The New Institutionalism in Education

Edited by Heinz-Dieter Meyer & Brian Rowan

Subjects: Comparative Education
Paperback : 9780791469064, 234 pages, June 2007
Hardcover : 9780791469057, 234 pages, November 2006

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Table of contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

1. Institutional Analysis and the Study of Education
Heinz-Dieter Meyer and Brian Rowan

2. The New Institutionalism and the Study of Educational Organizations: Changing Ideas for Changing Times
Brian Rowan

3. Varieties of Institutional Theory: Traditions and Prospects for Educational Research
Charles E. Bidwell

4. The Rise and Decline of the Common School as an Institution: Taking “Myth and Ceremony” Seriously
Heinz-Dieter Meyer

5. The School Improvement Industry in the United States: Why Educational Change Is Both Pervasive and Ineffectual
Brian Rowan

6. The Institutional Environment and Instructional Practice: Changing Patterns of Guidance and Control in Public Education
James Spillane and Patricia Burch

7. The New Institutionalism Goes to the Market: The Challenge of Rapid Growth in Private K–12 Education
Scott Davies, Linda Quirke, and Janice Aurini

 8. Growing Commonalities and Persistent Differences in Higher Education: Universities between Global Models and National Legacies
Francisco O. Ramirez

9. The Worldwide Expansion of Private Higher Education: Challenges for the New Institutionalism
Daniel C. Levy

10. Institutional Change in Education: Evidence from Cross-National Comparisons
David P. Baker

11. Breaking the Institutional Mold: Faculty in the Transformation of Chilean Higher Education From State to Market
Andrés Bernasconi

12. Lessons Learned and Future Directions
Brian Rowan

13. Gauging the Prospects for Change
Heinz-Dieter Meyer

List of Contributors
Index

Gives researchers and policy analysts conceptual tools and empirical assessments to gauge the possibilities for institutional innovation.

Description

The New Institutionalism in Education brings together leading academics to explore the ongoing changes in K–12 and higher education in both the United States and abroad. The contributors show that current educational trends—including the increased globalization of education, the growing emphasis on educational markets and school choice, the rise of accountability systems, and the persistent influence of business groups like textbook manufacturers and test makers on educational policy—can best be understood when observed through an institutional lens. Because schools and universities are organizations that are stabilized by deeply institutionalized rules, they are subject to the enduring problem of substantive educational reform. This book gives researchers and policy analysts conceptual tools and empirical assessments to gauge the possibilities for institutional reform and innovation.

Heinz-Dieter Meyer is Associate Professor of Education Administration and Policy Studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York and has also taught sociology and organizational behavior in Germany and France. He is the coeditor (with William Lowe Boyd) of Education between States, Markets, and Civil Society: Comparative Perspectives. Brian Rowan is Burke A. Hinsdale Collegiate Professor in Education at the University of Michigan.