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Dissertation

A California Mayor's Bid to Improve the City's Schools: A Study of the Reform He Implemented

Attempts to improve the quality of education and instruction have resulted in numerous reform efforts with the end goal of improving student academic performance. Although educational reform has been largely left in the hands of educators, policy makers are increasingly taking initiative and introducing their own ideas to reform education. Federal and state policy has influenced education through categorical funding and legislation, and the mayoral control movement has emerged with the efforts by city mayors to improve the quality of education in their city's schools. While the school reform efforts of mayors in cities such as Boston, Chicago, and New York have been well documented in the scholarly literature, there have been few studies centered on the recent attempts by Mayor Villaraigosa in Los Angeles to implement his educational reform policy. This study examines how mayor control has materialized in Los Angeles through the efforts of Mayor Villaraigosa and the education management organization he helped to found, the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS). More specifically, this study spotlights the experience of two middle schools under the management of PLAS as recounted by administrators, teachers, and parents. The themes that emerged from this study included: 1) implementing mayoral control through PLAS, 2) the experience of the two PLAS schools, 3) the PLAS organizational model and how it defines its place within the school district, and 3) PLAS' developing efforts at school reform.

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