This paper investigates how key elements of school culture are associated with teachers' capacity to find and act on new information. We analyzed survey data from 3,579 teachers located in 117 schools which were a randomly selected sample from 9 states in the US. We found that school cultural components such as academic press, student support, and…

This paper examines how teachers and administrators who were involved in a multi-year effort to engage in distributed leadership interpreted their experiences. We lay out and apply an argument for using an interpretive perspective to study distributed leadership. Collective sensemaking around distributed leadership is illustrated by an in-depth…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how US school leaders make sense of external mandates, and the way in which their understanding of state and district accountability policies affects their work. It is posited that school leaders' responses to external accountability are likely to reflect a complex interaction between their…

In this article, the role that formal leaders play in helping distributed leadership take root and flourish in schools is explored. The focus of the study is an urban middle school, one of six cases in a larger three-year investigation of distributed leadership in two mid-Atlantic states. Using interview and document-based data, the authors…

This article explores the role of leadership, experts, and expertise and the functioning of teams in nine schools that modeled an exemplary integration of technology to support schoolwide instructional improvement. Through cross-case analysis, we identified three different staffing patterns and two different support patterns in how the technology…

This report presents a description of findings from a study of the Research and Development Utilization Program (RDU), which emphasizes a research-based approach to local school improvement. The major objectives of the report are to describe the similarities and differences that exist among the seven projects or schools of the RDU program, to…

A four-year study of urban high school renewal found that the leadership and management of change meant dealing with uncertainty, complexity, turbulence, and the cussedness of many different people. This article discusses four study topics (context, vision building, resources, and problem coping), explores will and skill issues, and provides…

This case study using pseudonyms was prepared for class discussion in training teachers and administrators who have some responsibility for building-level policy. Big Mountain is a well-established, comprehensive high school that served over 1,450 students in grades 10-12. Considerable autonomy is given to teachers, who have control their teaching…

Twelve chapter-length case studies of schools that participated in the Research and Development Utilization (RDU) program are presented to illuminate change management issues. The report is intended for use either as a text or as a book of readings for school professionals. Each chapter is accompanied by questions that are suitable for group…

This study examines the leadership and management skills needed to improve urban high schools. Information was drawn from a national survey of 178 urban high school principals whose schools had been conducting serious improvement efforts for up to 4 years and in-depth case studies of five large high schools in the following urban areas: (1)…

Each of the articles included in this issue launched the author backward into nostalgia and reconsideration of her own work as they motivated her to ask new questions in current and future studies. The author's goal, therefore, is not to provide a linear road map through the articles but to point to themes and ideas that run through the project…

The Research and Development Utilization (RDU) program research component examines the successes and administrative dilemmas faced by demonstration projects that attempted to develop interorganizational networks in a knowledge utilization and school improvement process. A framework is presented for looking at RDU projects as a group of…

Part of a special issue on organizational research utilization, this article analyzes two National Institute of Education programs--the Research and Development Utilization Program and the Experimental Schools Program--and finds that a key reason for nonutilization of research is the "policy vacuum" in which research is conducted.…

Qualitative case studies of graduate students, focusing on student socialization, are critical for understanding the student experience. Because of the departmental nature of graduate study, cross-departmental studies may be not be as revealing. The qualitative case study approach is particularly useful in examining minority student experiences.…

Intended as a guide for educators in shared decision-making, this report summarizes the structures, procedures, and activities of local action teams in 49 schools involved in the National Institute of Education's Research and Development Utilization (RDU) program. Local action teams in the RDU program consisted of formal groups of teachers and…