School Choice Program
This study aimed to determine the impact of school choice through a comparative study of two private schools, which serve primarily, or exclusively African-American students, and a public school.
Data in student achievement in math and reading and data on student attendance were used to determine the impact of choosing a school. Qualitative data derived from interviews with administrators and faculty as well as classroom observation were used to provide additional insight regarding the intellectual climate of the two private schools and the public school.
The focus of this study was on mathematics and reading in middle school students in both public and private schools in Milwaukee, as well as the focus of reform in the state -- reading in Michigan, writing in Vermont and California. This approach enabled me to adequately address my research questions and prove or disprove my hypotheses.
To begin, I conducted structured interviews with teacher educators and other providers of professional development, and district and school administrators in each school. Through these interviews, parental involvement, student achievement, knowledge of African-American culture, and degree of cultural awareness of students was determined. I interviewed teachers from each of the participating schools.
The purpose of the interviews and questionnaires was to obtain information on student performance, ultimately determining the impact of school choice on performance. All student performance reports were submitted without names, guaranteeing anonymity, unless permission was obtained to use names.
Scope and Limitations of Research
This study used a qualitative case study methodology, based on teacher interviews, supplemented by quantitative data analysis of the teacher questionnaires and student performance reports. Analysis of the qualitative data consisted of three stages.
The first stage involved "within case" analysis for each school site and resulted in a case study for each school. This case study was developed by observation of each school. The second stage entailed comparative analyses of the school, in which I compared and contrasted across school findings and analyzed individual school data to generate case study results. The third stage of analysis involved comparisons of the teacher interviews to develop a personal perspective of how the actual people involved in the day-to-day operation viewed the impact of school choice on student performance.
Three are limitations to this study, as the small size and non-representative sample of participants included in this study do not allow me to generalize about performances throughout schools or districts. The questionnaire data, however, taken together with the interview data, does provide insights into the implications of MPCP and student performance.
Previous Studies
Since the introduction of educational vouchers as an alternative for financing and organizing elementary and secondary education, there have been many debates about this subject. Recent evidence about the effects of class size on academic achievement from randomized experiments suggests that the impact of school choice is important. However, the evidence about the research producing these effects is still lacking.
Witte (1996) sums up the general theory regarding the Milwaukee student choice program: "The two eternal issues of American education policy are: (1) How to improve achievement? And (2) Who will achieve at higher rates? The achievement issue was the focus of Milton Friedman's original theory and policy proposal (1955, 1962). Friedman argued that neighborhood effects of quasi-monopolistic public education would lead to inefficiencies both on the consumption and production side. Consumers would be limited to local schools which might not be the best match or option; production would be characterized by classic monopoly overpricing and inefficiency. The answer was to provide all students with vouchers which were the equivalent of educational costs. They could be used in any school for the purchase of education. The results: more efficient production of education and a commensurate increase in student learning. The equity issue was not directly addressed."
Arguments in favor of school choice rely on the idea that competition between schools increases the quality and efficiency of education. Organizational theory suggests that competition from private schools has a negative effect on the organizational structure of public schools.
As a result, it can be suggested that by changing the organizational structure of the public schools, competition from the private school sector may affect student performance in the public schools. This study analyzed the impact of choosing a smaller private school on academic performance in the public schools taking into account the organizational theory's ideas of contrasting institutional and environmental forces.
The relationship between the size of the private school sector and public school resources, particularly student to teacher ratios, was the focus of this study. Students' cognitive growth as measured by student performance reports was used to assess differences in outcomes in the public and private schools.
Findings indicate that school choice has a significant impact on the performance of low-income and minority students.
The issue of school choice has been a contested issue in California since 1980, when a voucher initiative failed to qualify for the ballot as a constitutional referendum (Dianda and Corwin, 1993). When the issue came up again in 1992, specific questions came up about private schools' probable responses to the implementation of a school choice initiative.
To examine the effect of a voucher program on private schools, the Southwest Regional Laboratory sent survey to all private schools in California eligible to participate in a proposed program that would provide families with a $2,600 voucher to pay for tuition at a private school. Questions of interest to educators and policymakers, such as whether private schools will participate in a voucher program, as well as the availability, affordability, and accessibility of private schools to voucher-redeeming students from public schools, were raised in the survey. The 1,004 respondents were intended to represent all private schools in California.
Highlights of the findings include the following (Dianda and Corwin, 1993):
75% of private schools indicate a high likelihood of accepting voucher-redeeming students from public schools;
Low-tuition private schools and religious schools indicated a greater receptivity to vouchers than high-tuition and non-religious schools;
Most private schools are nearly full and would need to expand staffing or space to accommodate new students;
Most private schools willing to accept students are affordable (60% charge less than the voucher amount), however some schools indicated that tuition would increase under a voucher program;
Voucher-receptive schools would require students to demonstrate grade-level achievement for admission;
Minority students have access to private schools, particularly Catholic schools and those charging lower tuition however few students from low-income families or non-English-speaking students attend private schools.
Based on these results, the authors conclude that, because so few private schools will be able to easily accommodate public schools students, a voucher program will affect only a small portion of public school students. Correspondingly, a statewide voucher program will not significantly alter public school enrollment.
The schools most interested in accepting public school students will be low- and moderate-tuition schools and schools with religious affiliations that are geared toward larger classes and higher student-to-teacher ratios. In addition, students who are not doing well academically will find few opportunities in private schools. Finally, under a voucher program, private schools are unlikely to educate many students from disadvantaged or language-minority backgrounds.
