Contents

• Introduction
• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1: The Central Office in District-wide Teaching and Learning Improvement: The Importance of Transformation
• Chapter 2: Dimension 1: Learning-focused Partnerships with School Principals to Deepen Principals’ Instructional Leadership Practice
• Chapter 3: Dimension 2: Assistance to the Central Office–Principal Partnerships
• Chapter 4: Dimension 3 :Reorganizing and Reculturing All Other Central Office Units to Support Teaching and Learning Improvement
• Chapter 5: Dimension 4: Stewardship of the Overall Central Office Transformation Process
• Chapter 6: Dimension 5: Use of Evidence Throughout the Central Office to Support Continual Improvement of Work Practices and Relationships with Schools
• Chapter 7: What the Study Says about Central Offices and the System-wide Improvement of Teaching and Learning
• Methodological Appendix
• References
  

Click here to download the full report:
 Central Office Transformation for District-Wide Teaching and Learning Improvement

Aldrich, H., & Herker, D. (1977). Boundary spanning roles and organization structure. Academy of Management Review, 2(2), 217–230.

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. (1974). Organizational Learning. Reading, PA: Addison-Wesley.

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. (1996). Organizational Learning II: theory, method, practice. Reading, PA: Addison-Wesley.

Atlanta Public Schools (N.D.). Lesson Observation Form. Atlanta, GA: Author. Collected in 2007.

Atlanta Public Schools (2009, March 25). APS superintendent and elementary school principal headline national webcast on central office reform. Atlanta, GA: Author.

Bach, D. (2005, February 16). Budget shortfall forces tough choices at Seattle Public Schools. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/212232_schools16.html

Barzelay, M. (1992). Breaking through bureaucracy: A new vision for managing in government. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Berends, M., Bodilly, S. J., & Kirby, S. M. (2002). The future of whole school designs: Conclusions, observations, and policy implications. In M. Berends, S. J. Bodilly & S. M. Kirby (Eds.), Facing the Challenges of Whole School Reform: New American Schools After A Decade (pp. 142-154). Santa Monica, CA: Rand Education.

Boghossian, N. (2005, July 21). LAUSD fails its special students. Daily News of Los Angeles, p. N1. Seattle, WA: Center for Educational Leadership.

Brown, A., & Campione, J. (1994). Guided discovery in a community of learners. In K. Mcgilly (Ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/ Bradford.

Bryk, A. S., Sebring, P. B., Kerbow, D., Rollow, S., & Easton, J. Q. (1998). Charting Chicago school reform: Democratic localism as a lever for change. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Busch, M., Castillo-Page, L., Duong, N., Ellery, S., Hall, C., Martinez, B., McMahon, P., Means, B., Mitchell, K., Monroe, J., Murphy, R., Phillips, M., Rhodes, D., Shear, L., Smerdon, B., Song, M., Yamaguchi, R., & Zaidi, A. (2004). The National School District and Network Grants Program: Year 2 Evaluation Report. Washington, D.C.: The American Institutes for Research.

Chubb, J. E., & Moe, T. M. (1990). Politics, markets, and America’s schools. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

Chute, E. (2007). Schools’ racial balancing rejected. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07180/798069-84.stm

Cobb, P., & Bowers, J. S. (1999). Cognitive and situated learning perspectives in theory and practice. Educational Researcher, 28(2), 4-15.

Collins, A. M., Brown, J. S., & Holum, A. (2003). Cognitive apprenticeship: Making thinking visible, The principles of learning: Study tools for educators. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh.

Copland, M. (2003). Leadership of inquiry: Building and sustaining capacity for school improvement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25(4), 375-396.

Corcoran, T., Fuhrman, S. H., & Belcher, C. L. (2001). The district role in instructional improvement. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(1), 78–84.

Davis, M. (2008). Financial crisis now striking home for school districts. Education Week. Retrieved March 21, 2020, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/10/15/08credit.h28.html.

Dollinger, M. J. (1984). Environmental boundary spanning and information processing effects on organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal, 27(2), 351–368.

Elmore, R., & Burney, B. (1997). Investing in teacher learning: Staff development and instructional improvement in Community School District #2, New York City (No. ED416203). Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education.

Fink, E., & Resnick, L. (2001). Developing principals as instructional leaders. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(8), 598-610.

Fullan, M., & Stiegelbauer, S. (1991). The new meaning of educational change. School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 2(4), 336–343.

