Institutional v. Technical Environments: Reconciling the Goals of Decentralization in an Evolving Charter School Organization
Peabody Journal of Education: Issues of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations - Vol. 84, No. 2
Luis A. Huerta, Teachers College, Columbia University
ABSTRACT
This article analyzes how macro-level institutional forces persist and limit the expansion of decentralized schools that attempt to challenge normative definitions and practices of traditional school organizations. Using qualitative case study methodology, the analysis focuses on how one decentralized charter school navigated and reconciled its internal objectives linked to meeting the needs of a Latino, inner-city student population, with the institutional pressures and demands external to the organization. The findings suggest that decentralized school choice options which promise community-based participation and control are constrained by institutionalized rule-based demands that limit the expansion of alternative schooling models which may hold potential for promoting access, voice and equity for parents, students, and teachers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Luis A. Huerta is an Associate Professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University in the Department of Organization and Leadership, where he teaches courses in education policy, school finance and sociology. His research on school choice analyzes how the reforms are interpreted, their effect on equity and the democratic goals of schooling, the role of the government in promoting reforms that devolve public authority to local actors, and their effectiveness and efficiency.