Highlights of the findings indicate that students in many voucher programs achieve at higher levels compared to students at similar income levels (Fuller, 1995). Parents who are most committed to education enter the voucher program at higher rates. Parents in the Milwaukee voucher program tend to have higher levels of satisfaction with their schools and their child's educational experience.
However, there appear to be no gains in student achievement associated with participation in the voucher program. Montgomery County has the longest-running magnet program. Parents in the program tend to choose schools where there are children who most resemble their child. In addition, racial-ethnic minority parents tend to know little about the program.
The author states that sharp distinctions exist between choosing and non-choosing families. While the programs provide an attractive option for low-income families, those who choose tend to be better off economically and to have higher educational expectations for their children. The children of the lowest-income families and with the least-involved parents tend to be least likely to participate in choice programs. The details of how the programs are designed, along with selectivity, tend to contribute to the differences in participation.
Basically, the debate about school choice programs centers around one question: Are private schools better than public schools? According to Witte (1992), recent research resulted in information about large differences in characteristics of the public and private sectors. Private schools are mostly religious; most of them are in the suburbs and are smaller and more homogeneous than public schools. Private school students participate in more advanced-level courses and are less involved in school discipline problems than public school students. Students in private schools also score higher on tests.
Still, according to Witte, gains in achievement in high school are modest in public schools and only slightly higher in private schools. All studies reviewed indicated the statistical effects of prior achievement. The conclusion is that once the school characteristics and background characteristics (such as race and gender) of the public and private schools are statistically equated, public and private schools appear to produce similar gains in achievement.
According to Witte (1996), "The general theory was devoid of any specification of exactly how schools would produce superior results. If competition alone is the impetus for improvement, then the mechanisms need not be spelled out. Market iteration will sort out schools for consumers based on superior production. Curriculum, organization, pedagogy, and governance structures of the superior schools will survive, and presumably become the models for other schools. Friedman's original proposal contained few specifics, which subsequent scholars and policy experts have argued are crucial in defining a viable voucher program and, more important, defining who might benefit from such a program. The design of a program will affect who benefits. A limited and targeted voucher program, such as the MPCP, may have the advantage of providing benefits for students most in need of help, while those same students might be harmed by a broad-based, unlimited voucher system. Those who foresee a broad market system, with the wonders of competition spread ubiquitously across the student population, argue either that most students will benefit, or at least that benefits will more closely match abilities. Those more pessimistic argue that existing inequities in our education system will grow because vouchers will allow for further stratification by socioeconomic status, race, and/or ability. Which way vouchers lead may depend on the existing private-school market."
This study will examine results from real students involved in the school choice program in Milwaukee.
Results of Study
This study will examine student performance reports that have been drawn from two distinct populations. One sample will consist of interviews with teachers and administrators from the participating schools. This sample will contribute qualitative data. As mentioned in previous chapters, the school populations from which the student samples will be drawn are 300, 285, and 350, respectively. All students are low income, and tuition for them is paid with parental school choice program vouchers. Of the two private and one public schools, the percentages of African-American students are 100%, 97%, and 94%, respectively. One of the two private schools and the one public school are in zip code 53205, and the other private school is in zip code 53208.
The following charts examine the attendance, reading and mathematic grades taken from 45 students in Urban Day School, Urban Waldorf and Milwaukee Public School. In each school, the performance reports of 15 students with similar backgrounds were recorded for comparison.
TABLE 1 -- Student Progress Report Attendance Findings for Milwaukee Public School
Student A Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student B
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student C
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student D
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student E
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student F
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student G
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student H
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student I
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student J
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student K
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student L
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student M
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student N
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student O
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
During Period One, the total number of absences among the 15 students was 22. There were a total of 9 incidents of tardiness. During Period Two, the total number of absences among the 15 students was 56. There were a total of 11 incidents of tardiness.
TABLE 2 -- Student Progress Report Attendance Findings for Woodson Academy
Student A Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student B
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student C
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student D
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student E
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student F
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student G
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student H
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student I
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student J
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student K
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student L
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student M
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student N
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student O
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
During Period One, the total number of absences among the 15 students was 27. There were no incidents of tardiness. During Period Two, the total number of absences among the 15 students was 50. There were no incidents of tardiness.
TABLE 3 -- Student Progress Report Attendance Findings for Urban Day Middle School
Student A Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student B
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student C
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student D
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student E
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student F
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student G
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student H
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student I
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student J
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student K
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student L
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student M
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student N
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
Student O
Period
One
Two
Three
Four
Days Absent
Times Tardy
During Period One, the total number of absences among the 15 students was 32. There were 62 incidents of tardiness. During Period Two, the total number of absences among the 15 students was 44. There were 16 incidents of tardiness.
Attendance Results
The total amount of absences for the participating students during both periods is as follows:
Milwaukee Public School reported 78 absences and 20 incidents of tardiness.
The Woodson Academy reported 77 absences and no incidents of tardiness.
The Urban Day School reported 76 absences and 78 incidents of tardiness.
TABLE 4 -- "Reading Scores for Milwaukee Public School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 5 -- "Reading Scores for Woodson Academy Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 5 -- "Reading Scores for Urban Day School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 6 -- "Math Scores for Milwaukee Public School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 7 -- "Math Scores for Woodson Academy Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 8 -- "Math Scores for Urban Day School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
Results
To determine which of these schools had the highest academic achievement in Math and Reading, we employed the following system. Because the Milwaukee Public School used a different grading system, the scores of public school students were altered to compare them to the scores of private school students. The following changes were made for the Milwaukee Public School:
O=A
V=B
G=C
N=D
NC=F
To rate the performance of each of the schools, the following point system was used:
A=
B=
C=
D=
F=
Based on the points system, the following results were derived from the student progress reports of each of the three schools.