Gallucci, C. (2008). District-wide instructional reform: Using sociocultural theory to link professional learning to organizational support. American Journal of Education, 114(August), 541–581.

Gamson, D. (2009a). The once and future district. Unpublished manuscript, College Station, PA.

Gamson, D. (2009b). The district undone: Reforming, reorganizing, and reinventing the American school district, 1890–2005. Unpublished manuscript, College Station, PA.

Garber, A. (2008). Gregoire looking at massive state budget cuts. The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 3, 2009, from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008451090_budgetcuts30m.html

Goertz, M., & Duffy, M. (2003). Mapping the landscape of high-stakes testing and accountability programs. Theory into Practice, 42(1), 4–11.

Grossman, P. L., Smagorinsky, P., & Valencia, S. (1999). Appropriating tools for teaching English: A theoretical framework for research on learning to teach. American Journal of Education, 108(November), 1–29.

Hale, E., & Moorman, H. (2003). Preparing school principals: A national perspective on policy and program innovations. Washington, DC: Institute for Educational Leadership.

Haynes, V. D. (2007, December 13). Special education to boost services; D.C. officials seek to comply with 2006 court order. Washington Post.

Hightower, A. M., Knapp, M. S., Marsh, J. A., & McLaughlin, M. W. (Eds.). (2002). School districts and instructional renewal. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Honig, M. I. (2003). Building policy from practice: District central office administrators’ roles and capacity for implementing collaborative education policy. Educational Administration Quarterly, 39(3), 292–338.

Honig, M. I. (2004a). District central office-community partnerships: From contracts to collaboration to control. In W. Hoy & C. Miskel (Eds.), Educational administration, policy, and reform: Research and measurement (pp. 59–90). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Honig, M. I. (2004b). The new middle management: Intervediary organizations in education policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 26(1), 65–87.

Honig, M. I. (2006). Street-level bureaucracy revisited: Frontline district central office administrators as boundary spanners in education policy implementation. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 28(4), 357-383. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28(4), 357–383.

Honig, M. I. (2008). District central offices as learning organizations: How sociocultural and organizational learning theories elaborate district central office administrators’ participation in teaching and learning improvement efforts. American Journal of Education, 114, 627–664.

Honig, M. I., & DeArmond, M. (forthcoming). Where’s the management in portfolio management: Conceptualizing the role of school district central offices in implementation. In Bulkley, K., Henig, J., & Levin, H. (Eds.), Portfolio management reforms in urban districts.

Honig, M. I., & Ikemoto, G. (2008). Adaptive assistance for learning improvement efforts: The case of the Institute for Learning. Peabody Journal of Education, 83(3), 328–363.

Honig, M. I. (2009a). No small thing: School district central office bureaucracies and the implementation of New Small Autonomous Schools Initiatives. American Educational Research Journal, 46(2), 387-422.

Honig, M.I. (2009b). “External” organizations and the politics of urban educational leadership: The case of new small autonomous schools initiatives. Peabody Journal of Education, 84, 394–413.

Houle, J. (2006). Professional development for urban principals in underperforming schools. Education and Urban Society, 38(2), 142–159.

Hubbard, L., Mehan, H., & Stein, M. K. (2006). Reform as learning: When school reform collides with school culture and community politics. New York, NY: Routledge.

Katz, A. (2003). State takeover appears certain. Oakland Tribune. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20030410/ain145​49730/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1

Kennedy, M. M. (1982). Working knowledge. In M. M. Kennedy (Ed.), Working knowledge and other essays (pp. 1–28). Cambridge, MA: Huron Institute.

Lave, J. (1998). Cognition in practice: Mind, culture, and mathematics in everyday life. Oxford, England: Cambridge University Press.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge [England] ; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Lee, V. E., & Smith, J. B. (1995). Effects of high school restructuring and size on early gains in achievement and engagement. Sociology of Education, 68(4), 241–270.

Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2006). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. England: NCSL.

Levitt, B., & March, J. G. (1988). Organizational learning. American Review of Sociology, 14, 319–340.

Malen, B., Ogawa, R. T., & Kranz, J. (1990). What do we know about school-based management? A case study of the literature—A call for research. In W. H. Clune & J. F. White (Eds.), Choice and control in American schools (pp. 289–342). Philadelphia: Falmer.

