School Bureaucracy and Student Performance at the Local Level

A major debate in American education centers on the role bureaucracy plays in shaping educational performance. Proponents of school choice argue that large educational bureaucracies have contributed to dramatic performance shortfalls in America's public schools. Other scholars view educational bureaucracies as beneficial because they manage a wide range of problems and thus make it easier for teachers to focus on the core task of teaching. This study examines these competing claims about the impact of bureaucracy on student performance using district level data from Texas public schools. The findings from several regression models reveal negative relationships between bureaucracy (measured both at the central and campus administration levels) and student performance across several different grade levels.