Much Reform, Little Change: How Inefficiencies Stalled an Urban School Reform Initiative

• In Event: 32.084 - Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: 32.084-7 - Professional Development for Success in Urban Schools

Abstract

This article examines the ecological inefficiencies that emerged during the implementation of a program titled Consensus Initiative (CI) [pseudonym] in an urban school situated in the Northeast region of the United States. Following a review of the ecological framework and school reform literature, the present study explored how inefficiencies within and across schooling ecologies culminated in what we term as reform stall. This article concludes with a discussion of key questions and recommendations that school leaders, reformers, teachers, professional unions, and partnering universities should consider to increase the likelihood of effective implementation of urban school reforms and minimize the likelihood of a reform stall.

Authors

• Kristin Kistner Hall, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Marlon C. James, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Janet Nichols, University of Maine at Orono

• William H. Rupley

• Vernee Butterfield, Texas A&M University - College Station