Explaining School Cohesion: What Shapes the Organizational Beliefs of Teachers?

Abstract

Effective schools often possess teachers who hold shared beliefs in similar instructional goals and practices. But little empirical evidence exists that helps to explain what factors shape the level of convergence in teachers' beliefs. Organizational theorists and practitioners alike are divided between two theoretical camps. Some claim that a strong principal and factors within the school can move teachers toward a shared commitment to the school's philosophy and method (a natural-system model). Others suggest that convergent beliefs among school staff are more strongly shaped by the school's environment, including diversity within the local community or fragmentation within the organization of school funding as structured by state and federal education agencies (an open-system model). This study finds that the level of convergence in teachers' beliefs is sensitive to local environmental forces, including heterogeneity of students, size of administrative staff, and the community's social class. But such contextual effects are more consistently observed among schools that have little financial dependence on central government agencies for funds and legitimacy and for schools serving relatively homogenous groups of students. In contrast, the level of ideological convergence among teachers within schools that have been historically dependent on central state agencies is less sensitive to local environmental disturbances. Findings come from a study of 1,305 teachers in 145 elementary schools. Implications for organizational theory and social policy are discussed.