W. Norton Grubb

A Job Too Big for One: Multiple Principals and Other Nontraditional Approaches to School Leadership

Background: Current federal, state, and local school accountability measures as well as policy initiatives that call for improved leadership have placed increasing demands on principals. Many districts face shortages of appropriate candidates for the job; popularly, this shortage is explained by the fact that simply too few hero-principals exist for all openings available, particularly in high-needs districts. An alternative to finding the perfect—and rare—candidate for an increasingly untenable position is to restructure the job itself. Purpose: This article examines 10 schools that have adopted alternative structures: schools with two principals, three principals, and rotating principals and a school with the principal’s duties distributed among teachers. These 10 sites provide examples of alternative ways of organizing school leadership with varying benefits and challenges. Research Methods: Data collection at the 10 schools included site visits conducted by a team of researchers, interviews with principals, teacher leaders, and district supervisors. Observational and interview protocols were adapted from the Northwestern University Distributed Leadership Study. These protocols focus on uncovering not only how school site leaders explain their decisions but also on providing evidence of what those decisions are. Interview and observational data were organized into thematic codes to permit cross-case comparison. Findings: We observed the idiosyncratic ways in which schools and districts approached the policy dilemmas associated with attempts to change the default administrative structure of principal and assistant principal. Some schools with coprincipals, for example, thrived; others struggled. Where local school sites participated actively with the policy-making process that produced these arrangements, the alternative seemed viable. Where alternatives were imposed without school input, implementation floundered. The findings analyze the origins of the reforms, school site roles, costs and benefits, the role of the district, and the long-term stability of the approach. Implications: In this article, we describe the experiences of 10 schools that have experimented with alternative arrangements for school site leadership. These experiences offer schools, districts, school boards, and researchers a series of questions to consider as they contemplate reforming the principalship itself rather than (or in addition to) preparing and searching for competent principals.

The Varied Economic Returns to Postsecondary Education: New Evidence from the Class of 1972.

This paper estimates the returns to postsecondary education using the National Longitudinal Survey of the Class of 1972, with earnings measured at about age 32. The results are based on transcripts, rather than self-reports about the amount of education, allowing postsecondary education to be more precisely described than usual. The results confirm the well-known returns to B.A. degrees. Other credentials-associate degrees, and certificates for women-also lead to higher earnings and wage rates, though indirectly: these credentials gain individuals access to jobs where they accumulate more experience and on-the-job training, but provide no further advantage once experience and OJT are controlled. Most individuals who enroll in postsecondary education but fail to complete credentials have no higher earnings than high school graduates. The effects of experience, high school achievement, and family background are familiar. The results indicate a fundamental difference between labor markets for college graduates and the sub-baccalaureate labor market.

The returns to education in the sub-baccalaureate labor market, 1984–1990

Abstract While the sub-baccalaureate labor market is large and growing, there has been relatively little analysis of its effects on employment. This paper adds to our knowledge by analyzing the Survey of Income and Program Participation, for the years 1984, 1987, and 1990. The benefits of sub-baccalaureate credentials—associate degrees and certificates—are generally positive and statistically significant, contrary to the critics of two-year institutions. However, the benefits of completing some postsecondary education but failing to earn credentials are much lower, especially for women; there are substantial variations in returns among fields of study; and individuals who do not find employment related to their field of study also have lower returns. The implications are that better information should be provided to students so they can make rational choices, and state and federal policy should emphasize practices to improve completion rates and placement rates in both two- and four-year institutions.

The flight to the suburbs of population and employment, 1960-1970

An econometric model of suburbanization in the United States is developed. The model is used to analyze changes in location of the population, classified by income and race, and of employment in 106 large SMSAs over the period 1960-1970. The results confirm that the differential mobility of upper-income and white residents has been a powerful force concentrating low-income and nonwhite residents in central cities. The interaction of population and employment location is confirmed.

Further Tests of Screening on Education and Observed Ability.

