Educational Leadership 820 – The Politics of Educational Leadership

Spring 2006, Monday & Wednesday, 4:40-7:20PM, 300A Porter

Instructor: James E. Barott, Office: 304Z PorterBuilding

Phone: 487-0255, Email:

The Mission of the faculty of the Educational Leadership Program is to develop leaders with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to build learning communities within a pluralistic, democratic society.

Course Introduction

This course will examine the politics of educational organization and leadership. It is designed for the educational leader and researcher who deal with the impact of political action on managing and leading educational institutions. It provides an introduction to the field of educational politics with special emphasis on theoretical and conceptual analysis of the political behavior of education’s stakeholders.

Prerequisites

Admission to the doctoral program in educational leadership.

Course Objectives

  1. Develop and educate leaders of educational organizations.
  2. Develop conceptual knowledge and skills in order to explore, analyze, and explain the societal forces that influence educational policy and decision making at all levels of the educational system, as well as within different organizational settings.
  3. Analyze, synthesize and apply research and theory derived from the political and social sciences, educational politics, and policy making literature to problems of practice.
  4. Increase your capacity to deal with uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and the value conflicts inherent in educational organizations and leadership.
  5. Understand the nature of political action.
  6. Understand the ways that political activity shapes educational policy and organization.
  7. Understand the elements of macro-politics and micro-politics as related to educational organization and leadership.
  8. Examine the challenges to the leader/administrator of micro-politics within an educational setting.
  9. Examine the moral/ethical dilemmas facing educational leaders in dealing with the political dimensions of education.
  10. Develop the skills to critically evaluate your beliefs about the educational enterprise and its role in society.

Topical Outline of Course Content

  1. The Politics of Education as a Field of Inquiry
  2. Political Culture

3.Nature of the Polity

4. Citizenship

5. Political Structures

6. Political Participation

7. Interest Groups

8. Coalitions

9. Political Conflict

10. Power, Influence and Control

11. Policy Formation: Political Systems Analysis

12. Policy Formation: Agendas, Alternatives & Public Policy

13.Elite Theory: Abrupt versus Incremental Change

14. Micropolitics – Building Level Politics

15. Local Level Politics

16.State Level Politics

17.Federal Level Politics

18.Global Level Politics

19.Intergovernmental Relations

20.Current Political Controversies

Administration

The course is designed to be a collaborative effort with each student responsible for his or her own learning. The instructor’s responsibility is to provide a structure within which the student is free to learn. To this end, class structures and processes will be based on student and instructor interests and are subject to change.

The Class will consist of:

1. The first section of each class will focus on the politics of educational organization and leadership through discussion of the assigned and supplemental readings.

2.There will be a fifteen-minute break

3. The second part of each class period will be a lab.

Each student is responsible for:

  1. The readings for each class prior to the topic except for the first session.

2.Participation in class discussions and lab. You are expected to attend all class sessions, to be on time, and to contribute to the class discussions and the lab. If emergencies arise, you should notify me as soon as possible and secure class notes and assignments from fellow classmates. More than two absences will constitute grounds for failure in the course.

3. As stated above, the primary objective of this course is to develop and educate leaders of educational organizations. There are two fundamental components to consider in this process: 1.) the leader; and 2.) the educational system. You, as the educational leader, are the first component. Therefore I will ask you to make explicit your interests, beliefs, values, attitudes, biases, ideologies, etc. It is essential that you have some awareness of yourself, as you are the instrument through which political leadership takes place. In addition, it is important that you develop the capacity to express your interests, etc. to others. In other words, develop your own "voice".

Secondly, the ability to analyze or "make sense" of the politics of educational organizing is an essential skill for educational leadership as organizational systems are the context within which this leadership occurs. In order to meet this objective, this course seeks to demystify the politics of educational organizations and facilitate the student's development of critical thinking skills.

In order to accomplish the above, written papers will be used as a vehicle to describe and analyze your current political experiences in the light of course concepts and propositions. Each paper should be approximately 10 pages in length and counts for 20% of the grade. All assignments are due the class session after they are listed in course syllabus.

