This study uses descriptive data from the U.S. Department of Education to examine the composition of the private school sector in localities with sizeable school choice programs. If existing school choice programs are attracting educational entrepreneurs and unlocking the potential of new school models, the authors should expect to see significant…

Following international trends during the last decades of the 20th century mechanisms of marketization, freedom of choice, and competition were introduced into the Swedish compulsory school system, thereby transforming it into one of the most de-regularized in the world. The overall aim of the pilot study presented here is to shed light on a…

Over the last decade, New York City (NYC) has been the site of a systemwide high school reform effort that is unprecedented in its scope and pace. Since 2002, the school district has closed more than 20 failing high schools, opened more than 200 new secondary schools, and implemented a centralized high school admission process in which…

University-based leadership preparation programs no longer enjoy a near monopoly on the right to prepare school principals and other administrative leaders, and now compete with a growing number of alternative providers. This article utilizes the new institutionalism literature to analyze this shift. Practitioners and policymakers demanded reforms…

Reformers suggest that parental choice will improve equity by making it possible for parents to select better schools for their children. A key assumption behind this claim is that parents choose from a set of schools that range in quality. Data from this longitudinal interview study suggest this assumption may be false. In one Midwestern city,…

This paper examines Breaking Ranks, a proposal for school reform and restructuring intended to improve the effectiveness of America's high schools. The review drew upon memo writing, a personal interview with an administrator utilizing the Breaking Ranks blueprint, a review of periodicals and books on Breaking Ranks and on school restructuring, a…

Background/Context: This study builds upon research on teacher professional communities and high school restructuring reforms. It employs a conceptual framework that draws upon theories of "community of practice" and "community of learners." Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study analyzes how teachers' professional inquiry…

Whether organizational and curricular changes introduced through restructuring endure and/or result in long-term benefits for students and teachers is hard to determine. Using a longitudinal case study of a restructured high school, this paper argues that the dynamics of "institutionalization" and "renewal" drawn from earlier…

This case study of the effects of school restructuring on at-risk students focused on the grade 11 Humanitas Program at seven Los Angeles schools. Humanitas was initiated to improve the humanities education of average students in urban schools with a large minority population. The following measures were used to compare Humanitas students with…

This article addresses the sustainability of comprehensive school reform (CSR) models in the face of turbulent district and state contexts. It draws on qualitative data gathered in a longitudinal case study of six CSR models implemented in 13 schools in one urban district. Why do reforms sustain in some schools and not in others? How do changing…

Research suggests that school reform initiatives have had minimal success in engendering systemic instructional improvement in schools. Within this evaluative context, this paper explores the means through which the paradigm of thinking about school instruction dominant in the profession (that is, Hirsch's "thoughtworld") potentially…

This issue of CPRE Policy Briefs looks at findings from the Consortium for Policy Research in Education's (CPRE) study of how central office and school staff in three urban districts made decisions about instructional improvement strategies, and how much weight they gave to evidence. The three districts, in three different states, had enrollments…

Genuine educational reform depends on developing relationships with the home, community groups, politicians, and the business community (Seeley, 1981). This volume is the second of three reports that are products of a 3.5 year study of education reform, with a focus on the role of parent, family, and community involvement in the middle grades. The…

Solving the challenges of educating language-minority students to the high standards expected of all children requires a willingness to reform the usual practices at many of today's public schools. This volume, the second in a series of three, presents findings of a study that examined exemplary school-reform efforts involving the education of…

More than one-fifth of American school-age children and youth come from language-minority families--homes in which languages other than English are spoken. This volume, the last in a series of three, describes the research design and methodology for a study that examined exemplary school-reform efforts involving the education of limited…