State Takeovers Research Articles

Does Nationalization Work? Evidence from Russian State Takeovers

Does Nationalization Work? Evidence from Russian State Takeovers

Relaxing the shackles: The invisible pendulum

AbstractThis note draws on Polanyi's pendulum in economic policies presented in the the Great Transformation—with swings back and forth between strong restrictions on the market and market domination, each resulting from excesses of the dominant model. The swing he described, when he wrote, was a reaction to the consequences of market domination, notably the Great Depression, and ushered in Keynesianism and the welfare state. In the late twentieth century, there was a swing back towards the market as a result of the inefficiencies associated with this interventionism. This note argues that the pendulum is swinging again, following the political and economic consequences of this market domination. Again market forces are being restrained by regulation, state takeovers, social protection and Keynesian macro‐policies, while environmental factors have added to pressures for interventionist policies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Race and Support for State Takeovers of Local School Districts

State takeovers of local school districts represent one of the most recent kinds of education reform. Americans favor both local control over education and state takeovers of failing schools. African American leaders tend to oppose takeovers, but survey data suggest that African American citizens support greater state influence over local education. To explain these paradoxes, this study examines conditions under which jurisdictions support state intervention. It concludes that opposition to this reform emanates from jurisdictions where large percentages of African American voters turn out at high rates. The percentage of a jurisdiction’s schools eligible for takeover because of academic deficiencies exerts a statistically insignificant effect on aggregate-level votes for intervention.

State Takeovers of School Districts: Race and the Equal Protection Clause

State Takeovers of School Districts: Race and the Equal Protection Clause

Besieged: school boards and the future of education politics

School boards are fighting for their survival. Almost everything that they do is subject to regulations handed down from city councils, state boards of education, legislatures, and courts. As recent mayoral and state takeovers in such cities as Baltimore, Chicago, and New York make abundantly clear, school boards that do not fulfill the expectations of other political players may be stripped of what few independent powers they still retain. Teachers unions exert growing influence over board decision-making processes. And with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government has aggressively inserted itself into matters of local education governance. Besieged is the first full-length volume in many years to systematically examine the politics that surround school boards. A group of highly renowned scholars, relying on both careful case studies and quantitative analyses, examine how school boards fare when they interact with their political superiors, teachers unions, and the public. For the most part, the picture that emerges is sobering: while school boards perform certain administrative functions quite well, the political pressures they face undermine their capacity to institute the wide-ranging school reforms that many voters and local leaders are currently demanding.

Parental Choice and the Decision to Decharter an Urban, Black, Middle School

ABSTRACT This article unpacks the decision to decharter a successful urban middle school serving African American students, especially focusing on parental choice in a school caught between two urban reform initiatives: charter schooling and state takeovers of urban districts. Originally chartered by a university, DeCharter became a “school of choice” in an urban district. Though inclusion of all stakeholders motivated charter school decision-making, the decision to decharter excluded them. Working out the intricacies of “choice” and the influences of the policies on stakeholders' interpretations of dechartering illustrates the complexities of parental choice in urban districts and the unintended effects of reform initiatives.

Measuring the Effectiveness of City and State Takeover as a School Reform Strategy

n increasing number of states and cities are allowing fortakeovers of school districts,either by a state authority orby the mayor.Twenty-four states allow state takeovers oflocal school districts, permitting state officials to exert authorityover a district in the case of “academic bankruptcy” or woefullylow-performing schools.School district takeovers have occurred in18 states and the District of Columbia.Even in states without takeover laws, school district takeoversare becoming a high-profile issue. In Missouri, for instance, statelawmakers have considered a bill allowing for the immediatetakeover of the Kansas City school district. On the other side ofthe state,mayoral takeover of the school district became an impor-tant campaign issue during the 2001 St.Louis mayoral campaign,when five of the six candidates said “they wouldn’t hesitate to pushfor a takeover if the city’s schools lose their accreditation.” Even-tual winner Francis Slay warned that although he doesn’t want toimplement a takeover,“if partnership and cooperation don’t work,[he] won’t be afraid to take drastic action.”

Teaching Democracy: What Schools Need to Do

Mr. Kahne and Mr. Westheimer studied 10 educational programs whose objective -- to develop democratic citizens -- is largely ignored by school reform policy. Schools can fulfill this mission, they discovered, through specific strategies that promote civic commitments, capacities, and connections. WHICH OF THE following headlines never appeared in a daily newspaper? a. Capital City Students Show No Gain in Reading, Math -- Governor Threatens Takeover b. Middletown Schools to Be Taken Over by State for Failure to Develop Democratic Citizens If you answered b, you not only answered correctly, your response also reflected an important challenge facing our democracy today. While we say that we value a democratic society, the very institutions expected to prepare democratic citizens -- our schools -- have moved far from this central mission. There is now frequent talk of state takeovers of schools that fail to raise test scores in math or reading, but it is unimaginable that any school would face such an action because it failed to prepare its graduates for democratic citizenship. The headlines we read are about test scores, basic skills, and the role schools play in preparing students for jobs in the Information Age. The vast bulk of school resources are going to literacy, mathematics, science, and vocational education. In 2003, for example, federal expenditures by the Department of Education on civic education totaled less than half of one percent of the overall department budget.1 And when it comes to assessment, civic goals get very little attention. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act mandates yearly testing in math, reading, and, beginning in 2005, science. Social studies and civic education, the areas of the curriculum most tied to the democratic mission of schools, share no such requirements. Similarly, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is often referred to as the Nation's Report Card, measures performance in math and reading annually -- but administers a civics assessment only about once every 10 years. Clearly, math, reading, and science are important, but, from the standpoint of supporting a democratic society, academic subject matter, when disconnected from its social relevance, is insufficient. The same can be said of colleges and universities. Their commitments to democratic priorities are more rhetorical than substantive. We are concerned here with what is not being discussed in the newspapers. We are concerned that the great school debates of our time give short shrift to a fundamental principle that, for more than two centuries, informed efforts to advance the notion of public schooling. This article addresses an important gap in our education agenda: preparing students to be effective democratic citizens. For the past three years, we studied 10 educational programs, funded by the Surdna Foundation, that were unusual in that they put the challenge of educating for democratic citizenship at the center of their efforts.2 We studied 10th-graders evaluating a juvenile detention center, ninth-graders studying the feasibility of curbside recycling, and 11th-graders reporting to the public on the availability of affordable housing in their community. We examined programs that exposed university students to community development projects in Silicon Valley, brought theology majors to a reservation to study the history of Native American experience, and led students interested in social movements on an intensive journey through historical sites of the civil rights movement. We visited an adult education program with a 70-year history of working for social and economic change through education and democratic action. All in all, we interviewed dozens of instructors and students, administered more than 500 surveys, observed pedagogical practices, and examined portfolios of student work. These programs share an emphasis on helping students to identify and act on issues of importance to themselves and to society. …

Policy Issues and Options When States Take over Local School Districts

ABSTRACT Critical issues concerning the state takeover of local school districts are outlined in this paper. Three major topics are addressed: situational factors leading to intervention; the legitimacy of state power; and appropriate beneficial conditions of state takeover. The most frequent reasons for state intervention involve concerns about equity, accountability, and different effectiveness levels of schools with similar resources and populations. A discussion of the issue of state legitimacy concludes that the state has the legitimate power to intervene. However, the extent to which responsibility is part of such power is less clearly defined. Recommendations specify that future state takeovers must provide usable expertise and resources to the local schools involved, utilize multidimensional evaluations of school effectiveness, and clearly define state and local functions. Finally, because the primary reason for intervention is the protection of children's rights, cooperation is crucial. (20 references) (LMI)