The paper will consist of two sections:

a. Description and Analysis: Use relevant concepts and propositions from the readings and/or the class to make sense of your political situation, experiences or events. Use empirical data (descriptions) from your educational system if possible (approx. 8 pages).

b. Your personal response and what that tells you about yourself as an educational leader. Make explicit your values, beliefs, attitudes, affective responses, etc. to the events which you described and analyzed (approx. 2 pages).

Grading

Final Grades will be computed as follows. Breaking it down by paper, from 0-6 points will be awarded for the category of empirical data, from 0-10 points for the category of concept application, and from 0-4 points for the category of personal response. “Empirical data” means providing empirical data on which to base your analysis. “Concept application” means applying concepts from the reading and class to your empirical data. And lastly, “personal response” means explicating your personal response to the organizational events that you used as empirical data.

EmpiricalConceptPersonalWeekly

DataApplicationResponse Total

Organizational Level Politics 0-6 0-10 0-40-20

Local Level Politics 0-6 0-10 0-40-20

State Level Politics 0-6 0-10 0-40-20

National Level Politics 0-6 0-10 0-40-20

Subtotals 0-24 0-40 0-160-80%

Class Participation0-20%

Total0-100%

REQUIRED READINGS:

Schattschneider, E. E. (1997). The Semisovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America. Hinsdale, ILL: Dryden Press.

Wirt, F. W. & Kirst, M. W. (2001). The Political Dynamics of American Education (2nd ed.). Richmond, CA: McCutchan Publishing.

Kingdon, J. W. (1995). Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.

Edelman, M. J. (1985). The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Chicago, ILL: University of Illinois Press.

Catton, B. (1876). Michigan: A History. W.W. Norton: New York.

(Or an appropriate area history book of your choice)

Course Pack, Halle Library, E-Reserves
TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
  1. May 8, 2006Course Introduction

Required Readings:

a.Iannaccone – Practitioners and researchers: The what and why of

concepts.

b.Scribner, J. D. & Englert, R.. (1977). The politics of education: An introduction, pp. 1-29 in J. D. Scribner (Ed.), The politics of

education,The Seventy-sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the

Study of Education, Part II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

c. Mahler- Comparative Political Analysis

d. Other readings as assigned

Supplemental Readings:

  1. Goodlad, J. (1984). We want it all. Chapter 2 in A place called school: Prospects for the future. Toronto: McGraw-Hill.

b. Goodlad, J. I. & Keating, P. (Eds.) (1994). Access to knowledge: The continuing agenda for our nation’s schools. New York: College Entrance Examination Board.

c. Kirst, M (1984). Who controls our schools: American values in conflict. Stanford: Stanford Alumni Association.

d. Ripley, R. B. (1985). Political science and public policy. Chapter 1 in Policy analysis in political science. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

2. May10, 2006Political Culture and Ideology

Required Readings:

a. Stout, Tallerico & Scribner (1995). Values: The “whats” of the politics of education. Chapter 1 in Scribner, J. D. & Layton, D H. (Eds.) The studyof educational politics. Washington, DC: Falmer.

b. Elazar, D. J. (1994). Chapter 7, The peoples of the United States and their cultures & Chapter 8, The political subculture of the United States. In The American mosaic: The impact of space, time, and culture on Amercian politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

c. Catton, B. (1876). Michigan: A History. W.W. Norton: New York.

(Or an appropriate area history book of your choice)

d. Marshall, C., Mitchell, D., & Wirt, F. (1989). Chapter 4, Public values in the policy culture. In Culture and education policy in the American States. New York: Falmer Press.

e. O’Neill, W. F. (1981). Educational Ideologies, pp. 64-67 & pp. 297-309. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear Publishing Co.

f. Other readings as assigned

Supplemental Readings:

  1. Elazar, D. (1966). Chapter 4 in American Federalism: A View from the States. New York: Crowell.

b. Hanson, R. (1980). Political culture, interparty competition, and political efficacy in American state. Publius (Spring), 17-36.

