Linda A. Renzulli

Racial Mismatch and School Type: Teacher Satisfaction and Retention in Charter and Traditional Public Schools

Studies of teacher satisfaction suggest that satisfaction is related to both the racial composition and the organizational structure of the schools in which teachers work. In this article, the authors draw from theories of race and organizations to examine simultaneously the effects of school type (traditional public vs. charter) and racial mismatch on teacher satisfaction and subsequent turnover. In doing so, they examine the organizational differences between traditional public and charter schools that contribute to systematic differences in satisfaction and turnover across these school types. Using 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey data, the authors find that charter school teachers are more satisfied than are public school teachers because of greater autonomy. Charter school teachers, however, are more likely to leave teaching than are traditional teachers. The authors also show that teaching in racially mismatched schools results in lower levels of satisfaction for white teachers and that being in a charter school reduces this negative effect.

Organizational Environments and the Emergence of Charter Schools in the United States

There is a growing abundance of research on outcomes of charter schools for children, teachers, and communities, yet a paucity of research on why and how charter schools form in the first place. This article presents unique data on charter school applications to show how the early stages of school formation are embedded in, if not driven by, an organizational and institutional context. Three organizational theories—neoinstitutional, population ecology, and resource dependence—are used to explain the formation of charter schools. The results suggest that educational organizational environments are indeed key in the process of generating charter schools. Nonreligious private schools increase the submission of charter school applications, while the density of extant charter schools in local districts—or saturation, in general—decreases the submission of applications. Finally, local political environments and legislative support matter as well. Implications for understanding the formation of charter schools are discussed, as is the more general importance of understanding educational options as a function of organizational environments.

Race, Gender, and the Wage Gap Comparing Faculty Salaries in Predominately White and Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the authors compare the gender pay gap at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) with the gap at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Also, within the HBCU milieu, they examine how class of the institution has an impact on pay gaps. First, they find that HBCUs do seem to have a smaller gap but that pay for all faculty at HBCUs is lower than in PWIs. Second, the gap is only significantly smaller in the rank of associates. Third, the gap is smaller at the associate rank because men make less money in HBCUs than they do in PWIs. Fourth, elite HBCUs are more similar to PWIs than to HBCUs in terms of their gender pay gap. Race, class, and gender effects must be taken into account to understand patterns of wage equity across these institutions. The greater gender equity at HBCUs is apparent because of the absence of the “mens bonus, ” which is prevalent in PWIs and elite HBCUs.

Economic Freedom or Self-imposed Strife: Work–Life Conflict, Gender, and Self-Employment

This paper uses a representative sample of U.S. workers to examine how self-employment may reduce work-life conflict. We find that self-employment prevents work from interfering with life (WIL), especially among women, but it heightens the tendency for life to interfere with work (LIW). We show that self-employment is connected to WIL and LIW by different causal mechanisms. The self-employed experience less WIL because they have more autonomy and control over the duration and timing of work. Working at home is the most important reason the self-employed experience more LIW than wage and salary workers.

Digital Dimension of Cultural Capital: The (In)Visible Advantages for Students Who Exhibit Computer Skills.

We update theories of teacher expectancy and cultural capital by linking them to discussions of technology. We argue for broadening the span of culturally important forms of capital by including the digital dimension of cultural capital. Based on data from the third-grade and fifth-grade waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey–Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K), results suggest a comprehensive model where teachers play a prominent, mediating role in the effects of computer proficiency on academic achievement. These findings have practical applications within classrooms, which can lead to a reduction in stratification. Our findings modernize and renew theoretical tools for understanding teacher and student interactions and the effects on achievement outcomes

Charter Schools and the Public Good

Do charter schools work? The best studies suggest they are doing no better than traditional public schools-and are increasing racial segregation.

Innovative Education? A Test of Specialist Mimicry or Generalist Assimilation in Trends in Charter School Specialization over Time.

By most media accounts, charter schools are innovative schools. But little empirical work interrogates this idea. We examine the growth and decline of specialist charter school mission statements as one indicator of innovation. In line with theories of resource partitioning, we find that specialist charter school missions—those asserting innovation with regards to populations served, curricula utilized, and/or educational focus—have become increasingly diverse over time. However, simultaneously, we find support for a generalist assimilation hypothesis: Charter schools have come to resemble traditional schools through isomorphic tendencies over time. Hence, we show that although specialist charter schools are becoming increasingly diverse in their missions, these charter schools are increasingly making up a smaller portion of the population. We also find, counter to charter school advocates’ intentions, that states with more permissive charter school laws are those that also tend to have a great proportion of charter schools with generalist missions. Our findings contribute to a theoretical understanding of specialist organizations by considering specialization as an example of innovation in the charter school population. Furthermore, our findings have implications for the way charter school laws are created and enacted to foster innovation through specialization.

Criminalizing Spousal Rape: The Diffusion of Legal Reforms

While efforts to criminalize spousal rape began in the 1970s, by 2002 only twenty-three states had adopted laws that allow for the full prosecution of sexual assault by a spouse. The authors present the first analysis of martial rape law reform to incorporate insights from research on diffusion. The authors find that states are more likely to criminalize spousal rape when women in the state have more economic power. Conversely, states are less likely to criminalize spousal rape when the legislature passed previous incremental reforms or when a neighboring state already criminalized spousal rape. The authors also find that states that criminalize spousal rape under a split-party government are particularly influential in the spread of such reforms and that the processes driving early diffusion are different than the processes driving later diffusion. Overall, results suggest that understanding law reforms requires greater attention to incremental change, negative effects of spatial diffusion, and the importance of time.

For Grades or Money? Charter School Failure in North Carolina:

Purpose: Charter schools are unique public schools in part because this type of school can close if it fails to meet objectives set forth by the chartering body that approved it. Thus far, however, little research has been conducted into the causes of charter school closures. In this article, we examine charter school accountability. Research Design: We consider four types of accountability to guide our event history analysis of environmental influences that affect charter school closures in North Carolina. In addition, we present two case studies of schools that closed in North Carolina to better illustrate the differing micro-level processes that can lead to the closure of a school. Findings: We find evidence that market, bureaucratic, and financial accountability processes influence the likelihood that a school will close. The initiation of closure procedures, however, is more complex than our quantitative model alone suggests and our two case studies illustrate the key role that financial accountability plays in charter school closures in North Carolina.

Routes and Reasons Out, Paths Back The Influence of Push and Pull Reasons for Leaving School on Students’ School Reengagement

Dropout is a major issue facing our country’s schools; however, many students who drop out of school later go on to finish their degree either by returning to high school or by earning a General Education Development (GED) credential. Despite this, there has been relatively little research on these students who “stopout” of high school. Drawing on a sample of high school dropouts, we build on research conceptualizing dropouts as having been “pushed” or “pulled” out of school by examining how routes out of school influence the process of return. Our analysis reveals that being either pushed or pulled has little differential impact on the reengagement process. But, particular reasons within the categories have strong effects on keeping students out of school and on the pathways that they take if they return. Implications are suggested for both school practice and for how researchers should best conceptualize dropouts.