In evaluating local policy implementation, workaround stories--accounts of deliberate efforts to evade, subvert, or even break rules or procedures in order to get the job done--are valuable evaluative indicators. By "backward mapping" (Elmore, 1979) from frequently mentioned workarounds, we can identify flawed elements of policy- or…

States have been given flexibility under No Child Left Behind to create need-driven comprehensive school improvement plans with an approved accountability system, however those unable to show increased student learning will be deemed as failing. Schools labeled as failing require a comprehensive framework for improvement. Research has identified a…

Purposes: This study investigates the role of formal and informal leaders in the diffusion of external reforms into schools and to teachers' practices. Formal leaders are designated by their roles in the formal organization of the school (e.g., principals, department chairs, and instructional coaches) and informal leaders refer to those who do not…

The Curriculum and Pedagogy book series is an enactment of the mission and values espoused by the Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, an international educational organization serving those who share a common faith in democracy and a commitment to public moral leadership in schools and society. Accordingly, the mission of this series is to advance…

Program evaluation, the evaluation of the performance of a unit of an organization (rather than of specific persons within that unit) against criteria that are consonant with the goals of other units in the organization, is currently the most important mechanism for the increased coordination, or coupling, of various hierarchical levels in the…

Studied charter schools in California, using case studies and more than 450 interviews with teachers, administrators, parents, and community members. Focused on four assumptions usually made about charter schools to show that these schools are not, for the most part, the highly autonomous, accountable, and efficient schools of choice promised by…

During the hearings of the Subcommittee on Migratory Labor, various statements prepared for the Subcommittee on Monopoly of the Senate Select Committee on Small Business hearing on the role of giant corporations in the American and world economies were included. This appendix includes some of those statements. The statements given cover: (1)…

An analysis of the impact of state government regulation on higher education in California is presented. Two assumptions are explained on which the analysis is based; i.e., that the mission of higher education is teaching, scholarship, and service to the community and that public higher education is rightfully under the authority of the governor…

There is some evidence that regionalism in higher education is emerging as a move toward a middle-ground position between strict institutional autonomy and stronger statewide coordination. Most observers of contemporary postsecondary education agree that the challenge of the next decade will be to find mechanisms for coordination that can achieve…