School District Reform in Newark: Within- and Between-School Changes in Achievement Growth

In the 2011–12 school year, the Newark Public School district (NPS) launched a set of educational reforms supported by a gift from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. Using data from 2008–09 through 2015–16, the authors evaluate the change in Newark students’ achievement growth relative to similar students and schools elsewhere in New Jersey. They measure achievement growth using a “value-added” model, controlling for prior achievement, demographics, and peer characteristics. By the fifth year of reform, Newark saw statistically significant gains in English language arts (ELA) achievement growth and no significant change in math achievement growth. Perhaps because of the disruptive nature of the reforms, growth declined initially before rebounding in later years. Much of the improvement was attributed to shifting enrollment from lower- to higher-growth district and charter schools.

Voices Inside Schools: Beyond NCLB and AYP: One Superintendent's Experience of School District Reform

In this Voices Inside Schools essay, Ron Sofo, a school district superintendent in western Pennsylvania, argues that schools need bottom-up solutions more than topdown mandates if they are to prepare all students to meet twenty-first-century workforce demands. Framing the discussion in terms of his district's reform model — the "New 4 Rs" of rigor, relevance, relationships, and reflection — Sofo describes how one middle school developed a multifaceted, classroom-level intervention to support struggling learners. He then explains how that effort was scaled up to other grades and how insights from the initiative reverberated throughout the district. In telling his story, Sofo depicts the instructional reforms his staff undertook, the challenges they encountered, and the early indications of their success. His essay offers a window into the complex process of instructional reform at the classroom, school, and district levels.

External Pressures for Reform and Strategy Formation at the District Level: Superintendents’ Interpretations of State Demands

Demands for school-district reform are increasingly presented as externally imposed change, directed by state education departments. This study investigated strategies that superintendents used to develop and implement school-improvement plans in response to state mandates. It explored superintendents’ perceptions of environmental uncertainty and how their interpretations of the environment shaped their decisions to implement change. Six environmental factors were identified as the context for strategic decision making. These included uncertainty related to (a) superintendents’ futures and careers, (b) organizational structure, (c) accountability and participation in the planning process, (d) linkages in school improvement, (e) the economic environment, and (f) the intent of state reform efforts.