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In this article, we use originally collected survey data to determine how nonprofit charter school board members in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota define accountability. We find that charter board members generally define accountability downward toward student achievement and staff performance, inward toward board performance, or upward toward authorizer compliance. We use the results of the survey to make a series of public policy recommendations to help charter school boards look outward in their accountability orientation as a means of addressing the calls for increased public accountability for the charter school sector. The results add practical value to policy discussions regarding charter school accountability and theoretical value to scholars studying public and nonprofit governance reforms.

This article explores the research question: How does the nature of interest group influence on school superintendents vary across school district locale/? Utilizing a survey of Wisconsin superintendents, the author tests several hypotheses related to the relationship between school district locale and superintendent perceptions of interest group influence. The results show that Rural/Town superintendents experience more overall interest group pressure, that less formal parent organizations are generally the most dominant interest groups in school districts, and that there are links between interest group pressures and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1990, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) has enabled low and middle-income parents to attend private Milwaukee schools at state expense. In 2010, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released, for the first time, results of newly required state standardized tests for students using the MPCP. This article uses an original data set from Milwaukee's two-decade-old private school voucher program to test several hypotheses on the impact of the first public release of test scores on school enrollment patterns. Specifically, the article uses quantitative methods to test (a) whether enrollment decreased at lower performing schools, (b) whether low-performing schools were more likely to close compared with higher performing schools, and (c) whether historical school-level growth patterns were significantly different after the release of test scores. The article finds that enrollment increases at higher performing schools were larger than at low-performing schools. However, the link between test scores and enrollment patterns disappears after controlling for available school-level characteristics. The analysis provides a first peek at how a transparency intervention affects enrollment patterns in an education marketplace.

The popular narrative of Wisconsin's collective bargaining battle started out being about money. Should public employees pay more toward their healthcare? Can school districts offset state aid cuts using the additional revenue from employee healthcare contributions? Does collective bargaining have a cost? This article gives an overview of Wisconsin school boards, explains exactly how Act 10 increased their power, demonstrates why and how improved school board governance can have an impact on student achievement, reviews the changes Wisconsin school boards are making because of Act 10, and provides policy recommendations to improve both board governance behaviors, and the quality of policies enacted by school boards in the postcollective bargaining era.

This article examines whether the large number of school exits from the Milwaukee school voucher program is evidence of a marketplace. Two logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression models tested the relation between the inability to draw large numbers of voucher students and the ability for a private school to remain viable. Data on school enrollments and characteristics are used to test the hypotheses that schools with lower initial voucher enrollments and growth are more likely to fail. The analysis finds evidence of a marketplace; schools that experience low voucher enrollment growth are more likely to have left the program. (Contains 6 tables, 5 figures, and 3 notes.)

This article uses a perceptions‐based framework to study how local governing actors define local control, and, to identify the determinants of definition alignment among local officials. A mix of survey and administrative data from Wisconsin officials is used to test nine hypotheses. The results indicate there is wide variation in how local government leaders define local control, and that alignment on the concept's meaning is predicted by ideology, perceived erosion of local control, and positional characteristics. The study concludes that local governments should incorporate a working definition of local control in planning and on‐boarding processes in order to provide governing relevance to the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article data from Wisconsin school districts is used to test and expand upon the theory of representative bureaucracy. The author first develops a metric measuring representativeness, and then uses three years of data to test the link between representativeness and school district performance. The analysis reveals that school districts with more representative teaching staffs exhibit higher levels of student performance. The results illustrate the link between representation and performance, the need for a broader conceptualization of minority when studying representation, and the potential benefits of representation for non-minority populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses theories of public governance to explain the performance of Wisconsin's virtual charter school sector. Specifically, longitudinal student-level data from Wisconsin is used to determine the characteristics and performance of students transferring into and out of virtual charter schools. The results show that students with lower test scores are more likely to transfer school sectors. Regression modeling indicates that students suffer immediate-term academic losses when they transfer into virtual charter schools, and immediate-term academic gains when they return to traditional public schools. The results highlight the explanatory power of modern theories of public governance, but call into question the assumption that market-based governance reforms will produce performance gains. The results also speak to the performance of virtual charter schools generally, and to the possible impacts and lessons of the Covid-19 related shift to virtual education in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we use data collected from Wisconsin superintendents to determine the extent to which the curtailing of collective bargaining facilitated local public management reform adoption. The results show the near elimination of collective bargaining did spur substantial reform adoption in areas of performance pay and recruitment, and that longer serving superintendents and those with partisan ideologies were more likely to adopt management reforms. However, the results also indicate that curtailing collective bargaining appeared to hurt employee morale and made it more difficult to recruit and retain quality teachers. The results contribute to the public human resource literature by providing a real life case study of how public management practices change when collective bargaining is eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent reforms in K–12 education governance shift the accountability responsibility in public education away from the democratic governance provided by school boards, but little is known about how school board members define accountability. In this article, survey data from school board members in Wisconsin is combined with school district demographic and performance variables to determine how board members define accountability, and how those definitions relate to outcomes. The analysis finds no connection between any single accountability definition and school district outcomes, but does find a significant positive relationship between board member agreement on accountability definitions and academic performance indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we compare the governance behaviors and preferences of nonprofit charter school board members with traditional elected public school board members in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Using originally collected survey data, we find that nonprofit charter school board members are less likely to place emphasis on relations with the public, engage in conflict, be ideologically diverse, and perceive the executive as responsible for key governance tasks than traditionally elected public school board members. The findings provide new information for policymakers weighing the potential benefits of education privatization through the use of nonprofit charter schools against the potential loss of democratic board accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By drawing from theoretical perspectives suggesting that unfair conditions threaten fundamental psychological needs, perceived unfairness at work was proposed and tested as a predictor of resting blood pressure. As part of the Midlife Development in the United States Biomarkers project, participants completed questionnaires measuring perceived unfairness, self-esteem and coworker support. Resting blood pressure readings were also recorded as part of a larger physical examination. Results indicate that perceived unfairness at work was associated with higher resting diastolic and systolic blood pressure. Perceived unfairness was most strongly related to diastolic and systolic blood pressure among women with low levels of coworker support. Contrary to predictions, self-esteem did not moderate the association between perceived unfairness and blood pressure. These results suggest that high blood pressure may be a mechanism linking unfairness to negative health outcomes and point to coworker support as a moderator of the perceived unfairness-blood pressure relationship among women. Further research is needed exploring the mediating mechanisms linking unfair treatment at work to blood pressure and health. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]