Jeanette R. LaFors

Instructional quality is one of the most important factors in effective teaching. Without it, school reform is impossible. How can leaders develop and implement strategies to improve faculty quality and then manage the process of school reform in today's complex school environments? The authors answer this question through the study of a systemic reform initiative that was launched in San Diego, California in the late 1990s. San Diego was selected for the study because of its proactive attempts to address the quality of teaching, while simultaneously incorporating California's complex, multi-faceted policies directed at education reform. Instructional Leadership for Systemic Change: Provides a rich, comprehensive description of how a major urban school reform initiative was undertaken, Describes political conflicts and implementation issues that occur in real world reform, Describes the changes undertaken to revise the reform each year, Details the various outcomes that occurred for schools and students at different levels. Will be useful to administrators in training, students of leadership and reform, and researchers and policy analysts interested in the anatomy of school change and improvement.