COMPARING SCHOOL BOARD GOVERNING DYNAMICS IN SMALL RURAL AND SUBURBAN DISTRICTS

In this paper we use the case of U.S. school boards to compare small group governing dynamics across suburban and rural school boards serving fewer than 1,000 students. Using a national dataset, we find that rural school board members are less diverse, perceive higher levels of interpersonal conflic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPublic administration quarterly Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 131 - 158
Main Authors FORD, MICHAEL R., IHRKE, DOUGLAS M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SPAEF 01.04.2020
SAGE Publications
Southern Public Administration Education Foundation, Inc
Southern Public Administration Education Foundation
Subjects
Accountability
Boards of education
Bureaucracy
Cities and towns
Decision making
Districts
Education
Governance
Group dynamics
Hypotheses
Interpersonal conflict
Literature reviews
Policy making
Public administration
Public schools
Rural areas
Rural schools
School boards
School districts
Social conflict
Students
Suburban areas
United States > US
Governance
School Boards
Small Cities
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Summary:In this paper we use the case of U.S. school boards to compare small group governing dynamics across suburban and rural school boards serving fewer than 1,000 students. Using a national dataset, we find that rural school board members are less diverse, perceive higher levels of interpersonal conflict, and higher levels of interest group influence compared to their suburban colleagues. The results reveal the need to consider contextual factors such as urbanity when researching small group governing dynamics on public boards, and the importance of place-based policy making. The results are relevant to scholars of small group dynamics, municipal governance, and school boards.
ISSN:0734-9149
2327-4433
DOI:10.1177/073491492004400105