Abstract
Purpose: Suburban school districts have undergone significant demographic shifts over the past several decades. The research literature to date, however, has yet to explore how suburban district leaders are responding to such changes, or examine the factors that shape response. In this article, we apply a "zone of mediation" framework to examine how the leaders of one large and rapidly changing suburban school district in Texas responded to its changing student population. In our analysis, we consider the technical, normative, and political dimensions of this district's response to demographic shifts. Research Methods/Approach: We conducted an in-depth qualitative case study of a large and rapidly changing district in the San Antonio Metropolitan area, which we named "Southern Independent School District." Our data included interviews with 28 district-level and community actors and interviews with 26 educators across three "focus" schools that were undergoing particularly rapid demographic shifts. Findings and Implications: We found that Southern Independent School District's response to demographic change focused intensely on technical changes in curriculum and instruction. Such technical changes we found were explicitly adopted to address the needs of the increasing proportion of low-income students and students of color within the district. At the same time, we illustrate how the district failed to address the more challenging normative and political dynamics within the district. This failure, we show, placed significant limits upon the technical reforms that were adopted.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 34-66 |
| Number of pages | 33 |
| Journal | Educational Administration Quarterly |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1 2014 |
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Keywords
- demographic change
- diversity
- equity
- school districts
- school reform
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Public Administration
Cite this
Suburban School Districts and Demographic Change : The Technical, Normative, and Political Dimensions of Response. / Holme, Jennifer Jellison; Diem, Sarah; Welton, Anjale Devawn.
In: Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 1, 01.02.2014, p. 34-66.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Suburban School Districts and Demographic Change
T2 - The Technical, Normative, and Political Dimensions of Response
AU - Holme, Jennifer Jellison
AU - Diem, Sarah
AU - Welton, Anjale Devawn
PY - 2014/2/1
Y1 - 2014/2/1
N2 - Purpose: Suburban school districts have undergone significant demographic shifts over the past several decades. The research literature to date, however, has yet to explore how suburban district leaders are responding to such changes, or examine the factors that shape response. In this article, we apply a "zone of mediation" framework to examine how the leaders of one large and rapidly changing suburban school district in Texas responded to its changing student population. In our analysis, we consider the technical, normative, and political dimensions of this district's response to demographic shifts. Research Methods/Approach: We conducted an in-depth qualitative case study of a large and rapidly changing district in the San Antonio Metropolitan area, which we named "Southern Independent School District." Our data included interviews with 28 district-level and community actors and interviews with 26 educators across three "focus" schools that were undergoing particularly rapid demographic shifts. Findings and Implications: We found that Southern Independent School District's response to demographic change focused intensely on technical changes in curriculum and instruction. Such technical changes we found were explicitly adopted to address the needs of the increasing proportion of low-income students and students of color within the district. At the same time, we illustrate how the district failed to address the more challenging normative and political dynamics within the district. This failure, we show, placed significant limits upon the technical reforms that were adopted.
AB - Purpose: Suburban school districts have undergone significant demographic shifts over the past several decades. The research literature to date, however, has yet to explore how suburban district leaders are responding to such changes, or examine the factors that shape response. In this article, we apply a "zone of mediation" framework to examine how the leaders of one large and rapidly changing suburban school district in Texas responded to its changing student population. In our analysis, we consider the technical, normative, and political dimensions of this district's response to demographic shifts. Research Methods/Approach: We conducted an in-depth qualitative case study of a large and rapidly changing district in the San Antonio Metropolitan area, which we named "Southern Independent School District." Our data included interviews with 28 district-level and community actors and interviews with 26 educators across three "focus" schools that were undergoing particularly rapid demographic shifts. Findings and Implications: We found that Southern Independent School District's response to demographic change focused intensely on technical changes in curriculum and instruction. Such technical changes we found were explicitly adopted to address the needs of the increasing proportion of low-income students and students of color within the district. At the same time, we illustrate how the district failed to address the more challenging normative and political dynamics within the district. This failure, we show, placed significant limits upon the technical reforms that were adopted.
KW - demographic change
KW - diversity
KW - equity
KW - school districts
KW - school reform
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84894516233&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84894516233&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0013161X13484038
DO - 10.1177/0013161X13484038
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84894516233
VL - 50
SP - 34
EP - 66
JO - Educational Administration Quarterly
JF - Educational Administration Quarterly
SN - 0013-161X
IS - 1
ER -