MANDATING INTERORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS: AN ANALYSIS OF THREE URBAN SCHOOL-UNIVERSITY PAIRINGS FOR EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT

This thesis presents an analysis of discrete but comparable cases written on three of the twenty-seven Boston School-University Collaboratives. These collaboratives or pairings were created as part of the Federal Court desegregation plan in order to promote educational excellence and equity in the Boston public schools. The Boston Pairings are of interest because they: were the result of a Federal Court Order; represent complex interorganizational arrangements created to improve/enhance the quality of education in public schools; were examples of the problems and possibilities in relationships among universities and public schools; occurred in the context of an "urban system under stress"; and required substantial public investment (over 12 million dollars in five years).;A series of conclusions are made regarding the Boston School-University Pairings and their impact on school improvement. Their successes and difficulties are viewed as a result of the interorganizational system's features. Three important issues are considered: (1) the value of the conceptual model as a descriptive/analytic tool for evaluating arrangements between urban public schools and universities; (2) factors which promote or hinder the development of successful school and university collaboration--such as structures, expectations, values and needs; and (3) the context dependency of resource transfers and knowledge use for the improvement of education in urban settings. Recommendations are made for policy makers, planners, and practitioners considering using similar arrangements. Finally, issues for future research are presented.;A conceptual framework is developed using three bodies of literature: interorganizational relations, organizational theory and behavior, and knowledge diffusion and use. From this framework a conceptual model is developed which views the pairings as an interorganizational system operating in a complex regulatory and organizational environment. From this perspective, school improvement is seen as depending on the ability of the collaborative partners to generate common goals, implement programs, and modify existing structures and behaviors to create or adopt new modes and mechanisms for collaboration. The model is used to organize and inform the analysis. The cases are subjected to a content analysis, and the data coded and applied to the conceptual model. The cases are also subjected to role, activity and outcome analyses.