Schools now face a sea of "evidence"--supposedly validated products, research findings, and test, demographic, and teacher-generated data--that leaders must use. How have recent reforms to educational doctorate (EdD) programs addressed these demands? Case studies of four exemplary EdD programs illustrate how the better ones help…

This report covers the first year of a five-year study of 11 school districts that are involved in school improvement activities. The schools are attempting to create new programs that will increase the effectiveness of linking agents working with the schools in three curriculum areas: basic skills, career preparation, and citizen education.…

This book describes the chain stretching from President Nixon's announcement of the Experimental Schools Program in 1969 to the midpoint of its implementation in the Butte-Angels Camp School District (pseudonym for a small mountainous district 400 miles from Denver) in 1976. The story is told in some detail to illustrate the complexities of the…

The histories of five multisite, qualitative policy studies were examined to see how much variation in formalization reflected the technical requirements of the research problem, the demands of the federal client, and the preferences of the project team and its professional network. (Author/PN)

State-sponsored teacher networks in Vermont and California are compared, using interviews with teachers, network staff, and policymakers. It is concluded that state-sponsored networks can improve teachers' knowledge and motivation while empowering them. Recommendations are made for loosely coupled and capacity-building strategies to support…

This book clarifies current efforts to reform teaching by providing a conceptual analysis of what a professional and a bureaucratic view of teaching entail. Case studies are presented illustrating what happens when differing approaches to teachers' work are tried in three school districts. The first chapter describes the two approaches to reform…

Based on intensive case studies of two school districts, this study compared two teacher work reforms: merit pay and job enlargement. Interviews with 64 teachers and 53 administrators, supplemented by over 1,300 survey responses, indicate the efficacy of each approach and the potential advantages of job enlargement. (SLD)