The job of superintendent is tough and demanding. Although conditions seem to be getting worse, the job has always been demanding because of its origins and its relationship with the board of education. As the job developed, dominant conceptions of leadership developed. The three dominant conceptions--teacher-scholar, administrative chief, and…

The design, implementation, and eventual failure of a system-wide, long-term comprehensive reform of the Washington, D.C. elementary and junior high schools to improve academic achievement among black students is explored in depth. The struggle for control over policy making and the opposition of teachers' unions and community groups were key…

This article is based on several chapters of the author's book, "Teaching in the Inner City, to be published by Free Press.

This book investigates teaching practices before, during, and after reform impulses in the 20th century aimed at changing what teachers routinely do. Patterns of stability and change over a 90-year period are developed from evidence from a wide variety of sources, including classroom photographs, textbooks and tests used, student recollections,…

This second edition updates material in the first edition for another decade to 1990 and responds to criticisms of findings in the first edition. This book investigates teaching practices before, during, and after 20th-century reform efforts aimed at changing what teachers routinely do. Patterns of stability and change over a 100-year period are…