c. Laitin, D. & Wildavsky, A. (1988). Political culture and political preferences. American Political Science Review, 82(2), 589-597.

d. Pye, L. W. (1968). Political culture. In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol 12. New York: Crowell, Collier & MacMillan.

e. Pye, L. W (1991). Political culture revisited. Political Psychology, 12(3), 487-507.

f. Verba, S. (1965). Comparative political culture. In S. Verba (Ed.),

Political culture and political development. Princeton: Princeton

University Press.

g. Werlin, H. & Eckstien, H. (1990). Political culture and political change. American Political Science Review, 84(1), 249-260.

h. Wirt, F. M. (1991). “Soft” concepts and “hard” data: A research review of Elazar’s political culture. The Journal of Federalism, 21(2), 1-14.

3. May15, 2006The Nature of the Polity: Citizenship Rights, Political

Participation, Representation, Interest Groups and Coalitions

Required Readings:

a. Iannaccone, L. (1991). Micropolitics of education: What and why. Education

and Urban Society, 23(4), 465-471

  1. Wirt & Kirst – Chapter 3: The Origins and Agents of School Demands
  2. Mann, D. (1977). Participation, representation and control (pp.67-93). Chapter 3 in J. D. Scribner (Ed.) The politics of education, The Seventy-sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

d. Berry, J. M. (1984). Madison’s Dilemma. Chapter 1 in The interest group society (pp. 1-15). Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

  1. Stroufe, G. E. (1991). Interest groups and public policy: A status report. Education and Urban Society, 13(2), 149-171.
  1. Dey, & Zeigler, (1993). Organized interests: Defenders of the status quo. Chapter 9 in The irony of democracy, pp. 215-235. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

g. March, J. G. (1962). The business firm as a political coalition. The Journal of Politics, 24, 662-678.

h. Pfeffer, J. (1981). Coalitions. In Power in organizations. Marshfield, MA: Pitman.

  1. Other readings as assigned

Supplemental Readings- Political Participation:

a. Conway, M. (1991). Political participation in the United States. Washington, DC: Congressional Press Quarterly.

b. Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1991). Involving parents in the schools: A process of empowerment. American Journal of Education, 100(1), 20-46.

c. Flanigan, W. H. & Zingale, N. H. (1987). Political behavior of the AmericanElectorate. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

d. Lewis, E. (1988). American politics in a bureaucratic age: Citizens, constituents, clients, and victims. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

e. Malen, B. & Ogawa, R. (1988). Professional-patron influence on site- based governance councils: A confounding case study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 19(4), 251-270.

f. McGuire, K. (1989). Business involvement in education in the 1990’s. In D. E. Mitchell & M. E. Goertz (Eds.), Politics of Education AssociationYearbook 1989 (pp. 107-117). London: Taylor & Francis Ltd.

g. Sacken, D. M/ (1991). And then they go home: School reform and the elusive community of interest. Urban Education, 26(3), 253-268.

h. Stroufe, G. E. (1991). Interest groups and public policy: A status report. Education and Urban Society, 13(2), 149-171.

i. Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L. Brady, H., & Nie, N. H. (1993). Citizen activity: Who participates? What do they say? American Political

Science Review, 87(2), 303-

Supplemental Readings- Interest Groups:

a. Berry, J. (1977). Lobbying for the people: The political behavior of public interest groups. Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press.

b. Hrebenar, R. J. & Scott, R. K. (1990). Interest group politics in America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

c. Schlozman, K. L. & Tierney, J. T. (1986). Organized interests and Americandemocracy. New York: Harper and Row.

d. Wolpe, (1990). Lobbying Congress: How the system works. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.