TABLE 9 -- "Reading Points for Milwaukee Public School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 10 -- "Reading Points for Woodson Academy Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 11 -- "Reading Points for Urban Day School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 12 -- "Math Points for Milwaukee Public School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 13 -- "Math Points for Woodson Academy Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
TABLE 14 -- "Math Points for Urban Day School Students
Period One
Period Two
Period Three
Period Four
These results reveal that the public school had lower results in all categories than the private schools. However, many would argue that these results are inconclusive because the private schools had less accountability requirements. Therefore, this study will examine interviews from several educational professionals, from Urban Day School,
Relevant Research
According to Greene, Peterson and Du (1997), "Evidence from the Milwaukee school choice program suggests that privatization may result in efficiency gains. Though costs per pupil are lower in private schools, students score higher on math and reading achievement tests."
Research shows that privatization could possibly enhance efficiency in three different ways. First, competition among providers may reduce the cost and improve the quality of services (Arrow, 1951, Dearden, Ickes and Samuelson 1990). Second, government-financed services may more accurately match consumer preferences, if the latter are given opportunities to sort themselves among a variety of options (Tiebout, 1956). Third, private producers may enlist the participation of consumers in the co-production of the services, thereby enhancing service quality and effectiveness (Ostrom, Parks, and Whitaker, 1978).
The government faces a problem in the educational sector, as public confidence in public schools remains very low. In 1993, only 19% of the population was willing to give schools a grade of A or B, a fall of 8 percentage points since a decade earlier. In addition, many public schools have failed to meet rising public expectations. Increasing costs with few gains in student achievement suggest that the public school system has become less efficient.
Therefore, it is expected that if parents are given vouchers to provide educational services for their children, efficiency gains accompanying privatization will result in enhanced student achievement (Chubb and Moe, 1990). Under this program, competition among schools increases. However, potential gains in student achievement as a result of privatization are still very controversial because empirical research has left many issues unresolved.
Two major research traditions have tried to estimate the comparative efficiency of private and public schools, yet neither has provided a definitive answer. The first research tradition analyzed data from national samples (High School and Beyond, National Longitudinal Study of Youth, and the National Education Longitudinal Study) to estimate the achievement effects of attending public and private schools. Most of these studies discovered that students who attend private schools score higher on achievement tests or are more likely to attend college. Due to the fact that private schools are typically less expensive than public schools, these studies hint that there is greater efficiency in the private sector.
The second research tradition utilizes studies that evaluate the test performance of students from low-income or at-risk backgrounds who have received scholarships that permitted them to move from public to private schools. These studies also report that private schools produce higher levels of student achievement with lower costs per pupil.
A previous evaluation of the Milwaukee choice program reports no systematic achievement effects of enrollment in a private school, but this evaluation compared students from low-income families with public school students from more advantaged backgrounds, leaving open the possibility that unobserved background characteristics could account for these negative findings.
With the exception of the Milwaukee evaluation, most studies find efficiency gains from the privatization of educational services. However, all studies are incomplete due to potential selection bias, as all studies rely on non-experimental data that include unobserved but relevant background characteristics that could account for the reported findings.
One way to improve on previous research is to conduct an experiment that avoids selection bias by randomly assigning students to treatment and control groups. With random assignment, members of the two groups can be assumed to be similar, on average, in all respects other than the treatment they receive. Differences in average outcomes can be reasonably attributed to the experimental condition.
The Milwaukee choice program provides a voucher to a limited number of students from low-income families, which pays tuition at private schools in Milwaukee. This program tests the hypothesis that efficiency gains can be achieved through privatization yet allows only a limited amount of competition among producers. This program states that no more than half of a school's enrollment could receive vouchers. In addition, only one percent of the Milwaukee public schools can participate, and students could not receive a voucher unless they had been attending a public school or were not of school age at the time of application.
This study suggests that choice in education may result in efficiency gains. The results reveal that the private schools experienced more positive results than the public school. The results reported in the main analysis for both math and reading are statistically significant for private school students.
These moderately large effects on student achievement were observed even though the Milwaukee plan offered students and families only a slightly enlarged set of educational choices. These achievement effects were produced at lower cost.
When examining the benefits of school choice programs, it is important to look at recent research regarding organizational culture, in an effort to study the leaders and subcultures of a single large urban school district by examining its rituals and artifacts, values, and basic assumptions in order to determine how the urban reform school program goes about ensuring its survival and success in a highly elaborate institutional environment, thus having a positive impact on low-income African-American students' struggle for full citizenship and equality.
Organizational Culture
Anthropologists and sociologists have studied culture for centuries, but the idea of organizational culture is relatively new. Since the introduction of the concept in the 1980's, researchers have attempted to define organizational culture, and determine its effects on the operation of organizations. Many organizations, including educational facilities, have recognized the importance of culture, and studies have aimed to identify the culture within these organizations.
However, organizational culture has proven to be a difficult concept to understand and study, as there is no agreement about what "culture" is, and thus not yet a widely recognized definition of organizational culture. There is disagreement about which theoretical position has to be taken - culture as expressive symbol, codes, or values and believes, and which methodology.
For instance, Schein (1987, p. 385) defined organizational culture as "a pattern of basic assumptions-invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration-that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems."
Trice and Beyer (1993) stated, "Cultures are collective phenomena that embody people's responses to the uncertainties and chaos that are inevitable in human experience. These responses fall into two major categories. The first is the substance of a culture -shared, emotionally charged belief system that we call ideologies. The second is cultural forms-observable entities, including actions, through which members of a culture express, affirm, and communicate the substance of their culture to one another."
