How Comprehensive Reform Legislation Can Improve Secondary Schools.

Abstract

S INCE APRIL 1983, when pub lication of A Nation at Risk touched off a national desire to reform education, many states have enacted comprehensive legislation intended to improve their schools. Such legislation typically in creases high school graduation require ments, encourages a more substantive curriculum, defines new roles for teach ers, and establishes higher standards. Like that of many other states, Cali fornia's major reform legislation, S.B. 813, had no previous parallel in terms of scope. Enacted in 1983, its dozens of provisions, if fully implemented, would alter curriculum and instruction in virtu ally every school in the state. S.B. 813 spells out neither a philosophy of reform nor a cohesive strategy for changing the schools. Instead, it represents a return to conventional wisdom, to a set of aspira tions meant to restore the state's educa tion system to a former level of achieve ment and academic rigor. Little is known about the effects of enacting such a broad range of reforms simultaneously. Can local school districts and individual schools cope with the complexities involved? How do the var ious components of an extensive legislat ed reform program influence one anoth er? Can local districts weld the disparate provisions of comprehensive state legis lation into coherent and effective instruc tional programs? Earlier studies produced data indicat ing that California's reforms were being formally implemented, but most of those studies relied on surveys or on statewide aggregate data.' They left unanswered questions about how the reform programs actually operate in local schools and whether or not they result in substantive change.2 Given the high stakes involved in education reform, answers to these questions are crucial for policy makers and practitioners alike.3

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