PUBLIC EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY
true for the Logan County Public School System (Interviews, 2004). However, a shift in organizational culture was not the only characteristic attributed to the sustained success.
Characteristic 6: Communication Of the seven administrators interviewed, 43% or four out of seven subjects agreed that communication ranked high among sustainability characteristics.
Communication was always cited as a problem – a lack of communication.
We started doing a lack of communication. Each school every Friday got a memo of everything we did at the central office to keep them informed. This provided a way to remind them – preview things going on in the system. A regular correspondence that went out every week. Regular staff meetings (weekly) and regular principal meetings (2 each month) during the school year. (Interview, 2004)
Data from the interviews and WVDE files supported the notion that in the implementation stage information was disseminated initially between the State Board and State Superintendent to the local state-appointed superintendent and staff.
In the initialization stage of the takeover, information, in the form of briefings by state officials, was shared with the legislature and other related agencies. However, as the takeover moved into the continuation stage, there was a shift in authority and communication. Local powers now had control, and communication flowed from the local school system into the community. This continual flow of information throughout the community appears to have sustained the success of the takeover, as the community continues to be an integral part of the school system. During the continuation stage of the takeover, communication was used to sustain success in keeping a decentralized approach to leadership. Information was shared and used to establish accountability in the school system (Interviews, 2004). While the WVDE data files did not specifically recognize any changes in communication practices, there was considerable reference to communication processes during the personal interviews.
Characteristic 7: Leadership Twenty-nine percent (two of seven) of the subjects interviewed identified leadership as critical to sustaining success. There were two important discoveries from the interviews. The first discovery was the evolution of different types of leadership over the three stages of the takeover. The second discovery was the distinct levels of leadership and leadership support in the takeover process. From the initial takeover to the continuation stage of the takeover, there were three types of leadership style that evolved.
88 Virginia Educational Leadership Vol. 8 No. 1 Spring 2011
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