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Media Advisory: Understanding the Diverse Landscape of State Education GovernanceOur education governance system is one of the most important but least understood aspects of American K-12 schooling. In reality there is no single system-there are 50 of them. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute's new report, Schools of Thought: A Taxonomy of American Education Governance, attempts for the first time to sort each state's governance model into one of eight "types" based on how decisions are made-and who makes them-that affect all of our schools. The report examines each state's education governance system on three metrics: 1. The degree to which decision-making authority lies at the state versus local level 2. The degree to which decision-making authority is distributed among many institutions versus consolidated in a few 3. The degree to which the public can participate in the policymaking process Each state is classified under 8 "governance types" named for the characteristics they share with some of history's most famous political therists and statesmen: Jefferson, Hamilton, Lincoln, Lock, Burke, Madison, Jackson, and Plato. For example a "Jeffersonian" state has governing authority concentrated at the local level and the most public participation in educational decision making. A "Hamiltonian" state vests greater authority in the state than in local agencies and limits public participation. The report finds that each system has certain trade offs, but no one type emerged as a best model. "Since education governance, though entrenched, is not immutable, those wanting to put it into service on behalf of needed reforms are wise to start with a clearer understanding of not only the arrangements they're presently working within, but also of the remarkably different arrangements that have arisen in other jurisdictions," write Amber M. Northern and Chester E. Finn, Jr. in the foreword to the report. Schools of Thought: A Taxonomy of American Education Governance is now available to download at http://edexcellence.net/publications/schools-of-thought-a-taxonomy-of-american-education-governance. Lead authors Dara Zeehandelaar and David Griffith are available to comment on the report.
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