State Mandated Accountability for Educational Reform: A Study of the Illinois Quality Review Process for School Accreditation

This three-year project is studying the conditions under which a state education agency (the Illinois State Board of Education) can articulate and coordinate a reform initiative that expects district superintendents, principals and teachers to enact meaningful school improvements. The work is analyzing surveys of 1914 principals and teachers in 140 schools in Illinois to study how school reform is taking place in that state. This study is important because its findings will help state policymakers and local educators better understand how to develop constructive responses to state policy initiatives.

A National Study of the Effects of School Choice on Achievement and Opportunity

This three-year study will investigate the relationships among student achievement, educational opportunity, school choice policies, school resources, and demographic variables. The study is being conducted by linking and analyzing two major national education data bases: the National Assessment of Education Progress and the National Longitudinal Education Study. The findings of the work will be important because they will help parents and policymakers alike better understand the outcomes of choice policies in varying settings.

Leading for Diversity: A study of How School Leaders Achieve Racial and Ethnic Harmony

This three-year project is studying the characteristics and behavior of school leaders who foster unity rather than divisiveness among racially and ethnically diverse students. The project is using a qualitative, case study approach to study exemplary leadership in elementary, middle and high schools. Initially six sites will be studied from San Francisco Bay Area; in phase two, six exemplary sites will be chosen from a national pool for study. The work is important because it is designed to facilitate training of school leaders to promote racial and ethnic harmony.

Specialization and Reform of Mathematics Instruction in Elementary Schools

This one-year study is investigating the degree to which using math specialists in elementary schools will improve math instruction. the principal investigator plans to collect survey data from approximately 200 teachers in Montgomery County (MD), Fairfax County (VA) and the District of Columbia school districts. In-depth interviews will then be conducted with 50 of these teachers and their principals. The work is important because it investigates the potential of a relatively simple organizational reform to improve math instruction throughout the nation.

Professional Development to build Organizational Capacity in Low Achieving Schools

This three-year study focuses on the promise and difficulties in using professional development to build organizational capacity in low achieving schools that serve low-income students. Based on research in eight sites, the study will describe how programs can be managed to integrate different aspects of professional development, to craft an appropriate role for external agencies, and to secure minimal resources required for success. The work is important because it will yield important insights into how teachers can increase their ability to work with children from low-income households.

Competing Strategies for Educational Reform: Charter Schools and Professional Development Schools

this work will conduct approximately eight comparative case studies of a sample of Charter Schools and Professional Development Schools (PDSs) in Michigan. The three phases of activity include: 1) a review of the literature and analysis of the use of both types of schools for reform in Michigan; 2) a telephone survey of PDSs and Charter Schools in Michigan to develop a typology of schools (with particular emphasis on motives for establishing charter schools) and to provide a basis for drawing the sample; and 3) comprehensive field studies which will include document analysis, interviews, site observation and examination of test score data, using state-mandated tests at specific grade levels, in mathematics, science, and reading. This work is important because it will increase understanding of these types of reform and also trace lessons that other schools can learn from these innovations.