Case Studies

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Case Studies of External School Reform Organizations

Each of the case studies presented below examines the work of an external school reform organization and its interactions with three high schools. As part of a larger CPRE study of high school improvement efforts, data for these case studies was collected between 2004 and 2006 in a total of 15 high schools in 15 school districts across the United States. The 15 schools in our sample were selected based on recommendations from the reform organizations. The case studies draw from interview and survey data from teaching and administrative staff at the schools. In addition, we interviewed staff members from the central office in each of the school districts and staff from the reform organizations. In total, our findings are based on approximately 514 semi-structured interviews lasting between 30 and 60 minutes each and 1,052 surveys from 15 schools conducted in the spring of 2005 and 644 surveys from nine schools conducted in the spring of 2006.

The reforms in this CPRE research project include: First Things First, High Schools That Work, the Penn Literacy Network, Ramp-Up to Literacy, and SchoolNet. These reforms were selected as representative of the types of external assistance found in high schools during previous CPRE research. The providers include two whole school reform models, two literacy programs, and one strategy to increase data-driven instruction.

The research presented here is not an evaluation study and thus is not generalizable to other schools and districts. It was designed to illuminate a deep understanding of teacher and administrator experience with the reform and their sense of the reform’s progress in the three schools. References to "change” or work related to the reform are based not on external measures such as classroom observations or student achievement, but instead reflect the perceptions of school, district, and reform organization staff as expressed through interview and survey data. In addition, because we were most interested in documenting and understanding the process of re-interpretation and enactment that happens between schools and reform organizations early in their work together, our findings heavily emphasize the experience of those schools that are relatively early in their implementation processes.

These case studies were written by: Joy Anderson, Margaret E. Goertz, Matthew Goldwasser, Kate Hovde, Diane Massell, Jennifer A. Mueller, Matthew Riggan, Catherine Dunn Shiffman, Jonathan A. Supovitz, and Elliot H. Weinbaum.

Funding for this work was provided by the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (Grant number R308A96003).

The five case studies below are available for free download:

First Things First: A Case Study of Implementation in Three Schools

High Schools That Work: A Case Study of Implementation in Three Schools

Penn Literacy Network: A Case Study of Implementation in Three Schools

Ramp-Up to Literacy: A Case Study of Implementation in Three Schools

SchoolNet: A Case Study of Implementation in Three Schools

Case Studies from CPRE's Evaluation of the Merck Institute for Science Education (MISE)

Franklin Elementary School, Rahway, NJ
(Siobhan McVay, March 2003)

Highland Avenue School, Linden, NJ
(Claire Passantino, March 2003)

Inglewood Elementary School, Lansdale, PA
(Siobhan McVay, March 2003)

Three Bridges and Holland Brook Elementary Schools,