These definitions both emphasize the idea of sharing. However, it must be noted, "culture depends upon both community and diversity. It allows for similarity, but also supports and relies upon difference. Sharing culture means that each member participates in and contributes to the broad patterns of culture, but the contributions and experiences of individual members of the culture are not identical (Hatch, 1997)."
As the result of extensive research on organizational culture, the concept can perhaps be best described as "the patterns of beliefs, values and learned ways of coping with experience that have developed during the course of an organization's history, and which tend to be manifested in its material arrangements and in the behaviors of its members (Brown, A. 1995)." This is the definition that will be used throughout this paper.
Characteristics of Organizational Culture
Studies show that there are many unique characteristics of organizational culture. Many researchers have tried to build these characteristics into various models, such as Hofstede's model manifestations of culture, and Schein's model levels of culture and their interactions. These characteristics are as follows:
Artifacts -- "Objects and physical arrangements, patterns of behavior, and abstract linguistic expressions, including stories and jokes. Some basic subcategories of artifacts include: material objects (i.e. annual reports and quarterly grades); physical layouts (how classroom space is used, open space, etc.); language (including stories, metaphors, myths and jargon terms; behavior patterns (rites and rituals, ceremonies, etc.); symbols (words, objects and characteristics of persona); and behavioral norms.
Values, beliefs and attitudes -- "Values are directly correlated with moral and ethical codes, meaning that they determine what people think should be done. Beliefs describe what people believe is true and untrue. In practice, beliefs and values are very similar. Attitudes connect beliefs and values to feelings.
Manifestations of Organizational Culture
According to Martin and Meyerson (1988), organizational culture research has assumed one of three theoretical perspectives: the integration, differentiation, or fragmentation perspective. This theoretical framework captures the major similarities and differences among the various approaches to the study of organizational culture.
The framework is based in what can be described as manifestations of a culture. According to Martin and Meyerson, three types of cultural manifestations are typically studied:
Forms, such as rituals, stories, jargon and humor. These forms are crucial because they give important information about the thoughts, beliefs and actions of an organization's members (in schools, this refers to students and employees).
Practices, which are either formal or informal. Formal practices, such as organizational structure, task and job descriptions, rules and procedures, are generally presented in writing, while informal practices, such as unwritten norms and communication patterns, are passed on through interaction and are uaually not written down; and Content themes, which are common threads of concern, which generally manifest through forms and practices.
By analyzing these manifestations, it is easier to understand organizational culture and its influence or effect on how the urban reform school programs go about ensuring their survival and success in a highly elaborate institutional environment, thus having a positive impact on low-income African-American students' struggle for full citizenship and equality.
The research questions can now be framed in relation to the area of interest. The research questions in this study are:
Do the manifestations of organizational culture affect the level of involvement of urban reform school programs in becoming quality-oriented?
How do the manifestations of organizational culture (stories, rituals, employees' way of think, believes, practices, etc.) affect the role of school leaders in strategy process and what are the implications for implementation of school reform programs?
How do the manifestations of organizational culture affect the communication, interpretation and adoption of quality-oriented strategies among members of the organization?
Elements of Quality Assurance
There are three main elements in quality assurance (Verbiest, 1998):
Establishing (new) targets that have to be achieved;
Realizing these targets; and Establishing whether these targets have been realized.
These elements make it easier to analyze quality assurance in schools on the basis of two philosophies (Verbiest, 1998). Quality assurance can be analyzed on the basis of an external philosophy of accountability, focusing on being accountable for the conducted policy to the leaders of the school district or reform program. This philosophy focuses on the third element of quality assurance: establishing whether or not the targets have been reached. In many schools, accountability focuses on:
How successful the educational learning process is in terms of quality;
The extent to which the school meets certain educational goals (usually based on performance reports);
The extent to which the school conditions are sufficiently favorable for the quality of the educational learning process and for realizing a sufficient output.
Quality assurance can also be analyzed based on an internal philosophy of development, which focuses not only on acquiring an understanding of the quality of education, but also on the basis of this information - improving this quality.
Philosophy of accountability
Philosophy of development
Establishing whether the targets have been met
Establishing the (new) targets that the school wishes to realize
Realizing these targets
Establishing whether the targets have been met
In recent years, schools across the nation have shown an increasing interest in quality assurance, resulting in a number of developments, including urban reform programs and the Milwaukee voucher program.
For many urban areas of Milwaukee, especially those that are predominantly African-American, the primary concern of parents and school leaders is the quality of education that children receive. Critics of voucher programs argue that private schools lack accountability, while observers on both sides favor systematic evaluation of school choice as the means to determine whether the program is effective in achieving academic goals.
This section will discuss autonomy, innovation and accountability in schools, to determine the significance of these elements in regards to the MPSC program. A consistent criticism by members of teachers' unions and other opponents within the educational field is that because private schools are exempt from most public
School regulations, there is less accountability for the students and the participating schools (AFT, 2001). In fact, accountability is one of the most emotionally charged issues in school reform overall.
Schools are constantly changing as the result of internal and external events, developments and processes. There are many trends in these changes, as significant social, economic, political and technological changes can be found throughout the world. "For example, the world economy has developed strongly; the role of the government has been limited; the welfare state has been privatized; there is a growing individualism; an increasing relevance of the biological method of interpretation; a growing importance of multicultural aspects in society and an increasing nationalism; a renaissance of religion; a growing importance of continuing education. It is not easy to predict what the consequences will be for learning and education. However, despite this it is possible to indicate certain tendencies which may (strongly) influence future education (Verbiest, 1998)."
