The literature on effective schools suggests that building level power is associated with increased student performance. To the extent that central district offices try to assert their power over school buildings, one would hypothesize that students' performance would decline. This study uses the National Educational Longitudinal Study as a database to test this expectation. This database traces students interviewed in 8th grade until their graduation from high school. Results suggest that intrusive central offices are associated with somewhat lower student performance.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Arbuckle, J. (1993) AMOS 3.1. Philadelphia, PA: James Arbuckle.
2.
Bentler P.M. and Bonett, D.G. (1980) 'Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures', Psychological Bulletin88: 588-606.
3.
Bickel, W.E. (1990) 'The Effective Schools Literature: Implications for Research and Practice', in T.B. Gutkin and C.R. Reynolds (eds) The Handbook of School Psychology, 2nd edn, pp. 847-867. New York: John Wiley.
4.
Chubb, J.E. and Moe, T.M. (1988) 'Politics, Markets, and the Organization of Schools', American Political Science Review82: 1065-1088.
5.
Chubb, J.E. and Moe, T.M. (1990) Politics, Markets, and America's Schools. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institute.
6.
Doyle, D.P. and Finn, C.E., Jr. (1984) 'American Schools and the Future of Local Control', The Public Interest77: 77-95.
7.
Ferguson, J.M. and Nochelski, P. (1996) 'The Power of Letting Go', The American School Board Journal183 (April): 37-39.
8.
Fullan, M. (1996) 'Professional Culture and Educational Change', School Psychology Review25: 496-500.
9.
Goodlad, J.J. (1992) 'A Study of Schooling: Some Implications for School Improvement', in E. Stevens, Jr. and G.H. Wood (eds) Justice, Ideology, and Education, 2nd edn, pp. 350-363. New York: McGraw-Hill.
10.
Grosin, L. (1993) 'School Effectiveness Research as a Point of Departure for School Evaluation', Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research37: 317-330.
11.
Joreskog, K.G. and Sorbom, D. (1993) LISREL 8. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Keith, T.Z. (in press) 'Structural Equation Modeling in School Psychology', in C.R. Reynolds and T.B. Gutkin (eds) Handbook of School Psychology, 3rd edn.New York: John Wiley.
14.
Keith, T.Z. (1997) 'Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis to Aid in Understanding the Constructs Measured by Intelligence Tests', in D.P. Flanagan, J.L. Genshaft, and P.L. Harrison (eds) Beyond Traditional Intellectual Assessment. New York: Guilford.
15.
Keith, T.Z. , Keith, P.B., Troutman, G.C., Bickley, P.G., Trivette, P.S. and Singh, K. (1993) 'Does Parental Involvement Affect Eighth Grade Student Achievement?', School Psychology Review22: 474-496.
16.
Kirst, M.W. (1988) 'Who Should Control Our Schools?', NEA Today6: 74-79.
17.
Long, J.S. (1983a) Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences.
18.
Long, J.S. (1983b) Covariance Structure Models. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences.
19.
Oswald, L.J. (1995) 'School-Based Management', ERIC Digest, Number 99.
20.
Peterson, D. (1991) 'School-Based Management and Student Performance', ERIC Digest, Document Number 62.
21.
Phillips, V. , Boysen, T.C. and Schuster, S.A. (1997) 'Psychology's Role in Statewide Education Reform: Kentucky as an Example', American Psychologist52: 250-255.
22.
Purkey, S.C. and Smith, M.S. (1983) 'Effective Schools: A Review', The Elementary School Journal83: 427-452.
23.
Riley, R. (1996) 'Improving America's Schools', School Psychology Review25: 477-484.
24.
Rosenholtz, S.J. (1985) 'Effective Schools: Interpreting the Evidence', American Journal of Education May: 352-388.
25.
Sharma, S. (1996) 'Covariance Structure Models', in Subbash Sharma, Applied Multivariate Techniques. New York: John Wiley.
26.
Tirozzi, G.N. and Uro, G. (1997) 'Education Reform in the United States', American Psychologist52: 241-249.
27.
Wirt, F. W. and Kirst, M.W. (1992) Schools in Conflict, 3rd edn.Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing.
