Purpose: This article seeks to enhance our understanding of the ever-present challenge of developing organizational capacity to implement complex education reform initiatives. We analyze the strategies in one large metropolitan education system used to address the district-level and site-level capacity challenges that surfaced as they implemented…

Purpose: This exploratory case study examines how school systems and other local organizations have been working within two major U.S. cities to improve high school graduation rates. Systematically assessing active interorganizational dropout prevention networks may reveal characteristics affecting communities' capacity to support school…

Background: The Ohio School Facilities Commission was set up in response to litigation compelling the state to achieve a more equitable distribution in the quality of school facilities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was a federal policy to stimulate the United States economy and support school facility construction. These two…

Purpose: Increasing evidence suggests the importance of relationships between district and site leaders. However, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the social infrastructure between and among leaders especially as related to the exchange of advice related to reform. Moreover, we have limited understanding regarding the mechanisms that…

Purpose: This study examines the ways in which school and district leaders create systems of support for classroom teachers who work with linguistically diverse students. We attempt to uncover the intentional supports leaders put in place for classroom teachers and how this may be part of a broader teaching and learning effort. Research Design:…

Purpose: This article reflects on the 60th anniversary of the "Brown v. Board of Education" Supreme Court decision while discussing the significant lessons learned from this and subsequent court decisions. Argument: In this article, we posit that a fundamentally different conversation surrounding the legacy of Brown is needed if we are…

Purpose: In this essay, we examine the racial politics of education in the six decades after "Brown". We consider the state of educational policy in an era in which market reform advocates often invoke the spirit of the "Brown" decision even as the Supreme Court has largely vacated the legal framework provided by…

Purpose: Coburn's (2003) multidimensional conception of scale includes four interrelated dimensions--depth, sustainability, spread, and ownership--that provide a framework to understand scale at both the school and district levels. This study was conducted to understand how reform leaders in four districts implementing the National Network of…

Purpose: This article examines two questions: (a) How does resource allocation change in school districts experiencing sustained charter school competition? (b) Among districts exposed to charter competition, are there differences in the resource allocation adjustments between those that do and do not succeed in stemming further enrollment loss to…

Purpose: This study examines policies set in the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated between teachers' unions and school boards and explores what kinds of districts have contract provisions that restrict district administrators, enhance administrative flexibility, and/or improve teachers' professional work lives and that have…

Background: In Ohio, levy campaigns are a burdensome task for district administrators and stakeholders alike. To date, there is little research on the districts' role in crafting school budget referenda campaigns. Purpose: This study asked three research questions: How did the macropolitical contexts shape stakeholders' decision making in terms of…

Background: Many district and school leaders experience difficulties staffing their classrooms with qualified teachers. Economic incentives may motivate teachers to enter and remain in the workforce and entice teachers to work in less desirable districts and schools. However, very little is known about incentives in use, how they are used to…

Background: School district superintendents continue to favor collaborative relationships with their local business communities amid concerns over free-market competition, maintaining public legitimacy, and scarce financial resources. Prior research is inadequate regarding the development, implementation, and institutionalization of school and…

Purpose: In light of the difficulty many districts face finding quality principal candidates, this article explores an informal recruitment mechanism of teachers to become principals, which the authors call tapping. The authors assess the extent to which current teachers are being approached by school leaders to consider leadership and whether…

In recent years, policy makers and researchers once again have embraced the traditional idea that quasi-experimental research designs (or reasonable facsimiles) can provide the sort of valid and generalizable knowledge about "what works" that educational researchers had promised--but never really produced--during the previous century. Although…