Documents the longitudinal achievement growth of Chapter I students based on nationally representative data from the Prospects Study, which focuses on two- and three-year patterns of Chapter I participation for as many as 40,000 students in three grade cohorts. Overall, significant positive results generally were restricted to the more advantaged…

Examines the interplay between the federal Title I schoolwide program and the first 2 years of a systemwide reform, Children Achieving, in high-poverty, urban Philadelphia schools. In spite of intense institutional competition and contention at the district level, there were major efforts to facilitate policy coordination at different levels of…

Decentralization is no longer the dominant reform strategy in the Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools. The Chicago School Reform Amendatory Act of 1995 redesigns the school governance arrangement so that power and authority are now integrated among city officials, school boards, local school councils, and a Chief Executive Officer. To examine how…

Used hierarchical linear modeling to study the relations between the degree of Chapter I and regular-program coordination in high-poverty schools and students' longitudinal achievements while controlling for the compositional features of the school. Findings reveal some areas in which high-poverty schools can influence the academic achievement of…

It is argued that both economic concerns and political factors can be synthesized within a new framework to improve city policymaking. This approach is based on a systematic empirical study of policymaking in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) and Baltimore (Maryland) in the 1970s and early 1980s. Numerous government documents and extensive interviews with…

This article presents data on four schools in the Minneapolis (Minnesota) Public School District that are implementing schoolwide projects under Title I. The Title I schoolwide project was adopted in Minneapolis in 1990 to accommodate a growing population of low-income, educationally disadvantaged students in the primary grades. Evaluation of…

The effects of current school reforms on teaching and learning for students at risk of educational failure were studied by examining systemic reform strategies in two large school districts, Montgomery County (Maryland) and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). Montgomery County is implementing the "Success for Every Student" program, an…