CHAPTER 2: Roles of the Central Office in American and Chinese School Systems

Based on firsthand observation, informal interviews, and literature review, this chapter compares the roles of the central office in U.S. and Chinese school systems. Central offices in the United States make decisions that impact virtually all aspects of a student’s education, from the textbooks that will be used to what specific classes will be offered. Yet, the organizational structure of U.S. school districts has largely been unplanned (Fensch & Wilson, 1964; Tyack & Cuban, 1995) and no research has been found to support the argument that a school district of a particular enrollment level provides some distinctive advantage in terms of student outcomes. In fact, Bohte (2001) found the opposite: a negative relationship between bureaucracy and student performance. Thus, while it would appear intuitive that economies of scale would translate into student benefit, research has not provided support for that intuition. Instead, the creation of larger U.S. school districts run by a centralized authority is more a function of isomorphism, both among school districts (Fensch & Wilson) and in relation to established corporate and military models of management, with all the components of Weber’s model of bureaucratic control (as summarized by Walton, 2005).