Implications for Educational Equity Due to Master Scheduling Decisions Made by Site Administrators
type: CreativeWork
description: It is well documented that excellent teachers are not equitably distributed among students in traditional public high schools. Research shows teacher labor market economics and the micropolitics of schooling significantly facilitate the migration of excellent teachers between districts and schools and within schools so the teachers may secure course assignments that house the most academically successful students. No study has yet addressed within-school assignment of teachers made by site administrators through the mechanism known as the Master Schedule. This dissertation examined the factors that influence teacher–course pairing decisions made by site administrators in traditional high school settings in California and how these factors affect educational equity at the site level as pertains to the distribution of high quality teachers. This study provides groundbreaking evidence on the role of site administrators in teacher–course pairing, and by extension, teacher–student pairing, while exploring three distinct phenomena and their interactions: (a) teacher assigned specific courses at the site level based on site–administration decision making, (b) student sorting at the site level based on site administrator decisions on which teachers are assigned specific courses, (c) and the mechanism (i.e., the Master Schedule) that merges both types of sorting. The investigation in this study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design with a sample drawn from the population of 965 site administrators serving as principals in traditional California public high schools offering Grades 9–12 inclusive. The respondents consisted of 114 high school administrators: (a) 99 principals, and (b) 15 assistant principals. A total of 33 of these site administrators also participated in one-on-one interviews. This study provided pioneering empirical evidence of similarities in Master Schedule practices and outcomes throughout California. This is evidenced by data analysis in…
abstract: It is well documented that excellent teachers are not equitably distributed among students in traditional public high schools. Research shows teacher labor market economics and the micropolitics of schooling significantly facilitate the migration of excellent teachers between districts and schools and within schools so the teachers may secure course assignments that house the most academically successful students. No study has yet addressed within-school assignment of teachers made by site administrators through the mechanism known as the Master Schedule. This dissertation examined the factors that influence teacher–course pairing decisions made by site administrators in traditional high school settings in California and how these factors affect educational equity at the site level as pertains to the distribution of high quality teachers. This study provides groundbreaking evidence on the role of site administrators in teacher–course pairing, and by extension, teacher–student pairing, while exploring three distinct phenomena and their interactions: (a) teacher assigned specific courses at the site level based on site–administration decision making, (b) student sorting at the site level based on site administrator decisions on which teachers are assigned specific courses, (c) and the mechanism (i.e., the Master Schedule) that merges both types of sorting. The investigation in this study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design with a sample drawn from the population of 965 site administrators serving as principals in traditional California public high schools offering Grades 9–12 inclusive. The respondents consisted of 114 high school administrators: (a) 99 principals, and (b) 15 assistant principals. A total of 33 of these site administrators also participated in one-on-one interviews. This study provided pioneering empirical evidence of similarities in Master Schedule practices and outcomes throughout California. This is evidenced by data analysis in…
author: Pittman, Rachel
keywords: bell schedule, educational equity, high school, master schedule, site administrator, within-school sorting, Education, Educational Administration and Supervision
date published: 2022-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:39:59Z
provider: Claremont Graduate University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Claremont Graduate University