Abstract Various interpretations of the positive influence of education on wages and earnings exist, including signaling hypotheses in which employers use education — and also readily observable measures of ability — as indicators of unmeasured dimensions of ability. This paper presents tests of signaling, relying on the differences in earnings functions for salaried individuals assumed to be in screened occupations versus self-employed individuals in unscreened positions. The results are based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the class of 1972, a data set with sufficient detail to preclude various biases that might otherwise affect the tests. The results indicate that vocational Associate degrees are used as screens, as are high school grades; in contrast, the baccalaureate degree does not operate as a signal since it increases earnings substantially more in unscreened than in screened positions. Corrections for self-selection into salaried versus self-employed employment indicate that such selection does not affect the findings. These conclusions also suggest that the labor market for subbaccalaureate credentials works differently than does that for baccalaureate degrees.

Community Colleges and the Equity Agenda: The Potential of Noncredit Education

While community colleges pride themselves on their inclusiveness, they tend not to enroll many of the lowest performing students leaving high schools, most of the disconnected youth who have dropped out of high school, and many low-income adults. This article explores the possibility of using noncredit education as a bridging mechanism to allow such students to enter the community college. Noncredit programs have many advantages including lower cost; greater accessibility, flexibility, and responsiveness; and greater access to immigrants. Some noncredit centers have worked hard to develop smooth transitions to the credit programs of their colleges. While noncredit education has great promise as a mechanism for expanding access to community colleges, it also faces familiar problems: inadequate funding, low status, inadequate support services, and developing in adequate articulation mechanisms with credit programs. Finally, community colleges cannot by themselves resolve the problems of inadequate schooling and poverty, and a variety of complementary social and economic policies must also be developed.

The Long-Run Effects of Proprietary Schools on Wages and Earnings: Implications for Federal Policy

Although proprietary schools serve large (and increasing) numbers of students, including many low-income students, the large amounts of student aid going to them, the high default rates of their students, and news about fraud and abuse suggest substantial problems. Unfortunately, information about proprietaries is sparse. This article summarizes what is known from several national data sets, particularly about the amounts of aid allocated to proprietary school students, student composition, completion and noncompletion rates, and effects on wages and earnings. The findings provide little support for proprietary schools on average, though the averages may mask substantial benefits for some schools. One implication is that the assumptions necessary for student loans are not met, and even grants to students in proprietary schools may not be warranted. Another is that requiring better information about the effects of proprietary schools would help in regulating such schools and would improve student choices.

The Economic Returns to Baccalaureate Degrees: New Evidence from the Class of 1972.

Abstract: What is a baccalaureate degree worth? This paper, using the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972, compares the financial returns of baccalaureate degrees to the returns from high school diplomas, including results for different fields of study and types of postsecondary institution. The results confirm the financial value of the baccalaureate and well-known differences by fields of study; differences among types of institutions are relatively smaller.

The Effects of Differentiation on Educational Attainment: The Case of Community Colleges.

Abstract: This essay presents two contrasting hypotheses about the effects of community colleges—the view that these institutions “cool out” those who might attend four-year colleges, and the view that they increase schooling for students who would otherwise have no access to higher education—and argues that both may occur simultaneously. To test which one predominates, the author develops a model of educational attainment as a function of both labor market conditions and institutional structure. Using data from fifty states, he concludes that both hypotheses are partially correct and that, in addition, economic conditions strongly influence educational attainment.

Multiple Resources, Multiple Outcomes: Testing the “Improved”School Finance With NELS88

This article first presents the conceptual framework of the “improved” school finance. This approach clarifies that effective school resources include compound resources, complex resources, and abstract resources in addition to the simple resources usually included in production functions. The implications of this approach are then explored with the National Educational Longitudinal Survey of the Class of 1988 (NELS88), data rich enough to measure many school resources and many outcomes. The results indicate that simple resources are much less powerful than compound, complex, and abstract resources. Many effective resources are unaffected by spending levels and must be constructed within schools, explaining why money often does not make a difference to outcomes. The results also indicate that, while a few powerful resources affect all outcomes, some affect test scores but not progress through high school, while others affect progress but not learning.