Microlevel Sources of Institutional Change: New Insights Into the Legitimacy Imperative

While at one time it was common to refer to public education as a relative monolith and to think about the legitimacy imperative in education, now the very term "public" in U.S. education is no longer a very descriptive term. Consequently, the public schools are today surrounded by a much-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Peabody journal of education 2020-08, Vol.95 (4), p.439-448
Main Authors: Crowson, Robert L., Deal, Terrence E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conformity
Educational Change
Educational Policy
Institutional change
Legitimacy
Organizational Change
Public Education
Public Schools
Social values
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Summary:While at one time it was common to refer to public education as a relative monolith and to think about the legitimacy imperative in education, now the very term "public" in U.S. education is no longer a very descriptive term. Consequently, the public schools are today surrounded by a much-widened variety of legitimation conditions and circumstances. Public (indeed, even "neighborhood") schools of old remain, but along with magnets, charters, themed, vouchered, for-profit, and even virtual schools, all of which are engaged in either sharing the public purse or the current generation of learners. The profession of educator; the schools themselves as organizations and institutions; the schools serving urban, rural, or suburban sectors of society; the individual school district and its particular clientele/community--each of these categories encounters its own legitimation imperatives with its own legitimizing agenda. In a microlevel style, this article examines organizational legitimacy within the specific context of public schooling, specifically delving into pragmatic, moral, consequential (procedural, structural, and personal), and cognitive legitimacy. It concludes that the legitimacy imperative in institutional theorizing around public education is no longer a simple consideration of how well traditional beliefs, ceremonies, behaviors, and structures are being served (plus how well schools everywhere are clearly recognized as schools). The legitimacy imperative is a far more complex construct today in consideration of educational policy and organizational change--still heavily localized, as microlevel initiatives organizationally begin to be investigated more deeply, but also still heavily institutionalized, particularly in an "effective" system sense of learning and development toward well recognized standards of performance/accomplishment
ISSN:0161-956X
1532-7930
DOI:10.1080/0161956X.2020.1800178