| Clarke County Public Schools, a small rural school division in northwestern Virginia, is the subject of an organizational history using the model of Duke (1995, 2005, 2008) and Karpyn (2008) and designed to identify the changes in the school system that transpired between 1983 and 2009, a period marked by the standards and accountability movement in public education. The study is focused specifically on the school division's response to internal and external pressures to change, as evidenced by changes in its mission and goals, leadership, organizational structure, funding, and culture.;Based on extensive examination of primary source documents, the study chronicles critical incidents (Duke, 2008) that led to the school system's evolution from an underperforming school division to one that was recognized as a model for others to emulate. Structured interviews with twenty key informants provide qualitative data to support the historical data collected for this study.;The study analyzes changes that occurred in Clarke County Public Schools utilizing Bolman and Deal's (2003) four frames for understanding the complexities of organizational change and continuity. Viewed through the structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frames, significant changes are evident in the school system's mission, goals, and organizational structure. Additionally, the importance of hiring the right people, creating a shared vision of excellence, and investing in professional development emerges through the human resource frame.;The data reveal the school division's struggle to secure necessary resources to improve school facilities, resulting in years of political turmoil and an inability to build a modern high school. Using Stone's (1989) typology of causal stories, the study examined the decades-long conflict born of diverging worldviews that existed between the school board and members of the county board of supervisors. The symbolic importance of a rural high school to its surrounding community is also noted.;The study compares the experiences of Clarke County Public Schools and Manassas Park City Schools as described by Duke (2008). Both school systems implemented a process of gradually increasing changes that Duke (2008) describes as "accelerating incrementalism" (p. 146).;The study concludes with several recommendations for further studies. |
