Julie A. Marsh 
Democratic Dilemmas [PDF ebook] 
Joint Work, Education Politics, and Community

Drawing on three years of field research and extensive theoretical and empirical literature, Democratic Dilemmas chronicles the day-to-day efforts of educators and laypersons working together to advance student learning in two California school districts. Julie A. Marsh reveals how power, values, organizational climates, and trust played key roles in these two districts achieving vastly different results. In one district, parents, citizens, teachers, and administrators effectively developed and implemented districtwide improvement strategies; in the other, community and district leaders unsuccessfully attempted to improve systemwide accountability through dialogue. The book highlights the inherent tensions of deliberative democracy, competing notions of representation, limitations of current conceptions of educational accountability, and the foundational importance of trust to democracy and education reform. It further provides a framework for improving community-educator collaboration and lessons for policy and practice.

Innehållsförteckning

List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments



Introduction



Overview of Two District Cases: Unlocking a Puzzle

Historical Context of School-Community Connections

Grounding the Study: A Lens for Understanding the Two Cases

Study Background and Methods

Reflections on and Implications of the Research

Chapter Outline



1. Setting the Stage



State, Regional, and Local Context for Joint Work

Key Facets and Activities of Joint Work

Who Was at the Table

What Was on the Table: Vision and Purpose

How Participants Interacted and Made Decisions

What Was Achieved

Summing Up the Cases and Looking Ahead



2. Participation and Power



Power and Its Many Faces

Participation Patterns and Biases

Explanations and Implications for Democratic Practice

Summing Up and Looking Ahead



3. Institutional Discord and Harmony



Democratic Inclusion and Professional Autonomy

Market Perspectives and Democratic Inclusion

Conditions Affecting Institutional Relationships

Summing Up and Looking Ahead



4. The Democracy-Bureaucracy Face-off



Organizational Forms and Democracy

Organizational Structure: Rigid versus Flexible

Organizational Culture: Controlling versus Learning

Leadership: Top-down versus Distributed

How Resources Affected Organizational Climate

Summing Up and Looking Ahead



5. Climates of Trust and Mistrust



What Is Trust?

Institutional Trust

Interpersonal Trust

Foundations of Trust and Issues of Representation

Summing Up and Looking Ahead



6. Implications for Policy and Practice in an Era of Accountability



Key Tensions and Dilemmas Revisited

Policy Implications: Accountability as Community Responsibility

Democratic and Educational Outcomes

Practical Lessons

Unresolved Dilemmas and Unanswered Questions



Appendix A: Methodology

Appendix B: Mid Valley CAP Participants

Appendix C: Highland Strategic Planning Team



Notes

References

Index

Om författaren

Julie A. Marsh is Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation. She is the coauthor (with Kerri A. Kerr, Gina S. Ikemoto, Hilary Darilek, Marika Suttorp, Ron W. Zimmer, and Heather Barney) of
The Role of Districts in Fostering Instructional Improvement: Lessons from Three Urban Districts Partnered with the Institute for Learning and the coeditor (with Amy M. Hightower, Michael S. Knapp, and Milbrey W. Mc Laughlin) of
School Districts and Instructional Renewal.