These are the forces that affect schools, and they can be characterized by terms such as autonomy, innovation and accountability (Verbiest, 1998). As a result of a growing doubt about the influence of national government control, the role of government changes, which implies a change in the autonomy of schools. The formal scope for policy making for the school district is likely to increase in many areas and decrease in others. Amidst these changes, schools are required to be more accountable to the government and to parents, restricting the freedom of schools to pursue their own policies, particularly in public schools.
Basically while many public schools have increased autonomy in some areas, there is an increased obligation to be accountable (Verbiest, 1998). Public schools in Milwaukee are required to meet certain standards and quotas on an annual and quarterly basis. As a result, the school district is expected to be in charge of processes of autonomous policy-making, innovation and accountability. This means that external developments must be assessed with regard to their consequences for the school.
Still, education is still largely a profession that takes place in relative isolation from the school district. As a professional worker, teachers need the independence to make their own decisions about the curriculum they teach. Autonomy is therefore an important work condition for teachers (Verbiest, 1998). However, this individual autonomy is under increasing pressure from rising expectations of the political and social environment, which hold public schools accountable for their performance. As a result, many public school teachers do not have this independence.
These ideas apply to quality assurance. As schools commit to be more accountable on a quality assurance level, the school district demands that a teacher is autonomous, yet demands that this autonomy be limited in order to realize the desired school policy, which calls for accountability.
The solution to this problem should not involve limiting the autonomy of the teacher, until he or she is simply an executor of a school policy that is decided elsewhere and for which the school district is responsible. This is not in line with the space teachers need in order to provide a good education. Teachers require the freedom to decide how they should work with the students in a specific situation or setting.
When public schools limit the autonomy of the teacher, it is detrimental to the influence the autonomy of the teacher has on the primary process. The development and innovation of the school is difficult to develop without the participation and commitment of teachers. Too much accountability will have counter-productive effects: teachers may withdraw into their own classroom and not tolerate any interference; they may not trust or accept innovations from above; and they may limit their innovations to the classroom. This presents a negative effect on quality assurance.
Private schools are known to have less accountability, which results in more freedom in performance and curriculum. For this reason, many proponents of school choice believe that private schools provide minority students with greater opportunities to learn and improve their educational achievement. The impact of school choice in this paper was conducted through a detailed examination of two private schools in the MPCP and a public school. The results suggested that the two private schools had higher performance reports than the public schools. Therefore, the importance of organizational culture appears to have an effect on students' performance.
The school choice program has provided new opportunities for parents, teachers and students. Parents have been able to choose schools for their children, despite financial and social constraints. As a result, this is expected to generate innovated changes in public schools as they respond to this increased competition. In addition, charter and magnet public schools are expected to increase in number and focus.
For teachers, the voucher program provides a greater choices of schools and types of schools in which to teach, more opportunities to emphasize achievement results as the school system grows more competitive, and, with more of an emphasis on learning, a greater chance to realize their professional goals.
While opponents of the school choice program argue that the program drains funds from public schools and further segregates students by race and socioeconomic status; violates separation of religion and state; does not provide further guidance for educational success; and more, the fact remains that for years, parents in failing school systems have been told that, because they are poor, their children will receive poor education. In the past, the nation has denied parents choices.
In the public school system, there are many classes in which nearly every child in the class has failed the standardized tests. However, poor parents are denied choices. Unless parents have enough money to move or to send their children to a private school, they are forced to continue sending their children to that class, which is often overcrowded and poor in quality.
Vouchers enable parents to make decisions about where their children should attend school. Many choose private schools because, despite their lack of accountability, they usually have smaller classes and a more individualized curriculum. This usually equates to better results.
Linking Organizational Culture to the School Choice Program
Schein's (1985) framework of organizational culture provided a method for making sense of the teacher interview data. First, analysis of the voucher students in private schools revealed the influence of physical changes on student attitude, from the effects of a new building to the presence of visible signs of the new curriculum framework when students attend a new school. This is evident in the behavior of students while learning, the speech of students as they acquired the new vocabulary of the curriculum, and the rituals attached to new surroundings.
Secondly, teachers' opinions also indicated that positive changes were occurring. Teachers felt that the students could be treated equally, increase the rewards associated with good educational opportunities, and receive parental, peer and administrative support.
The teachers cited goals that included overcoming the challenges of a new curriculum, avoiding future failure, and becoming the best teachers possible for the benefit of the children. They adopted values that centered on learning and leadership. They saw their students as having endless possibilities in terms of achievement, even though they were also realistic about the challenges that complicate the learning process, especially for minority students.
For the most part, teachers saw a problem with the political messages of high-stakes accountability and the educational responses proposed as solutions within failing schools. The teachers saw most failures as the result of difficult home lives, of little past exposure to reading, and of little parental support. However, failure was blamed on the schools, resulting in increased accountability.
The teachers believe that motivation to improve performance cannot be achieved through the threats of failure accompanying standardized testing and accountability. They viewed accountability as working best when students' growth and achievement are correlated to performance over time. These teachers determined that work and accepted professional development requirements, heavier workloads, and added stressors as a result of accountability actually contributed to poor performance in public schools.
Private school teachers assumed that it is their knowledge, their skills, and the school conditions that are the critical elements in achieving accountability goals. They believed that when leadership, curriculum alignment, professional development, and the sense of community at the school are positive, the school can accomplish its goals of student achievement. These are the building blocks for quality teaching and learning in all educational settings, both private and public.
Findings Based on Staff Interviews
The Urban Waldorf School of Milwaukee is the public school featured in this study. It was founded in 1991 as a part of the Special Public Schools initiative. Deliberately located within a lower-income neighborhood, the mission of the school is to provide excellent alternative education to all families who desire it. The school currently serves K-4 through 5th grade, though efforts are underway to add 6th through 8th grades.
