Ebook: Reform as Learning: When School Reform Collides with School Culture and Community Politics

This Book explores the full range of critical issues pertaining to urban school reform by looking closely at the recent reform efforts in San Diego. Drawing on the systemic school reform initiative that was launched in San Diego in the 1990's, this book provides a unique focus on the real action "on the ground" to explore all layers of the school reform process-from leadership in the central office, to work with principals and teachers, to the impact on how teachers worked with students in the classroom. In order to provide an account of the actual enactment of reform, the authors draw on careful ethnographic research collected over the entire four years of the San Diego reforms. They identify not only how teachers, principals, and other district educators were shaped by the large-scale reforms, but also the ways in which the reform unfolded. In doing, the book identifies more broadly how actors throughout a school system can change the views of leaders and impact the larger reform process.