Normative communicative behavior for school superintendents appears to have evolved as a set of role-related and context-dependent skills. The efficacy of this situational perspective, however, is questionable in relation to current conditions in society and public schools. The superintendency has evolved through four traditional…

In recent years a research literature has developed which increasingly problematizes the project to construct professional community in schools. This case-based literature explores the messy complexities of teacher cooperation and collaboration. It points to the human, cultural, and political dimensions in schools that prevent changes in the…

The impact of Florida's "A+" accountability program, which until 2006 included a voucher program for chronically failing schools, on public school performance has been extensively studied. The results have consistently shown a positive effect on academic outcomes in Florida public schools. However, no empirical research has been done on…

For over 40 years the scholarship of Dr. Asa G. Hilliard has impacted the fields of educational psychology, testing and measurement, teacher education, and African and African American history. Dr. Hilliard was also concerned about school leadership, and much of his work is closely aligned with current discussions about school reform and…

Purpose: This article describes how trust emerged as an issue in one school district and the processes by which central office administrators enhanced trust with its school site leaders. Method: This exploratory participant observer case study uses multiple sources of data including surveys, interviews, observations, and documents collected during…

Through an exploration of two experimental schools, Oruaiti (1950s) and Discovery 1 (2000s), we aim to understand the socio-political contexts that create spaces for experimentation and examine their impact on mainstream schooling. Caught between competing, often contradictory, discourses such experiments struggle between the…

"Choice" and "freedom" as measured by the ability of parents to select their children's schools are deeply embedded in the national ethos of the United States of America. Wealthy American parents have always exercised school choice but minority and low-income students are often trapped in failing schools. This paper is based on…

Neither the proponents of district-based reforms nor supporters of choice and competition can claim that their solutions have produced the schools that we want. To move forward, we must shake off assumptions that tried-and-true responses will deliver the reforms that schools need. To achieve the desired results will require fostering the…

There is growing concern that almost 20 years after the 1988 Education Act, top-down, large-scale reform has stalled. The policy mix of choice, competition, markets, regulation, accountability and leadership seems not to have closed the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged areas and individuals, while most variations in school performance can…

This article reports the results of a longitudinal study of 35 Swedish comprehensive schools involving interviews with teachers, school leaders, students, and parents carried out in 1980, 1982, 1985, and 2001. During the 35-year period covered by the study, the schools experienced significant reforms. The most important of these reforms involved a…

High schools have over the past few decades been discredited with institutionalization, standardization, and academic-orientation (Manno, 1995; NASSP, 1996). As a result, it has failed to prepare students for the society which has been undergoing exponential change. A majority of students have been either neglected or left uncared for because of…

This best practices piece is based on key research into high school transition strategies. It draws on two studies of high school reform models conducted by MDRC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization, which shed light on promising strategies to support ninth-grade students. Increasing the capacity of high schools to provide extra help…

Charter schools are public schools exempted from certain federal and state regulations in exchange for contracted promises to achieve particular educational goals. The growing popularity of charter schools and the unique place they hold in the school reform movement is bringing them to the attention of educational service providers and the…

With the 1984 publication of "A Nation at Risk" the K-12 school reform movement was launched. The report predicted that, if the United States was to maintain its global economic leadership, a rigorous curriculum in primary and secondary schools would be necessary to prepare students for a productive college academic experience. Nearly 22…

This paper provides a table that contains a summary of resources available that support the National High School Center's "Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework". This framework is based on eight common elements of systemic school reform and provides a structure for understanding, aligning, and prioritizing…