The Urban Waldorf school philosophy is as follows: "We also know that educating students means more than instruction. We know that children learn and achieve more when they are cared for, when they are safe, and when they have a healthy sense of well-being. Therefore, we must have strong and true partnerships with parents and all those in the community who influence and affect our students and families. Our schools will be centers of community activity."
The principal is Dorothy St. Charles. The head secretary is Virgil Williams. The psychologist is Josuane Duckworth. And the faculty chair is Nola Morrell.
One teacher at Urban Waldorf, Ms. Jansen, a school's success lies in its curriculum and discipline. Teacher at Urban Day School are given a thorough curriculum and are provided with enough educational materials to teach it. In addition, teachers are encouraged to use supplemental materials, which are provided for them.
Also, discipline is stressed, as a certain environment is necessary to learn. Finally, Jansen believes that success is measured in terms of pure academic excellence. To accomplish this, Jansen states that children must be identified individually in terms of real educational and emotional needs.
Jansen stresses the importance of teaching students to develop positive attitudes towards black history and African culture, using her current sixth grade class as an example. "This year I had a very difficult class. They had been together for a long time and they had their cliques and they were hard to work with. I was struggling all the time. I asked them to tell me something about Africa. I had one child raise his hand. I said, 'Cory, what do you know about Africa?' He said, 'That's where people run around without their clothes on.' At this point, I decided I had an awful lot to offer them in terms of teaching them about Africa. So we have done a fairly thorough job; they trace maps regularly, naming the countries and the capitols. Most of the kids can now name off the top of their heads the countries and the capitols. They know that there are different languages in each country. We have videos that we watch. Yet they desperately need to know about African culture and history. More than anything, just about tolerance of people who are different. They see African people as different. We had a student teacher last year that came from Ethiopia. The children made fun of him. It took a long time to convince them that this is their heritage and they can't just exist and blow it off." Jansen stresses the importance of teaching children about their heritage, saying that it is important that they understand the meaning of their social studies and history lessons.
Jansen describes her personal philosophy of education in the following statement: "most culturalism is very important to me in that it is difficult in a situation where almost all of the children are black, regardless of how many cultures if the teachers who are here. The vast majority of our students are black, which is a good thing in some ways but also robs them of the possibility of getting to know a lot of kid intimately who are not black. I think that is a deficit. So part of my philosophy is to encourage as many experiences as possible. Sometimes that means meeting other people but a lot of times it involves videos and books. Reading texts are fairly sophisticated and do a pretty good job of bringing them stories from all around the world and from various cultures within the United States. So while culturalism is important, a good defense is a good offense. Keep them busy learning. If you keep them busy, the behavioral problems fall off."
According to Jansen, the school is trying to become a charter school, meaning that it must assume a great deal of accountability. Therefore, the school's philosophy is becoming mainly academic. The school is working at identifying the state standards for education, providing materials to teach the state standards that are processed through what the teachers can get done. However, because it is still a private school, the school also emphasizes the importance of individuality and growth opportunities.
Mr. Offor, a teacher at Urban Waldorf, believes that educational success is not strictly academic and cannot be determined by standardized tests. "Education means training the whole person. The head, the heart, the spirit. Of the mind, the spirit and the soul."
According to another teacher at Urban Waldorf, "the success for a school is measured by what I call the little victories that take place at various moments throughout the day. The external world is going to look at standardized testing. The external world is going to use a completely different set of measurements that I believe teachers and children have to be cognizant of. I do believe there is a certain amount of importance to them, but I also think the way to get those results is through the little victories that enable a student to be able to read, to be able to solve a problem, and I think these other things will take care of themselves."
Another Urban Waldorf teacher, Mrs. Willy, has mixed feelings about centering education on black culture and black history. "I think our children need to develop a sense of history for our universe. And our universe isn't black or white. It's all sorts of ethnic groups that bring all sorts of unique contributions. We have a lot of racial prejudice that exists in our society because people don't understand a lot of these things and it is a human tendency to be afraid of what we don't understand. I think for our urban students, who are black, they do need to know their history. Schools in general just need to broaden that appreciation of the whole diversity picture in the world."
Mrs. Willy states that teacher must understand the cultural background of students in order to facilitate learning. Many of the choice program students have similar income levels, which often is close to poverty. This presents a great deal of stress to the families and the children. In many cases, family support is low because parents must work at least one job just to make ends meet.
For this reason, teacher expectation plays an enormous role in student achievement. According to Ms. Willy, "You have to make demands. Middle school children in particular are an alien species. Almost all need demands to bring tasks to completion."
Willy's personal philosophy of education is as follows: "Number one, I think it (teaching) is the best job in the world. Number two, I think it is important to find out where kids are at, and that as a teacher, you have a pretty awesome responsibility. Your shadow is a lot bigger than you are. What you do as a teacher, what you say as a teacher; you are on stage all day. Your behaviors, your attitudes about learning, everything you do, kids see." According to Willy, kids learn just as much from these things as they do from lesson plans. They learn about things like not giving up, dealing with personal frustrations, positivism, and more.
At Urban Waldorf, parental involvement is a requirement. However, it is often difficult to enforce. According to Jansen, "There are seldom two parents. Whoever is at home is working. It's very, very difficult to get people in. But the school requires a certain percentage of involvement by parents as a part of the handbook rules that are laid down from the very beginning. People do come in and get involved. I have one parent who comes in every single morning and spends the first half hour with us before she goes to work. It makes a huge difference."