4. May 17, 2006Political Conflict

Required Readings:

  1. Schattschneider - The Semisovereign People: Chapters 1, 2, 3 & 4

b. Coser, L. A. (1956). Chapters 7 & 9 in The functions of social conflict. New York: The Free Press.

c. Other readings as assigned

Supplemental Readings:

a. Baldridge, J. V. (1972). Chapter 2 in Power and conflict in the university (pp. 7-26). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

b. Duverger, M. (1972). (1.) The forms of political conflict; and (2) the development of integration. In The study of politics. New York: Crowell.

c. Minar, D. W. (1966). The community base of conflict in school system politics. American Sociological Review, 31(6), 822-835.

d. Wirt, F., & Kirst, M. W. (1989). Schools in conflict (2nd ed.). Berkeley:

McCutchan.

5. May22, 2006Who Rules: Political Power, Influence

and Control

Required Readings:

a. Morgan, G. (1997). Organizations as political systems. Chapter 6 in Images of organization (pp. 153-213). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

b. Scott, W. R. (2003). Chapter 11 – Goals, Power , and Control in

Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open Systems (pp. 291-325). Upper

Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

c. Dahl, R. A. (1968). Who Governs? In W. D. Hawley & F. M. Wirt (Eds.), The search for community power (pp.93-114). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

d. Hunter, F. (1968). Community power structure. In W. D. Hawley & F. M. Wirt (Eds.), The search for community power (pp.51-64). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

e. Pfeffer, J. (1981). Chapter 1 in Power in organizations (pp. 18-33). Marshfield, PA: Pitman Publishing.

f. Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1974). The bases and use of power in organizational decision making: The case of the university. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19(4), 453-473.

Supplemental Readings:

  1. Bacharach, P., & Baratz, M. S. (1968). Two faces of power. In W. D. Hawley & F. M. Wirt (Eds.), The search for community power (pp. 239-249). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  2. Bacharach, S. & Lawler, E. (1980). Power and politics in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

c.Kreisberg, S. (1992). Transforming power: Domination, empowerment, and education. Albany, NY: StateUniversity of New York Press.

d. McNeill, K. (1978). Understanding Organizational Power: Building on

the Weberian Legacy. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23: 65-90.

e. Michels, R. (1949). Political Parties. New York: Free Press.

f. Miliband, R. (1973). The State in Capitalist Society. London: Quartet.

g. Mintzberg. H. (1983). Power in and around organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

h. Mosca, G. (1939). The Ruling Class. New York: McGraw Hill.

i. Mouzelis, N. (1975). Organization and Bureaucracy, (2nd Ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

j. Pareto, V. (1935). The Mind and Society. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co.

k. Perrow, C. (1979). Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay. New York: Random House.

l. Pfeffer, J. (1981). Power in organizations. Marshfield, PA: Pitman Publishing.

m. Reyes, P., & McCarty, D. J. (1990). Factors related to the power of lower participants in educational organizations: Multiple perspectives. Sociological Focus, 23(1), 17-30.

n. Salaman, G. (1978). Towards a Sociology of Organizational Structure. Sociological Quarterly, 26: 519-554.

o. Simon, H. A. (1968). Notes on the observation and measurement of political power. In Hawley & F. M. Wirt (Eds.), The search for community power (pp.21-35). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

p. Wartenberg, T. E. (1988). The forms of power: From domination to transformation. Philadelphia: TempleUniversity Press.

q. Weber, M. (1946). From Max Weber, (Eds. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills). New York: OxfordUniversity Press.

r. Weber, M. (1947). The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. London: OxfordUniversity Press.

s. Westoby, A. (Ed.), (1988). Culture and power in educational organizations. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.

6. May24, 2006Policy Formation

Topic #1 - Political Systems Analysis

Required Readings:

  1. Wirt & Kirst – Part I, Chapters 1 2: Political Systems Analysis
  2. Scribner, J. D. (1979). In search of one-armed policy analysts: A

framework for understanding state educational policymaking

systems. Cross Reference, 2(6), 347-368.

c. Other readings as assigned

Supplemental Readings:

a. Almond, G. & Powell, F. (1966). Comparative politics: A developmental approach. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

b. Berry, N. (1972). Political configurations: An analysis of the political systemin society. Pacific Palisades, CA: Goodyear Publishing Co.

