Opening Up the Black Box: Literacy Instruction in Schools Participating in Three Comprehensive School Reform Programs

This study examines patterns of literacy instruction in schools adopting three of America’s most widely disseminated comprehensive school reform (CSR) programs (the Accelerated Schools Project, America’s Choice, and Success for All). Contrary to the view that educational innovations seldom affect teaching practices, the study found large differences in literacy instruction between teachers in America’s Choice schools and comparison schools and between teachers in Success for All schools and comparison schools. In contrast, no differences in literacy teaching practices were found between teachers in Accelerated Schools Project schools and comparison schools. On the basis of these findings and our knowledge of the implementation support strategies pursued by the CSR programs under study, we conclude that well-defined and well-specified instructional improvement programs that are strongly supported by on-site facilitators and local leaders who demand fidelity to program designs can produce large changes in teachers’ instructional practices.

Networks of schools.

The study proposes: (1) that the institutional climate in schools, which includes formal rules, informal rules, mechanisms for enforcing both kinds of rules, clear objectives and an atmosphere of cooperation and trust, has a strong influence on school performance; (2) that “networks” of schools such as the Accelerated Schools Project in the U.S. and the Fe y Alegría schools in Latin America help improve school performance in a variety of ways, and have been successful in providing good education to disadvantaged children; and (3) that one of the reasons some networks are successful is that they promote the creation of sound institutional environments in member schools. The argument draws on New Institutional Economics and especially on the role of institutions inside school organizations in reducing agency problems and facilitating transactions between actors in school communities. Three examples of networks with a specific orientation toward improving equity—the Matte Schools of Santiago, Chile, the Fe y Alegría schools in multiple Latin American countries, and the Accelerated Schools Project in the U.S.—are presented and analyzed in terms of how they influence intra-organizational institutions.