Marsh, J., Kerr, K., Schuyler-Ikemoto, G., Darilek, H., Suttorp, M., & Zimmer, R. (2005). The Role of districts in fostering instructional improvement: Lessons from three urban districts partnered with the Institute for Learning. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Education.

McLaughlin, M. W. (2006). Implementation research in education: Lessons learned, lingering questions, and new opportunities. In M. I. Honig (Ed.), New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity (pp. 209–228). Albany, NY: The State University of New York Press.

Miller, K. (2004). Creating conditions for leadership effectiveness: The district’s role. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Murphy, J. (1990). Principal instructional leadership. In R. S. Lotto & P. W. Thurston (Eds.), Advances in educational administration: Changing perspectives on the school (Vol. 1, Pt. B, pp. 163–200). Greenwich, CT: JAI.

Murphy, J., & Hallinger, P. (1987). New directions in the professional development of school administrators: A synthesis and suggestions for improvement. In J. Murphy & P. Hallinger (Eds.), Approaches to administrative training in education (pp. 245–282). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Murphy, J., & Hallinger, P. (1988). Characteristics of instructionally effective school districts. Journal of Educational Research, 81(3), 175–181.

New York City Department of Education. (2008). Children First Intensive Inquiry Team Handbook. New York City: Author.

Panasonic Foundation (2006, December). Strategies for school system leaders on district-level change. Mobilizing the System around Instruction, 12(1), 9–14.

Plecki, M. L., Knapp, M. S., Castaneda, T., Halverson, T., LaSota, R., & Lochmiller, C. (2009). How leaders invest staffing resources for learning improvement. Seattle, WA: Center for the Study of Teaching & Policy, University of Washington.

Portin, B. S., Knapp, M. S., Feldman, S., Dareff, S., Russell, F., Samuelson, C., & Yeh, T. L. (2009). Leadership for learning improvement in urban schools. Seattle, WA: Center for the Study of Teaching & Policy, University of Washington.

Purkey, S. C., & Smith, M. S. (1985). School reform: The district policy implications of the effective schools literature. The Elementary School Journal,85(3), 353–389.

Ravitch, D., & Viteritti, J. P. (1997). New schools for a new century: The redesign of urban education. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Rogoff, B., Baker-Sennett, J., Lacas, P., & Goldsmith, D. (1995). Development through participation in sociocultural activity. In J. Goodnow, P. Miller & F. Kessel (Eds.), Cultural practices as contexts for development (pp. 45-65). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Smagorinsky, P., Cook, L. S., & Johnson, T. S. (2003). The twisting path of concept development in learning to teach. Teachers College Record, 105(8), 1399–1436.

Smylie, M. (in press). Never good enough: The theory and practice of continuous improvement in schools. Thousands Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Song, J. (2009). L.A. School board approves huge budget cuts. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 3, 2009, from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/la-school-board-approves-huge-budget-cuts.html

Spillane, J. P. (1998). State policy and the non-monolithic nature of the local school district: Organizational and professional considerations. American Educational Research Journal, 35(1), 33–63.

Spillane, J. P. (2000). Cognition and policy implementation: District policymakers and the reform of mathematics education. Cognition and Instruction, 18(2), 141–179.

Spillane, J. P., & Thompson, C. L. (1997). Reconstructing conceptions of local capacity: The local education agency’s capacity for ambitious instructional reform. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 19(2), 185–203.

Stein, M. K., & Nelson, B. (2003). Leadership content knowledge. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25(4), 423–448.

Swinnerton, J. A. (2006). Learning to lead what you “don’t (yet) know”: District leaders engaged in instructional reform. Unpublished Thesis (Ph D), University of Washington, 2006.

Tharp, R. G., & Gallimore, R. (1991). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context (1st pbk. ed.). Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Togneri, W., & Anderson, S. E. (2003). Beyond islands of excellence: What districts can do to improve instruction and achievement in all schools—A leadership brief. Washington, DC: Learning First Alliance.

Tushman, M. L. (1977). Special boundary roles in the innovation process. Administrative Science Quarterly, 22, 587–605.

Tushman, M. L., & Katz, R. (1980). External communication and project performance: An investigation into the role of gatekeepers. Management Science, 26(11), 1071–1985.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Whitaker, K. (1996). Exploring causes of principal burnout. Journal of Educational Administration, 34(1), 60–71.

< < Previous |