Organizing education: schools, school districts, and the study of organizational history
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a rationale for organizational histories of schools and school districts and discuss the findings of selected examples of the genre.
Design/methodology/approach
The author presents a vignette of an organizational history, discusses key elements of the methodology, and offers seven ways in which organizational histories address important issues in educational research.
Findings
A case is made, using actual examples of research, that organizational histories of schools and school districts can contribute to testing existing theory, developing new theory, describing how educational change occurs, accounting for the sustainability of educational change, explaining organizational continuity over time, understanding school and district responses to persistent social issues, and balancing an over-emphasis on the impact of school and district leaders.
Originality/value
The paper draws on the author’s original contributions to organizational history as well as the contributions of his doctoral students and others.
Keywords
Citation
Duke, D.L. (2015), "Organizing education: schools, school districts, and the study of organizational history", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 53 No. 5, pp. 682-697. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-08-2014-0097
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited