Public Administration ETDs

Publication Date

6-10-1972

Abstract

This thesis attempts to re-test a hypothesis that organizational effectiveness and support can be tied into the community power structure. Using two educational systems as organizations, two communities chosen for their cultural, socio-economic, and demographic similarities were found to have educational systems diverse in quality and local support. It was hypothesized that the community having the better quality and more highly supported educational system would have a school board that was more extensively tied into its community power structure. It was predicted, more specifically, that the more effective and highly supported educational system would have a school board whose members interacted more extensively with community leaders as demonstrated by the degree of home visits and joint organizational memberships. As a result of investigations conducted through interviews with leaders and school board members of the two communities involved, it was found that this hypothesis did not hold. The educational system in one community having lower quality and lesser support was found to have greater ties with the community power structure than the better quality and more highly supported system. There were more social and joint organizational interactions between school board members and community leaders in this community than in the community having the better quality and more highly supported educational system. Social class and length of residence, factors which may have been influential in determining the extent of interaction between leaders and board members, were subsequently found to be of minor influence. It was concluded that educational quality and support are not necessarily reflected in school board member­community leader relationships. A community having a rather high quality educational system which is highly supported by its local community may not necessarily reflect its high values in extensive interactions between school board members and community leaders. In addition, a community's attitudes reflecting certain educational values are not necessarily transferred into policy-making activities through school board member-community leader social and joint organizational interrelationships. There are necessarily other means, possibly outside school board channels, through which a community may indicate preferences in directing its resources toward educational policy formulation.

Degree Name

Public Administration

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

School of Public Administration

First Committee Member (Chair)

David R. Jones

Second Committee Member

John Mace Hunger

Third Committee Member

Frank Xavier Steggert

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Download

Share

COinS