ERIC Number: EJ924353
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jun
Pages: 34
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0002-8312
EISSN: N/A
Organizational Routines as Coupling Mechanisms: Policy, School Administration, and the Technical Core
Spillane, James P.; Parise, Leigh Mesler; Sherer, Jennifer Zoltners
American Educational Research Journal, v48 n3 p586-619 Jun 2011
The institutional environment of America's schools has changed substantially as government regulation has focused increasingly on the core technical work of schools--instruction. The authors explore the school administrative response to this changing environment, describing how government regulation becomes embodied in the formal structure of four schools. Working at coupling government regulation with classroom teaching, school leaders transformed the formal structure, paying particular attention to designing new organizational routines. Analyzing the performance of these routines, the authors show how both government regulation and the technical core featured prominently, if selectively, and explore how routines enabled coupling by promoting standardization through alignment with common standards, by monitoring teacher and student performance, and by making aspects of instruction transparent. (Contains 3 notes and 4 tables.)
Descriptors: Institutional Environment, Educational Environment, Government School Relationship, Public Officials, Educational Policy, Political Power, School Administration, Course Content, Teacher Responsibility, Accountability, Educational Change, Educational Practices, Resistance to Change, Alignment (Education), School Organization, Behavior Patterns, Repetition, Teacher Administrator Relationship
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Illinois; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A