Most approaches to improving education in the United States fail; some succeed in certain schools only to fail elsewhere. Why? The main thesis of this study is that various programs to school reform fail because they neglect to consider the role of legitimacy as an intervening factor as a school moves from a strict bureaucratic to a community governance regime. This article develops and estimates a causal model describing the relationship between bureaucracy, legitimacy, and community as predictors of teachers' job satisfaction-an important school outcome that is highly related to student achievement. Data for the study are from a national survey of National Education Association teacher members.
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