c. Dye, T. R. (1992). Inputs, outputs and black boxes: A systems analysis of state policies. In Understanding public policy, 7th Ed. (pp. 312-327). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

d. Easton, D. (1965). A systems analysis of political life. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

e. Hurn, C. J. (1985). Theories of schooling and society: The functional and conflict paradigms. Chapter 2 in The limits and possibilities of schooling, 2nd ed. Newton, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

f. Malen, B. et. al. (1993). Policy and political influences. Chapter 20 in S. D. Thompson (Ed.), Principals for our changing schools: Knowledge and

skills base (pp. 20:1-20:37). Fairfax, VA: National Policy Board for Educational Administration.

g. Mitchell, W. (1962). The American polity. New York: The Free Press.

h. Prestine, N. A. (1991). Political system theory as an explanatory paradigm for teacher education reform. American Educational

Research Journal, 28(2), 237-274.

i. Thompson, J. (1976). Policy making in American public education: A framework for analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

j. Wald, K. D., Owen, D. E. & Hill, S. S. Jr. (1988). Churches as political communities. American Political Science Review, 82(2), 531-548.

k. Zeigler, L. H. & Jennings, M. K. (1974). The politics of local school systems. Chapter 1 in Governing American schools: Political interaction in localschool districts (pp. 1-22). North Scituate, MA:

Duxbury Press.

Topic #2 - Agendas, Alternatives & Public Policy

Required Readings:

  1. Kingdon – Agenda, Alternatives, and Public Policies

b. Other readings as assigned

Supplemental Readings:

  1. Linblom – Science of Muddling Through
  2. Wildavsky – Politics of the Budgetary Process
  3. Other readings as assigned

7. May 29, 2006Memorial Day

8. May31, 2006Policy Formation

Topic #3 - Abrupt versus incremental change: Dissatisfaction Theory - The Laws of Political Quiescence and Discontent

Required Readings:

a. Lutz, F. & Iannaccone, L. (1978). The dissatisfaction theory of

governance: Implications for practice and research. Chapter 10 in F.

W. Lutz & L.Iannaccone (Eds.), Public participation in local school

districts (pp. 123-135). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

b. Iannaccone, L. & Lutz F. (1995). The crucible of democracy: The local arena. Chapter 3, pp. 39-52 in Scribner, J. D. & Layton, D H. (Eds.)

The study of educational politics. Washington, DC: Falmer.

c. Key, V. O. Jr. (1955). A theory of critical elections. Journal of Politics, 17(1), 3-18.

d. Iannaccone, L, (1982). Turning-point election periods in the politics of education, Chapter 1, pp. 1-26 in N. H. Cambron-McCabe & A.

Odden (Eds.), The changing politics of school finance, Third annual

yearbook ofthe American Education Finance Association.

Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

e. Iannaccone, L. (1982). Community education and turning point election

Periods (TPEPs), pp. 105-115 in Schoney, D H. & Decker, L. E. (Eds.),

Community, educational and social impact perspectives.

Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.

  1. Iannaccone, L. (1977). Three views of change in educational politics, Chapter 9, pp. 255-286 in J. D. Scribner (Ed.) The Politics of Education, The Seventy-sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the

Study of Education, Part II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Supplemental Readings:

  1. Burnham, W. D. (1970). Critical elections and the wellsprings of

Americanpolitics. New York: W. W Norton.

  1. Lindblom, C. E. (1968). The policy making process. Englewood Cliffs,

NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Topic #4 – Symbols, Theatre & Myth.

  1. Edelman, M. (1985) The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana, Ill: University of Illinois Press.
  2. Other readings as assigned

9. June 5, 2006Micropolitics: Building Level Politics

Required Readings:

a. Iannaccone, L. (1991). Micropolitics of education: What and why.

Education and Urban Society, 23(4), 465-471.

b. Marshall, C. & Scribner, J. C. (1991). It’s all political (pp. 347-355).

Education andUrban Society, Vol. 23, No. 4. Sage.

c. Malen, B. (1995). The micropolitics of education: Mapping the multiple dimensions of power relations in school polities, Chapter 9, pp. 147-