The State Education Governance Study (SEGS)

Paul Manna, Assistant Professor
Department of Government and the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy
College of William and Mary

ABOUT SEGS

With support from the Spencer Foundation (grant #200700134), the State Education Governance Study (SEGS) is examining how the institutional arrangements that govern elementary and secondary education in the American states influence state policy outputs and student outcomes. The project considers these questions during the last three decades, a period of dramatic change in education policy at the state and national levels.

Here is the grant proposal, and here is a report on activities the grant supported, many of which are still ongoing.

Have a question? Contact Paul Manna at pmanna@wm.edu or 757-221-3024 for more information about SEGS.

PILOT STUDIES

Paul Manna and Amanda Guthrie. 2008. Leadership continuity and educational performance in the American states. Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago.

Paul Manna and K.C. Tydgat. 2008. Gatekeepers to the classroom: The influence of state teacher standards boards on state teacher policy. Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association. New Orleans.

Paul Manna. 2006. How governance of K-12 education influences policy outputs and student outcomes in the United States. Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Philadelphia.

Paul Manna and Diane O'Hara. 2005. State governance and educational outcomes in the United States. Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago

Paul Manna. 2004. State governance, policy, and education performance in the United States. Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Chicago.

DATA ANIMATIONS AND FIGURES

Governing Institutions

Coming soon . . .	State board paths to power	Coming soon . . .	State school chiefs paths to power
Coming soon . . .	Continuity of state board membership

State Policy

	State and Federal Revenues for K-12 Education. How much do states rely on their own funds and funds from the federal government to finance K-12 education?	Coming soon . . .	High school graduation requirements

Student Outcomes

	NAEP 4th grade math trends, by state. How have students in each state done on the NAEP?		Distribution of state 4th grade NAEP math scores, all students
	Distribution of state 4th grade NAEP math scores, by lunch eligibility	Coming soon...	Distribution of state 4th grade NAEP math scores, by race
Coming soon...	Distribution of state 4th grade NAEP math scores, by gender

RESEARCH TEAM

Current team members

Paul Manna, Principal Investigator. Paul arrived at William and Mary in 2003 and teaches courses on American public policy, education, and research methods. He has published work on the No Child Left Behind Act, charter schools, school vouchers, and collective bargaining. His book, School's In: Federalism and the National Education Agenda (Georgetown University Press, 2006) examines the evolution of elementary and secondary education policy in the United States since the 1960s.

Tim Harwood, Research Assistant. Tim is a Master's degree candidate in the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy. He focuses on data collection and analysis, including designing visual displays of the project's quantitative information.

Jeanette Snider, Research Assistant. Jeanette is a senior government major at William and Mary. Her work with SEGS has focused on content analyzing documents, data collection, and data cleaning.

Meghan Dunne, Research Assistant. Meghan is a senior public policy major at William and Mary. She has focused on case study work and some data cleaning.

Alexandra Whitehead, Research Assistant. Alexandra is a junior at William and Mary. She has worked on data collection and cleaning.

Project alumni

Amanda Guthrie, Research Assistant. W&M Class of 2008. Amanda worked on several dimensions of the SEGS project including collecting quantitative data, conducing archival research, and designing methods to display SEGS data using geographical information systems (GIS) software. Presently she is a candidate for a dual master's degree in public policy and divinity at the University of Chicago.

Chad Aldeman, Research Assistant. W&M Class of 2008. Chad received his master's degree in W&M's Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy in 2008. For SEGS, Chad has analyzed changes in state education finance. Presently, he is a Policy Associate at Education Sector.

Kathryn "K.C." Tydgat, Research Assistant. W&M Class of 2007. K.C. was a public policy major and German minor. Presently, she is a master's degree candidate in public administration at the University of North Carolina. KC's work with SEGS included collection of quantitative data, archival research, with a particular focus on state teacher policy.

Nick Bahnsen, Research Assistant. W&M Class of 2008. Nick majored in public policy and minored in accounting. His work on the project included gathering data on state legislative institutions, and helping to organize and content analyze several documentary sources acquired from archives and other sites.

Erica Parker, Research Assistant and Technology Fellow. W&M Class of 2007. Erica completed her work on the project in May 2007, which included tracking state education policy changes and becoming the project's expert on the use of geographical information systems software (GIS) to present state-level data. Presently, she is employed as an analyst at the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington, DC.