At Urban Day School, a private school in Milwaukee, parents join teachers to create a motivating environment, and students work at being strong, positive members of the community. Today, Urban Day School has grown to include two campuses and nearly 900 students participating in Day Care, Head Start and Kindergarten through eighth grade. Although larger and more spread out, the school's focus is as precise as ever: To invoke children to become independent learners, to become self-disciplined, self-motivated and accountable for their actions. One reason Urban Day School is successful in reaching this goal is the active involvement of parents.
The Urban Day mission is to be a private community centered school, which prepares children for a productive and fulfilling future in an innovative and effective learning environment. A Board of Directors, made up of parents, staff and community volunteers, governs the school. This Board has the legal and financial responsibility for the school. Board and Parent Committees are responsible for setting policy. The principal and staff carry out the school's day-to-day operation.
Urban Day School has received widespread attention as a positive emblem for Milwaukee's controversial voucher program, granting low-income parents in the city school district the right to send their children tuition-free to private schools of their choice. One parent, Tony Higgins, whose daughter entered Urban Day under the Voucher program in fourth grade, says that one of the most important benefits of the school has been its strong parental involvement. At MPS, he said, teachers who raised problems about his daughter's behavior discouraged him from observing in the class. "I just felt like I was left out," he said. At Urban Day, "I have never had one of them tell me I'm not welcome."
Urban Day graduates about 20 8th graders any given year. Four years later, most earn high school diplomas, and nearly 75% go on to higher education, according to the school's principal. Teachers are not required to be certified, but two out of three are. The school is seen as a model for the voucher program.
According to the principal at Urban Day School, accountability cannot be determined through standardized testing, which is the norm for public schools. Therefore, success is defined in different ways. For example, one student at Urban Day School started going home and asking his parents for onion skins to examine under the microscope for cells. This student demonstrated a desire to learn and continue learning. In Urban Day School, this behavior is more important than high grade point averages.
For me, success is when the learning continues whether it's Saturday or dinner time," says Urban Day School's principal. "You don't have to show me a standardized test score because I'll show you a lot of problems with those standardized test scores. Success is when they would rather be here (at school). They're excited about learning and it's transferred to different areas."
Urban Day School, due to the fact that it has many African-American students, puts an emphasis on black history and culture, to help the students identify themselves. Claims, self-esteem groups and culture are all contributors to academic excellence in this school, rather than curriculums that are based on standardized tests.
In addition, the principal believes that it is of utmost importance for teachers and staff to know the backgrounds of their students, and vice versa. This allows all students to learn about various types of cultures and ethnicities.
For the principal at Urban Day School, there are two very important factors in raising student achievement, neither of which focuses on accountability. For one, teacher expectations make a difference in a student's academic achievement. "My teachers must expect, must look at our students as gifted and talented individuals, and they must change their methodology and strategies to work with our children and not expect that our children are going to conform to their way of teaching. The teachers have to expect that all children can achieve at the highest level. But the teachers must also be open to change and not expect that the students are going to adjust to them and the way they teach."
At Urban Day School, the classes are smaller and more individualized, as school leaders understand the need for different teacher styles for different students. "Some of our kids need a certain kind of structure. Some of our kids need another kind of structure. So we like to be mindful of those (teachers) that are looking for what's best for our children, not what's best for them."
The school's philosophy is not based on standardized testing, although its board of directors has given the principal the green light to implement this type of accountability. The school is currently using an Afrocentric multiple culture curriculum, which provides reading, science, social studies and mathematic programs that are directly aimed at taking the culture and background of students into account.
In addition, due to the fact that Urban Day School is a choice school, the principal recognizes the need for private counselors and special needs coordination. "A lot of our families qualify for choice." That means that their income levels fit them in the category of poverty. "Without being stereotypical, you're trying to survive, you're trying to pay your rent, you're trying to put food on the table, you're trying to provide health services for your children. So if our families are in the survival mode, our children are in the survival mode, too." For this reason, the principal believes that these children need a lot of help to learn. Therefore, the school aims to understand the families, and help them, in order to help the children.
According to Urban Day School's principal, another factor that is important in raising student achievement is parental involvement. The principal uses an example to stress this point. In the Marquette family literacy program, two doctors started a reading program that evaluated students in the first, second and third grade.
After school, qualified students that needed help with reading skills, would be tutored. The key point of this program, however, was family involvement. The family was required to come to conferences, read with their children very night, and participate in awards ceremonies for achievement.
There is so much data that says when families are involved in their children's lives, in their children's education, they are going to succeed. And, Mrs. Francher, our reading support teacher, and I were talking and we said that the children needed three things to be successful. One is someone at home, their mom, their dad, their grandma, their grandpa, their aunt, their uncle, their brother, their sister... someone at home who believes in them and is going to support their education and give them encouragement. The other is a teacher than wants to learn about the child and do the best for the child. And the third is that child's own desire to learn. But number one is the families...we need the families."
One of the interviewees for this project, an Urban Day School teacher, says that it is important for students to develop positive attitudes towards black history and African culture, because they need to see how far African-Americans have come in order to understand how they themselves can rise above their social situations. However, the teacher also stresses the importance of teaching them about other cultures, as well.
An Urban Day School teacher agrees that teacher expectations can have a significant impact on student achievement, as it increases the attention span of students and makes them want to earn a better grade.
My philosophy is that you're here to teach the whole individual. My philosophy is geared towards empowering the child, raining the child and not enabling the child. Because the child needs to feel good about what they can do, not just their homework. I feel children learn best when they have to understand how it fits in this world. The world is always changing and they have to understand how stud from history plays a part today. My philosophy is to make them understand how they fit into society, so they can actually be a part of this changing society, rather than feel like they are trapped, they cannot do things like technology, research stuff, etc. You have to teach the whole child and you have to understand their strengths to be able to teach them the best you can."
