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As noted earlier, the schools in which these case studies were conducted were ordinary schools, not "hot-house" sites nurtured by heavy investment of researcher/expert time or the expenditure of unusually large amounts of additional funds. A central question about the reforms advocated by experts and national advisory groups is "how well they travel" in the "real world." The key messages presented below are a response to this central question.
1. The complex and fundamental reforms advocated by the reformers are not easy to establish, but they are appropriate and worthy of pursuit. While introduction of the reforms produces many dilemmas for teachers, requires a long and intensive effort, and seemingly is a continuing journey, these cases do not suggest that the reforms are inherently inappropriate. Indications are that student interest in the content increases, that students make more connections both between content and its applications and between content and other components of content, and that critical thinking is practiced to a greater degree.
2. Time is a major dilemma for teachers in the reform context. While teachers find that the time pressures let up as they become more successful in implementing their reforms, it is apparent that the time demands of the reforms are a dilemma for teachers. The major concern of teachers about the reforms was the time required for preparation and planning. The time required is not just for individual teacher planning; it is the time required working with fellow teachers to plan and coordinate the new venture. Additional time is required for formal learning, such as through inservice education classes, although the most important learning probably takes place in the context of the collaborative work with other teachers.
3. Expect the reform process to extend over a long period of time. The reforms cannot be hurried; they take years, not months. Anyone entering into a major reform endeavor should recognize from the outset that it will take a concerted effort over a long period of time. If one reflects on the significant changes in roles, values and beliefs involved in the process, this required time is not surprising. The odds are very high that if someone in a reform context thinks that their reform is well established after two or three years, they either have an inadequate conception of the reforms advocated in the current reform literature (e.g., the NCTM or NRC Standards) or they do not have an accurate picture of the education taking place in their setting.
4. Of central importance to the reforms are changed values and beliefs about the goals of instruction and the means of fostering this learning. To reform education in the full sense demands more than the acquisition of new teaching strategies and techniques. It stretches well beyond the technical dimension to a reconsideration of the "why," "what," and "how" of education. This reconsideration is fostered when professionals are part of a "learning organization" (Senge, 1990) with a culture that values reflection, change, and collaboration. Changes in beliefs and values are not limited to the professionals at the site; reform demands that these new understandings be fostered among students and parents as well.
5. Teacher learning is central to the process of reform, both in its own right and as a foundation for the required learning on the part of students and parents. As noted above, the most important learning takes place in the context of collaborative work with other teachers, rather than in formal instructional settings. As a result, it may be valuable to think of the formal instruction as a means of fostering learning in the work context, i.e., setting the stage for the most desirable collaborative work setting. Staff development moneys should be used to address these matters collectively for school personnel--obviously including administrators as well as the teachers--in a manner that fosters a culture of change and openness to professional learning.
In many ways the conditions that are most favorable for fostering reform are the same as those for fostering teacher learning, since they go hand in hand. Means must be found for alleviating the time dilemma faced by teachers. Efforts must be made to establish the working conditions under which teacher have the time to plan together, reflect on the results of their work with students and challenge each other's conceptions of appropriate goals and content. Block scheduling, common planning periods for teaching teams, and released time for collaborative work are illustrative of such efforts.
Challenges to extant educational values and beliefs best occur in the context of the working world of schools. Putting such matters on the table for consideration in the context of addressing day-to-day teaching matters is not the same as directly challenging current school practices in the abstract for purposes of establishing the new Standards as the new norm of school practice. One of the cases provided an illustration of increased polarization and conflict among the teachers in a department when such matters of values and beliefs were "in your face" during inservice education. Individual reappraisal of such matters is most productive in the context of facing real teaching situations and collaborating with one's colleagues.
6. Parent learning is an important part of the reform process. When one recognizes the context in which teacher learning occurs and the time it requires, it is apparent that learning for parents is a major challenge. Where is the context and the big blocks of time required for such significant parent learning? In our cases, there were several instances of parental resistance substantially reduced by appropriate public relations efforts, largely through the direct work of teachers and administrators. In other instances such efforts did not solve the problems of parental resistance. One is left with the impression that the parents needed the opportunity to address fundamental issues in depth, an opportunity that is difficult to provide. The key to this parent learning may be through their children who are students in the reform setting. But student learning itself is a big issue.
7. Students must be enabled to engage in new roles and perform new forms of student work. Establishing new student roles and student work may be the true "bottom line" of reform. This shift is the key indicator of reform. Based on this indicator, many sites still had a long way to go. Students must become actively engaged in the process of working out these new roles. Just as new roles cannot simply and quickly be imposed on teachers, students must be drawn into a process in which they explore new roles and work, reflect on the results of this shift and learn what it meets for them to direct their own learning.
Throughout the case studies one sees a concern about grades on the part of students. This concern undoubtedly will influence the process of engaging students in a renegotiation of their role and work, although it is not clear from the cases how one would expect this influence to be exercised.
8. Recognize that reform will hang in the balance for a long time. Although not addressed directly in the above analysis, it may be apparent to the astute reader that most of these reforms to some degree or another are hanging in the balance. A critical breakdown in some aspect of the systemic support system that sustains them could result in the abandonment of the system in its totality. The departure of a key leader, structural changes that remove important mechanisms for collaboration, strong parental resistance, or the loss of another key foundational block could result in a direct decision to abandon the reform, or simply let it slide into neglect. Reform is hard work; it will not occur--or be sustained--without it. The dilemmas teacher face are real; appropriate support is needed for reforms to maintained on broad basis.
9. At the same time, there is no going back on certain aspects of the reforms. While noting that reform will hang in the balance for a long time, one must also recognize that individual teachers who have successfully initiated these reforms in their own classes generally claim that their teaching has been changed permanently and they will never go back to the "old ways." They say their role has changed and that it will not change back to what it was regardless of what happens with the reform project of which they are a part.
Since teachers say that they would never go back to their regular way of teaching, the "bottom line" may be that many reforms will survive in at least some of a teacher's classes, regardless of what happens to the reforms in a programmatic sense. In this manner, many of the reforms could spread into common practice. When a teacher's beliefs and values regarding education have changed and this teacher has learned how to put these new perspectives into practice, this teacher has been permanently changed. The cases included examples of teachers who had moved to a new school with a conventional program who said this change had in fact occurred in them.
10. A Systemic View is Essential. An important theme found throughout the cross-site analysis is the need for a systemic perspective. It is obvious that these cases of successful reform are marked by attention to a multiplicity of factors--having technical, political, and cultural dimensions--in a manner that takes account of their interconnections. This multiplicity of factors is addressed simultaneously and in concert.
11. Reform is an ongoing process. Reform can be expected to continue in varying degrees in schools, departments and individuals. The process will go in fits and starts in various places, but the fact that teachers who have changed their role--and that of their students--convincingly claim they will not return to the old ways leads to considerable optimism that for the long run, one can expect a continuing overall movement toward reform.
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[Implications for Needed Research]