Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization

Policymakers and educational leaders continue to use school district decentralization as a reform effort that attempts to shift power and authority from central office administration to school-level leadership. In 2015, the Nevada Legislature passed legislation to restructure the Clark County School...

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Main Authors: Sarah Diem, Carrie Sampson, Laura Gavornik Browning
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Arizona State University 2018-01-01
Series:Education Policy Analysis Archives
Subjects:
Online Access:https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/3253
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spelling doaj-c5774a53c3d747868579ec70325ab3322020-11-25T02:32:05ZengArizona State UniversityEducation Policy Analysis Archives1068-23412018-01-0126010.14507/epaa.26.32531696Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralizationSarah Diem0Carrie Sampson1Laura Gavornik Browning2University of MissouriArizona State UniversityUniversity of MissouriPolicymakers and educational leaders continue to use school district decentralization as a reform effort that attempts to shift power and authority from central office administration to school-level leadership. In 2015, the Nevada Legislature passed legislation to restructure the Clark County School District (CCSD), the state’s largest school district, with the intent of breaking it up into smaller districts but instead evolving to decentralization. In this article, we use case study methods to explore the events leading up to the reorganization of CCSD. We take a critical perspective on Kingdon’s multiple streams framework to analyze the reorganization efforts, focusing specifically on how Nevada’s political context provided a window of opportunity for the reorganization to occur. We also examine the extent to which equitable educational opportunity was a factor in these efforts. Our analysis of the reorganization of CCSD contributes to a wider understanding of state-level policy development and politics within contemporary educational contexts. In this case, we find that state-level policymakers successfully leveraged the opportunity to enact the power and authority necessary to significantly and rapidly impact the structure of one of the largest school districts in the United States.https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/3253case studycritical policy analysisdecentralizationequitymultiple streamspolicy processpoliticsreorganization
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sarah Diem
Carrie Sampson
Laura Gavornik Browning
spellingShingle Sarah Diem
Carrie Sampson
Laura Gavornik Browning
Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization
Education Policy Analysis Archives
case study
critical policy analysis
decentralization
equity
multiple streams
policy process
politics
reorganization
author_facet Sarah Diem
Carrie Sampson
Laura Gavornik Browning
author_sort Sarah Diem
title Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization
title_short Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization
title_full Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization
title_fullStr Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization
title_full_unstemmed Reorganizing a countywide school district: A critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization
title_sort reorganizing a countywide school district: a critical analysis of politics and policy development toward decentralization
publisher Arizona State University
series Education Policy Analysis Archives
issn 1068-2341
publishDate 2018-01-01
description Policymakers and educational leaders continue to use school district decentralization as a reform effort that attempts to shift power and authority from central office administration to school-level leadership. In 2015, the Nevada Legislature passed legislation to restructure the Clark County School District (CCSD), the state’s largest school district, with the intent of breaking it up into smaller districts but instead evolving to decentralization. In this article, we use case study methods to explore the events leading up to the reorganization of CCSD. We take a critical perspective on Kingdon’s multiple streams framework to analyze the reorganization efforts, focusing specifically on how Nevada’s political context provided a window of opportunity for the reorganization to occur. We also examine the extent to which equitable educational opportunity was a factor in these efforts. Our analysis of the reorganization of CCSD contributes to a wider understanding of state-level policy development and politics within contemporary educational contexts. In this case, we find that state-level policymakers successfully leveraged the opportunity to enact the power and authority necessary to significantly and rapidly impact the structure of one of the largest school districts in the United States.
topic case study
critical policy analysis
decentralization
equity
multiple streams
policy process
politics
reorganization
url https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/3253
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AT lauragavornikbrowning reorganizingacountywideschooldistrictacriticalanalysisofpoliticsandpolicydevelopmenttowarddecentralization
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