Goering

C. Z

. (2023). Obfuscating systemic racism: A critical policy discourse analysis on the operation of neoliberal ideas in media representation of a school district state takeover. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31(34). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.6707

26.

Marcucci

Park

Yoo

Harris

(2025). “We’re being erased. And nobody’s talking about that”: Race-conscious versus race-evasive perspectives on school board takeovers and policy termination recommendations. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 33, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.33.9115

27.

Maxwell

(2014). Historicizing historical trauma theory: Troubling the trans-generational transmission paradigm. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(3), 407–435. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461514531317

28.

McNall

Foster-Fishman

P. G.

(2007). Methods of rapid evaluation, assessment, and appraisal. American Journal of Evaluation, 28(2), 151–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214007300895

29.

Meadows

D. H.

(2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. Chelsea Green Publishing.

30.

Melton-Fant

(2022). Health Equity and the dynamism of Structural racism and Public Policy. Milbank Quarterly, 100(3), 628–649. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12581

31.

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2024). District demographic data. Missouri Comprehensive Data System. https://apps.dese.mo.gov/MCDS/Reports/SSRS_Print.aspx?Reportid=6c5b805c-5af7-4c33-be41-dc2b83ded4aa

32.

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (n.d). District homelessness data results 2016-2023. Author. https://dese.mo.gov/media/pdf/district-homeless-data-results-2016-2023

33.

Mohatt

N. V.

Thompson

A. B.

Thai

N. D.

Tebes

J. K.

(2014). Historical trauma as public narrative: A conceptual review of how history impacts present-day health. Social Science & Medicine, 106(1982), 128–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.043

34.

Morel

Nuamah

S. A.

(2020). Who governs? How shifts in political power shape perceptions of local government services. Urban Affairs Review, 56(5), 1503–1528.

35.

Mutuyimana

Maercker

(2023). Clinically relevant historical trauma sequelae: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 30(4), 729–739. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2836

36.

Oluwole

J. O.

Green

P. C.

(2009). State takeover of school districts: Race and the equal protection clause. Indiana Law Review, 42, 343. https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/practice/law-reviews/ilr/pdf/vol42p343.pdf

37.

Paradies

Ben

Denson

Elias

Priest

Pieterse

Gupta

Kelaher

Gee

(2015). Racism as a determinant of health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One, 10(9), e0138511. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138511

38.

Pryor

Herrick

Davis

J. A.

(2019). Voter ID laws: The disenfranchisement of minority voters? Political Science Quarterly, 134(1), 63–83. https://doi.org/10.1002/polq.12868

39.

Rhinesmith

Marcucci

Harris

Park

Coleman

Christian

Ritter

(2021). Exiting gracefully? Lessons on de-implementing state appointed governance from literature and stakeholder perspectives in Missouri. Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. https://www.primecenter.org/education-reports-database/dese-intervention

40.

Saldaña

(2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.). Sage.

41.

Santoro

W. A.

(2008). The civil rights movement and the right to vote: Black protest, segregationist violence and the audience. Social Forces, 86(4), 1391–1414. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0042

42.

Schueler

Lyon

M. A.

Bleiberg

(2023, October 24). Do state takeovers of school districts work? Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/do-state-takeovers-of-school-districts-work/

43.

Schueler

B. E.

Bleiberg

J. F.

(2022). Evaluating education governance: Does state takeover of school districts affect student achievement? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 41(1), 162–192. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22338

44.

Steiner

L. M.

(2005). State takeovers of individual schools. School restructuring options under No Child Left Behind: “What works when?.” https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED489527

45.

Tate

W. F.

Hamilton

Robertson

W. B.

Jones

B. D.

Wallington

E. T.

Schultz

L. M.

(2014). Who is my neighbor? Turner v. Clayton: A watershed moment in regional education. Journal of Negro Education, 83(3), 216–234. https://doi.org/10.7709/jnegroeducation.83.3.0216

46.

Welsh

R. O.

Williams

Little

Graham

(2019). Examining the narrative: An Analysis of the racial discourse embedded in state takeover. Equity & Excellence in Education, 52(4), 502–526. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2019.1691958

47.

Williams

D. R.

(2018). Stress and the mental health of populations of color: Advancing our understanding of race-related stressors. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 59(4), 466–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146518814251

48.

Wong

K. K.

Shen

F. X.

(2003). Measuring the effectiveness of city and state takeover as a school reform strategy. Peabody Journal of Education, 78(4), 89–119. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327930pje7804_06

49.

Wright

Whitaker

R. W.

Khalifa

Briscoe

(2020). The color of Neoliberal Reform: A Critical Race Policy Analysis of School District Takeovers in Michigan. Urban Education, 55(3), 424–447. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918806943

50.

Wrigley

(2019). The problem of reductionism in educational theory: Complexity, causality, values. Power and Education, 11(2), 145–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757743819845121 Original work published 2019.

51.

Wyatt

G. E.

Loeb

T. B.

Cooley-Strickland

Chin

Wyatt

L. E.

Smith-Clapham

A. M.

(2023). Novel methodologies using history to document the effects of African American sexual trauma: Perspectives of Gail E. Wyatt, PhD. American Psychologist, 78(4), 563–575. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001132

Emotional Impact of State Takeovers: What Do We Accept as Collateral Damage of Emergency Management School Governance?

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References