The school's philosophy is discipline first and then the learning will come. If you have a structured environment, learning will follow." The school has high expectations and standards as to how the students should behave. "With the discipline codes and how every classroom has the same discipline plans, the students are taught how learning should take place."
According to an Urban Day School teacher, the school does not provide enough opportunity for students to be empowered. "For example, the science fair is coming up, and they (the school) make it so that every sixth through eight-grade student must do one, but I feel like, why can't other grades submit their own projects? They can do it. They should be empowered to do it."
The teacher suggests improving the school's structure by providing more opportunities for empowerment, like bake sales and student councils. According to this teacher, it would be beneficial to these students if they could "be in a position where they decide some things. At other schools, they do things for teacher appreciation week. The student council comes up with the ideas. Most kids (in this position) really feel like leaders."
Ms. Schroeder, a teacher at Urban Day School, says that her teaching method is focused on individuality. She aims to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, and make them stronger by maximizing their individual skills. It is most important to her to keep students out of trouble and interested in learning. "You really need to focus on each child as an individual, especially here with the kids being so different in their levels. So really, really concentrating on the individual and working on their strengths to make the weaknesses better."
According to Ms. Prendergast, a teacher at Urban Waldorf, a school is successful if its students are polite, respectful of themselves and each other, able to learn, confident and show high self-esteem.
Ms. Prendergast thinks that developing positive attitudes towards black history and culture are extremely important for choice program students, as the majority is African-American. "One thing that our school is doing is offering African dance. Last year, my class had African dance two times a week. This year, it's offered after school and they can participate in African drumming. We celebrate black history month, as well. We have an assembly and black history is taught in classrooms." She also feels that teacher should make an effort to understand the cultural backgrounds of their students, as this enables them to understand where the child is coming from and identify individual needs.
Ms. Korpal, a teacher at Urban Waldorf, believes that the school is more successful than most, as the children are more polite, self-confident and do not tease one another. "The children just seem very well adjusted to the school. A lot of them have been her since kindergarten so they know what the established rules are."
Ms. Korpal feels that teachers must make an effort to learn as much about students' backgrounds as possible. "We have a folder and it has all of the children's backgrounds and past grades. It is a very good indicator of their past performance so that I know what their abilities and their weaknesses are. At our school, the children loop with their teachers. Their teacher follows them through kindergarten, actually from first grade through fifth grade. That helps the teacher really develop a relationship with a child and help continue (working with) their strengths and weaknesses.
Korpal believes that teacher expectations truly make a difference in student achievement, as it provides students with a clearer sense of what they should be accomplishing. Korpal provides incentives for students who are well-behaved and perform well academically. She also makes sure that her students understand the rules, expectations, and consequences.
Korpal's philosophy of learning is in line with individuality, as is the philosophy of many of the other private school students. "My personal philosophy is that every child has an area of interest that they would like to work on. I, as a teacher, am responsible for helping them to learn and also to find areas that focus on their strengths, as their career will reflect their interests and what they are best at. I am constantly trying to improve their interests and strengths."
Ms. Colbert, the principal of Urban Waldorf School, believes that it is important that teachers develop a student's confidence in his or her ability. "There are several ways a teacher can do that. I think they have to build a level of trust with each student by knowing the individual strengths and weaknesses of a student. You can do that by a number of ways, including everyday classroom activities and spending time with each student alone one-on-one. Sometimes even talking about things that are not school related. There is no cookie-cutter pattern for this. It just depends on the individual."
According to Ms. Colbert, the district would define success based on test scores on the standardized tests. However, she believes that there is much more to teaching and learning that just standardized test scores. She says that it is more important to have a hands-on curriculum and makes sure that the students are happy and safe.
When asked about the effect of teacher expectations of student performance, Ms. Colbert stated that students are most likely to give you exactly what you expect of them, meaning that high teacher expectations are necessary for student achievement. "I know exactly which classroom teachers have high expectations for the students just by observing the behavior of the students."
According to Ms. Colbert, the school's philosophy of education is as follows: "We believe that education involves not only the head, meaning academics, but also the heart and the hands. By heart, we mean that they really have to feel connected to what they are learning. You've got to reach the emotional spot in kids. And by hand, we mean hands-on, being actively involved in the learning process. So when you hear Waldorf schools saying we're about educating the head, the heart and the hands, we mean the total child, not just paper and pencil academic type of learning, but they also get involved emotionally, which is why we tell the stories and we have the poetry and the singing, the movement classes, and the hands-on projects."
Ms. Colbert criticizes the standardized tests as detrimental to the school's philosophy, saying that the school would perform better if they did have standardized assessments.
Mrs. Price, the vice president of Urban Waldorf, provides further perspective on the goals and success of the school. For her, student confidence is a major factor in student achievement. "I think it is very important for the teacher to always let the child know that if he is trying his best, that is good enough, and to always talk about the positive and then work on the negative."
Mrs. Price believes that a school is successful when its students are happy, enjoy coming to school, have pride, and feel safe. In addition, high academic achievement is a large part of student success. However, she does not believe that standardized testing is a good way to hold school accountable. "I don't believe standardized testing can really evaluate how a child is achieving, especially in our program because our program isn't a traditional program. It is based on a completely different basis of learning, of what children learn, at what time and what influences learning. Standardized testing fails to take these things into account."
According to Mrs. Price, teachers must make very effort to understand the cultures of their students, as it helps them to understand the children. For example, she says that many teachers will feel that a child is being disrespectful because a student will not look her in the eye.
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