| Description |
1 online resource (404 pages) |
| Contents |
Cover; Half Title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Tables and Figures; Preface; Prologue; 1 Framing Our Analysis: Locating Chicago School Reform Within an Institutional Change Perspective; Looking Back: Mobilizing for Reform; Key Features of the 1988 Reform; The Logic of Our Analysis; Specific Questions; Methods and Evidence; Organization of the Book; 2 Politics as a Lever for Organizational Change; Why School Politics Matters; Traditional Conceptions of Educational Politics; Alternative Conceptions; Case Studies of Local School Politics; A Look Ahead |
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Prevalence of Different Types of Local School PoliticsDistribution of Types of Local School Politics across the City; 3 Catalyzing Basic Organizational Change at the Building Level; The Problems of Urban Communities and Their Schools; The Problems of Urban Teachers and Their Schools; A Call to Change Teaching and the Work Conditions of Teachers; Leadership for Change; Developing a Capacity for Self-Guidance in Local Schools; Case Studies of Organizational Change Efforts; Types of School Organizational Change; Recap and Look Ahead; Prevalence of Organizational Change Types |
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Distribution of Organizational Change Types Across the City4 Instructional Change; What Students Should Know and Be Able to Do; Strengthening the Human Resources of Schools; Adopting Instructional Innovations; Observations of Classroom Instruction; Perspectives on Instructional Change in Actively Restructuring Schools; 5 Testing the Basic Logic of the Chicago School Reform Act; School Change as Consequence or Correlate of School Reform?; A First Look at Testing the ""Logic of Reform; A More Rigorous Test; 6 A Closer Look at Actively Restructuring Schools; Spry School: Reform Begins? |
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Common Themes in the Unfolding of ReformThe Mechanisms at Work: How Expanded Local Participation Sustains a Focus on Systemic Restructuring; 7 Major Lessons from the Initiating Phase of Chicago School Reform; A Capsule Review of the Reform and its Initial Effects; Some Larger Theoretical Observations; Taking Stock: The Unfinished Business of Chicago School Reform; Reframing the System Center; Closing Perspective; Appendix; Notes; References; Index |
| Summary |
In 1989, Chicago began an experiment with radical decentralization of power and authority. Intertwining extensive narratives and rigorous quantitative analyses, this book tells the story of what happened to Chicagos elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. }In 1989, Chicago began an experiment with radical decentralization of power and authority. This book tells the story of what happened to Chicagos elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. Implicit in this reform is the theory that expanded local democratic participation would stimulate organizational change within schools, which in turn would foster improved teaching and learning. Using this theory as a framework, the authors marshal massive quantitative and qualitative data to examine how the reform actually unfolded at the school level. With longitudinal case study data on 22 schools, survey responses from principals and teachers in 269 schools, and supplementary system-wide administrative data, the authors identify four types of school politics: strong democracy, consolidated principal power, maintenance, and adversarial. In addition, they classify school change efforts as either systemic or unfocused. Bringing these strands together, the authors determine that, in about a third of the schools, expanded local democratic participation served as a strong lever for introducing systemic change focused on improved instruction. Finally, case studies of six actively restructuring schools illustrate how under decentralization the principals role is recast, social support for change can grow, and ideas and information from external sources are brought to bear on school change initiatives. Few studies intertwine so completely extensive narratives and rigorous quantitative analyses. The result is a complex picture of the Chicago reform that joins the politics of local control to school change. This volume is intended for scholars in the fields of urban education, public policy, sociology of education, anthropology of education, and politics of education. Comprehensive and descriptive, it is an engaging text for graduate students and upper-level undergraduates. Local, state, and federal policymakers who are concerned with urban education will find new and insightful material. The book should be on reading lists and in professional development seminars for school principals who want to garner community support for change and for school community leaders who want more responsive local institutions. Finally, educators, administrators, and activists in Chicago will appreciate this detailed analysis of the early years of reform |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Educational change -- Illinois -- Chicago
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Public schools -- Illinois -- Chicago
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School management and organization -- Illinois -- Chicago
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Schools -- Decentralization -- Illinois -- Chicago
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Educational change
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Public schools
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School management and organization
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Schools -- Decentralization
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Schulreform
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Grundschule
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Basisonderwijs.
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Onderwijsvernieuwing.
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Illinois -- Chicago
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Chicago, Ill.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Sebring, Penny Bender
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Kerbow, David
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Rollow, Sharon
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Easton, John Q
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| ISBN |
9780429981371 |
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0429981376 |
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