Advertisement

Journal of Educational Change

, Volume 12, Issue 3, pp 281–300 | Cite as

Overlooking the descent: Operational definition, identification, and description of school decline

  • Craig Hochbein
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Educators, researchers, politicians, and the media have committed considerable time, attention, and effort to chronically low-performing schools. Although many have chided the schools for their unacceptable performance or designed strategies to improve them, few have sought to understand how these schools became chronically low-performing in the first place. Better knowledge of how schools decline into chronic low-performance will allow interested stakeholders to potentially prevent and turnaround chronically low-performing schools. However, before understanding the factors and processes associated with or contributing to school decline, researchers must first properly define and identify the process. This paper offers four operational definitions of school decline, applies those definitions to a population of schools, and evaluates the utility of each definition.

Keywords

School decline School turnaround Organizational performance School change Organizational theory 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Andrews, R., Boyne, G. A., & Enticott, G. (2006). Performance failure in the public sector: Misfortune or mismanagement. Public Management Review, 8(2), 273–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Brockner, J., Davy, J., & Carter, C. (1985). Layoffs, self-esteem, and survivor guilt: Motivational, affective, and attitudinal consequences. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 36(2), 229–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Brookover, W. B., & Lezotte, L. W. (1979). Changes in school characteristics coincident with changes in student achievement. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, Institute for Research on Teaching.Google Scholar
  4. Cameron, K. S., Kim, M. U., & Whetten, D. A. (1987a). Organizational effects of decline and turbulence. Administrative Science Quarterly, 32(2), 222–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Cameron, K. S., Whetten, D. A., & Kim, M. U. (1987b). Organizational dysfunctions of decline. The Academy of Management Journal, 30(1), 126–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Cameron, K. S., Sutton, R. I., & Whetten, D. A. (Eds.). (1988). Readings in organizational decline. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company.Google Scholar
  7. Comer, J. P. (2004). Leave no child behind: Preparing today’s youth for tomorrow’s world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
  8. Commission on No Child Left Behind. (2007). Beyond NCLB. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.Google Scholar
  9. D’Aveni, R. A. (1989). The aftermath of organizational decline: A longitudinal study of the strategic and managerial characteristics of declining firms. The Academy of Management Journal, 32(3), 577–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Dillon, S. (2008, October 13). Under ‘No Child’ law, even solid schools falter. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
  11. Duke, D. L. (1995). The school that refused to die. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
  12. Duke, D. L. (2007). Keys to sustaining successful school turnaround. Unpublished manuscript, Darden-Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education, Charlottesville, VA.Google Scholar
  13. Duke, D. L. (2008). Understanding school decline. International Studies in Educational Administration, 36(2), 46–65.Google Scholar
  14. Duke, D. L., & Cohen, J. S. (1983). Do public schools have a future? A case study of retrenchment and its implications. The Urban Review, 15(2), 89–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Duke, D. L., & Hochbein, C. D. (2008). Rising to the challenges of studying school decline. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 7(4), 358–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Frangos, S. J., & Bennett, S. J. (1993). Team zebra: How 1500 partners revitalized Eastman Kodak’s black and white film-making flow. Essex Junction, VT: Oliver Wight Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
  17. Gebeloff, R. (2008, September 28). An F school? Depends on how it’s judged. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
  18. Grant, G. (1988). The world we created at Hamilton High. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  19. Guy, M. E. (1989). From organizational decline to organizational renewal: The phoenix syndrome. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Inc.Google Scholar
  20. Hall, R. I. (1976). A system pathology of an organization: The rise and fall of the old Saturday Evening Post. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21(2), 185–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Hambrick, D. C., & D’Aveni, R. A. (1988). Large corporate failures as downward spirals. Administrative Science Quarterly, 33(1), 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1977). The population ecology of organizations. The American Journal of Sociology, 82(5), 929–964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Herman, R., Dawson, P., Dee, T., Greene, J., Maynard, R., & Redding, S. (2008). Turning around chronically low-performing schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.Google Scholar
  24. Kanter, R. M. (2003). Leadership and the psychology of turnarounds. Harvard Business Review, 81(6), 58–67.Google Scholar
  25. Kanter, R. M. (2004). Confidence. New York: Crown Business.Google Scholar
  26. Lewis, M. (2003). Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.Google Scholar
  27. Lorange, P., & Nelson, R. T. (1987). How to recognize—and avoid—organizational decline. Sloan Management Review, 28(3), 41–48.Google Scholar
  28. Lubienski, C., Crane, C., & Lubienski, S. T. (2008). What do we know about school effectiveness? Academic gains in public and private schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(9), 689–695.Google Scholar
  29. McKelvey, B. (1988). Organizational decline from the population perspective. In K. S. Cameron, R. I. Sutton, & D. A. Whetten (Eds.), Readings in organizational decline (pp. 399–410). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company.Google Scholar
  30. Meyer, A. D. (1982). Adapting to environmental jolts. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27(4), 515–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Meyer, A. D. (1988). Organizational decline from the organizational perspective. In K. S. Cameron, R. I. Sutton, & D. A. Whetten (Eds.), Readings in organizational decline (pp. 411–416). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company.Google Scholar
  32. Meyer, M. W., & Zucker, L. G. (1989). Permanently failing organizations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
  33. Murphy, J., & Meyers, C. V. (2008). Turning around failing schools: Leadership lessons from the organizational sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.Google Scholar
  34. Ogbu, J. U. (2003). Black American students in an affluent suburb: A study of academic disengagement. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Inc.Google Scholar
  35. Porter, M. E. (1979). How competitive forces shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 57(2), 137–145.Google Scholar
  36. Porter, M. E. (1996). What is strategy? Harvard Business Review, 74(6), 61–80.Google Scholar
  37. Purkey, S. C., & Smith, M. S. (1983). Effective schools: A review. The Elementary School Journal, 83(4), 426–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Rosenblatt, Z., & Sheaffer, Z. (2001). Brain drain in declining organizations: Toward a research agenda. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 409–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Rowan, B., Bossert, S. T., & Dwyer, D. C. (1983). Research on effective schools: A cautionary note. Educational Researcher, 12(4), 24–31.Google Scholar
  40. Ryan, W. P. (1999). The new landscape for nonprofits. Harvard Business Review, 77(1), 127–136.Google Scholar
  41. Staw, B. M., Sandelands, L. E., & Dutton, J. E. (1981). Threat-rigidity effects in organizational behavior: A multilevel analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 26(4), 501–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Stone, D. A. (2002). Policy paradox: The art of political decision making (Rev. ed.). New York: Norton.Google Scholar
  43. Tyack, D., & Hansot, E. (1990). Learning together: A history of coeducation in American public schools. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
  44. Weitzel, W., & Jonsson, E. (1989). Decline in organizations: A literature integration and extension. Administrative Science Quarterly, 34(1), 91–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Whetten, D. A. (1987). Organizational growth and decline processes. Annual Review of Sociology, 13, 335–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Wimpelberg, R. K., Teddlie, C., & Stringfield, S. (1989). Sensitivity to context: The past and future of effective schools research. Educational Administration Quarterly, 25(1), 82–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Leadership, Foundations, and Human Resource Education, College of Education and Human DevelopmentUniversity of LouisvilleLouisvilleUSA

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options