Effects of Organic Management on Student Achievement

Proponents ofschool restructuring often promote the purported benefits ofprofessionalforms of management that c.allfor staff cooperation and collegiality, teachers'participation in school decision making, and supportive leadership byschoolprincipals. A theoreticalperspective on organizations known as contingency theory refers to such management patterns as "organic management." This study examined the relationships between organic management and growth in student achievement in elementary and secondary schools. Two national databases were used to estimate a series of three-level growth models of student achievement at the elementary and secondary levels. Results suggested that organic forms of management are not a particularly powerful determinant of student achievement at either of these levels of schooling.