UA Education Professors Receive $50,000 Grant from Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds

Aug. 17, 2001 - A University of Akron research team will study how the governance structure of Ohio urban school districts influences student achievement, thanks to a $50,000 grant from New York-based Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds.

The University project team will use the Ventures in Leadership Grant to conduct case studies of four of Ohio's 21 urban school districts two that are relatively more effective in demonstrating satisfactory student achievement as measured by state proficiency tests, and two that demonstrate lesser achievement. Researchers will test the hypothesis that student achievement can be linked with governance structure.

The UA team includes Dr. Luvern Cunningham, distinguished visiting professor in the University's College of Education and principal investigator; Dr. Louis S. Trenta Jr., assistant professor of educational foundations and leadership; and Dr. Sharon Kruse, department chair of educational foundations and leadership.

The Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds seek to create opportunities for people to enrich themselves through better schools, enhanced community activities and participation in the arts.

"The Ventures in Leadership Grant will allow researchers at The University of Akron to pursue new lines of inquiry about the performance of governance work in education and to trace its impact on academic achievement," Cunningham says. "This grant, coupled with recent support received from the William Holden Jennings Foundation, will assist the College of Education in establishing an educational governance research agenda as well as provide technical assistance to local school districts that wish to improve the effectiveness of their governance responsibilities."

"At times there seems such a distance from the boardroom to the classroom, especially in urban districts. Yet, we believe what happens in the boardroom affects student performance in the classroom," Trenta says.

"This grant gives us the opportunity to start identifying governance practices that exist where district educational performance is more effective rather than less effective," Trenta adds. "This in turn should enable education leaders, legislators, board members and administrators to frankly discuss the role governance decisions play in school improvement and student performance."

In addition, the grant allows investigators to develop clear links between the work of K-12 school professionals and the work of university professors, Kruse says.

"Without grants such as this, building linkages between school and university organizations is far more difficult," she says.

The recent grants point out the success of the College of Education's effort to work with education experts statewide, according to Dr. Elizabeth Stroble, dean of UA's College of Education.

"In the past year, faculty associated with the College of Education's Center for Urban and Higher Education have convened a core group of distinguished alumni superintendents to guide the future work of the Center," Stroble says. "With their enthusiastic support and commitment, Vern Cunningham, Sharon Kruse and Lou Trenta prepared the successful proposals for the Jennings Foundation and the Wallace-Readers' Digest Funds. These awards validate the focus of our partnerships with alumni superintendents and allow the College to work in partnership with educators across the state to investigate issues of P-12 governance particularly the relationship of governance and student achievement."