Book Description

School districts throughout the United States may be forced to consider school closures based on a variety of factors. New York State has struggled financially due to the Great Recession that began in December of 2007 (Alvi, 2017). In addition, New York State has seen a reduction of over 165,000 students since 2010 (New York State Education Department, n.d.-b). School consolidation continues to be a proposed solution to decreased enrollment, financial stress, poor academic outcomes, and infrastructure concerns (Green, 2013; Larsen, 2020; Steinberg & MacDonald, 2019). Existing research lacks specific information on whether schools are actively planning for programmatic changes to enhance the education of their students. The purpose of this comparative case study was to understand the perceived programmatic changes and academic benefits associated with school consolidation for urban-suburban, rural, and small city school districts in New York State through interviews with superintendents, building and district administrators, and board of education members involved with their district's transition. One-on-one interviews were conducted with eight participants in three districts who consolidated in the five years prior to the start of this study. The overall findings indicated student enrollment, financial stress, academic improvement, and resource efficacy were the primary factors driving consolidation in participating districts. Participants in one out of three districts identified the same primary justification for the district's consolidation. An analysis of interviews with eight district leaders indicated all three districts described actions embodying the first four steps in Kotter's (2012) eight-step process for leading change. The first four steps included: (a) establishing a sense of urgency, (b) creating a guiding coalition, (c) developing a vision and strategy, and (d) communicating the change vision. Participants verbalized their consolidation efforts were successful but were unable to articulate specific indicators to support their assertion. In the study, six out of eight participants described an increase in collaboration between staff and consistency in academic expectations, and five out of eight participants identified new opportunities for students. Finally, three out of eight participants identified unintentional benefits that resulted from the consolidation efforts such as additional programming, a greater sense of community, and an increased focus on social emotional learning. Several recommendations came from this research, beginning with the need for the New York State Education Department to create a definition of school consolidation and begin to track school consolidation in an effective and efficient manner. School districts may benefit from the creation of guiding coalitions to support future change efforts and to create a vision for the district. The guiding coalition could support communication efforts and establish indicators of success. Recommendations for future research are suggested.