Cultural Matters

In this book, the authors explore the position that systemic reform requires addressing the culture of individual schools, and that various reform efforts address school culture in different ways. The chapters promote that the key to success is the match between the strategy in use and the setting. In the chapters, reforms and their interactions in particular schools and school cultures are explored through fieldwork. They clearly Illustrate that when accountability policy has run its course, there is a need to re-engage systematic reform. Such dramatic change requires schools to be both restructured and recultured. The reader can learn from the cases in this book what it takes to mount and sustain a systemic reform initiative at the school level. This book is intended for parents, school principles, teachers, and others as a window into how to think about reforming their schools, even as they must comply with the demands of accountability policy.