The efficacy of the school governance models of local board of education control and mayoral control in relation to student achievement: a comparison study with implications for Educational Leaders

摘要

Fueled by the demand for increased student achievement in schools among many metropolitan cities, an emerging trend in school governance models has gained the attention of mayors, governors, house and senate representatives who have a vested interest in the results of local schools. This trend a move away from the structure of local school board control of schools toward mayoral control of school has been a response many cities sought to implement in the wake of stagnating student achievement. To aid other cities in the decision to change, the goal of this quantitative study was to investigate if changing the structure of school governance from local school board control to mayoral control would result in a positive or negative influence on student achievement by analyzing student achievement data. Four mid- and large-city school districts were chosen to conduct this ex postfacto study using existing data from national datasets, state department of education, school district, and local school web sites for the 2010-2011 academic school year. This study yielded the following results in reading achievement, (t = -1.813, df= 85, p u3e 0.05); math achievement, (t = -1.900, df= 84.9 or rounded to 85, p u3e 0.05), along with Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status (t = -.904, df = 85, p u3e 0.05). Thus, the primary finding of this study determined a statistically significant difference was not found in student achievement among elementary schools governed by local school board control than elementary schools governed by mayoral control. The researcher made recommendations for improvements in administrative practice and policy as well as recommendations for future research.