Doctoral Dissertation Research: Alternative constructions of authority in establishing institutions

本项目基于先前对法律在组织背景下的解释和构建的研究，评估了这样一种假设，即相关法律既塑造了行为者如何看待法律下的新组织形式的授权，又如何通过与有关当地重要机构的角色的替代理解的相遇来塑造法律，这些机构来自实践、市场或其他地方，这些理解为官僚授权过程提供了信息。该项目将把特许学校这一重要的社会机构的授权作为分析法律和组织相互塑造的场所。虽然关于特许学校在以市场为基础的教育改革中的表现和地位的文献很发达，但很少有实证研究表明，与特许治理相关的各方如何在学校授权、更新和关闭的关键时刻遇到、援引和使用法律。该项目将结合对法律规定的组织授权和撤销的社会法律层面的分析，并绘制相关组织的地图。这项研究采用了多方法方法，分两个阶段进行：1)对相关组织的当前和历史人口进行量化分析，以揭示成立、被质疑或被拒绝续签、关闭和法律上诉的模式和类型，重点放在法律专业人员的参与和重要性上；2)具体授权行动的定性案例研究，包括对宪章请愿书和授权文件的分析以及对宪章授权当事人的深入访谈。在教育研究领域，该项目为教育组织内的法律带来了必要的社会法律关注，这些组织的特点是在日益私有化的情况下保留公共问责。通过关注行为者在特许学校授权过程中援引、利用和扩展法律的方式，这项研究将对特许经营者、依法负责特许监督的机构以及政策制定者在评估特许学校在教育改革中的地位时产生重要影响。该项目还将培训学生学习社会科学的方法。

Building on previous research that examines the interpretation and construction of law in organizational contexts, this project evaluates the hypothesis that relevant law both shapes how actors view authorization of new forms of organization under law, and how law in turn is shaped by encounters with alternative understandings regarding the role of locally significant institutions' understandings emanating from practice, the market, or elsewhere- that inform the bureaucratic authorization process. The project will take the authorization of charter schools, significant social institutions, as the site for analysis of the reciprocal shaping of law and organizations. Although there exists a well-developed literature on the performance and place of charter schools within market-based education reforms, there have been few empirical studies of how the parties relevant to charter governance encounter, invoke, and use the law in the vital moments of school authorization, renewal, and closure. The project will integrate analysis of the sociolegal dimensions of organizational authorization and revocation under law with mapping of relevant organizations. The study uses a multi-method approach with two phases: 1) quantitative analysis of the current and historical population of relevant organizations to reveal patterns and types of establishment, challenged or denied renewal, closure, and legal appeal, with a focus on the participation and significance of legal professionals, and 2) qualitative case studies of specific authorization actions, including analysis of charter petitions and authorization documents and in-depth interviews of the parties to charter authorization. To the field of education research, this project brings needed sociolegal attention to law within educational organizations, spaces characterized by the retention of public accountability in the face of increasing privatization. By focusing on the ways actors invoke, make use of, and extend the law in the processes of charter school authorization, this study will have important implications for charter operators, the bodies legally tasked with charter oversight, and for policymakers as they evaluate the place of charter schools within educational reform. The project will also train students in methods in the social sciences.