School Autonomy
Research based on the international achievement tests suggests that students tend to learn more where teachers and schools have autonomy. This is particularly true for process and personnel decisions. Schools should be able to choose their teachers themselves and decide on how to use their budgets. Students learn more where schools decide themselves about which materials to purchase and where teachers influence resource acquisition.
Importantly, school autonomy and external exams belong together: Successful education policy defines standards externally and examines their achievement externally but leaves it up to schools how best to pursue them. School autonomy has more positive effects on student achievement where external exams are in place. External exams ensure that schools use their autonomy to improve the learning gains of students and not for other aims. In several decision-making areas, external exams even turn an otherwise negative autonomy effect around into a positive effect.
Furthermore, our research suggests that the effect of school autonomy varies systematically across countries, depending on the level of economic and educational development: School autonomy tends to have positive effects in developed and high-achieving countries, but negative effects in developing and low-achieving countries. Countries with otherwise strong institutions gain considerably from decentralized decision-making in their schools, while countries that lack such a strong existing structure may actually be hurt by decentralizing decision-making. The result holds across different decision-making areas but is generally strongest with regard to matters of academic content.
Non-technical contributions:
How School Choice, Autonomy, and Accountability Impact Student Achievement: International Evidence (with M.R. West). In: C.L. Glenn, J. De Groof, and C. Stillings Candal (eds.), Balancing Freedom, Autonomy and Accountability in Education, Volume 4, Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers, 275-298, 2012
Allowing Local Schools to Make More Decisions May Work in Developed Countries but Is Questionable in Developing Countries (with E.A. Hanushek and S. Link). VOX, 9.1.2012
Here you can learn more about my research on this topic.
My most important academic paper on the topic is:
Does School Autonomy Make Sense Everywhere? Panel Estimates from PISA (with E.A. Hanushek and S. Link). Journal of Development Economics 104: 212-232, 2013
An early non-technical contribution:
Central Exams as the “Currency” of School Systems: International Evidence on the Complementarity of School Autonomy and Central Exams. DICE Report - Journal for Institutional Comparisons 1 (4): 46-56, 2003