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Here is a new conceptual framework for organizational learning (OL) that applies to both planned reform and emergent change. It integrates strategic and operational, micro and macro perspectives. It has three parts: (a) a revised definition and typology of OL, (b) seven reform stories that define stages and tasks, (c) a management and assessment guide demarcating four areas of OL: (i) action learning within core operations; (ii) sharing learning and innovations across the organization; (iii) mission/s-beyond ambidexterity; (iv) integration-managing mission conflicts and other paradoxes, which ensure endogenous change. Dynamic capability is therefore intrinsic to this view of OL that is illustrated from two cases: NYPD and public school reforms.

The Czech case sheds light on the processes of curriculum making inthe post-socialist context. To explain the relationship between the macro and micro levels of curriculum development, Graeber's concept of interpretive labour is used. In the Czech Republic, from the very first days of the Velvet Revolution (November 1989), groups of citizens and teachers demanded profound change in school education but the new conservative-liberal government preferred piecemeal steps.An alternative route to radical school reform was proposed at the meso level by an alliance of health psychologists and progressive teachers, using the know-how of the World Health Organization. Schools that voluntarily joined the Healthy Schoolnetwork were expected to restructuretheir core processes by an approach similar to school-based curriculum development. This change model was adopted at the macro level,when the Social Democrats formed a government in 1998. The new Education Act mandated that each school had to develop its own curriculum using the new national framework. The analysis of policy documents paving the way for this reform, however, showsa sequence of unfulfilled plans and promises. Almost all independent evaluations have found that the essential goals of the reform have remained unfulfilled, as schools mostly created their curriculaby, for example, formally recycling the old national syllabi.As curriculum making occurs across different levels, the failed curricular reform resulted in a blame game among thelevels(the ministry, curricular agency, inspectorate, school leaders, teachers and others),with no actor accepting theirshare of the responsibilityand probably considering any lessons for future curriculum revisions.

This narrative inquiry centers on teachers' longitudinal experiences of policy-related reforms systematically introduced to T. P. Yaeger Middle School, a campus located in the fourth largest, second most diverse city in America. The embedded research study, with roots tracing back to 1997, uses five interpretive tools to capture six mandated changes in the form of a story serial. Special research attention is afforded pay-for-performance, the sixth reform in the series. The deeply lived consequence of receiving bonuses for his teaching performance prompted Daryl Wilson, Yaeger's long-term literacy department chair, to proclaim “data is [G]od.” Wilson's emergent, inventive metaphor aptly portrays the perplexing conditions under which his career ended, and how my long-term research project likewise concluded.

Teacher unions’ departures from industrial organizing are documented in a series of case studies and collections on reform-minded locals’ practices and contracts (see Johnson & Kardos, 2001; Kerchner & Koppich, 1993). Recently, investigators have collected data on union locals that belong to the Teacher Union Reform Network (TURN), a group of NEA and AFT locals. For example, William Harju (2003), retired executive director of the San Diego Teachers Association, visited most of the TURN locals (working from a document collection schedule and case study format similar to the one in Kerchner & Koppich, 1993). Kerchner and Koppich, in recent unpublished work, visited Minneapolis, Columbus, and Rochester and made additional inquiries by telephone interview.¹ TURN locals by no means represent the totality of union reform, and no encyclopedia of union reforms in the United States exists, but TURN locals are certainly among those with the longest experience and most extensive reforms.

The study explores characteristics of strong school cultures through principals' exploitation of additional resources within implementation of a national reform.

An interpretive approach was utilized to analyze qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 35 Israeli high school principals who implemented a national reform in state and religious-state schools from all school districts.

The article presents four types of cracking cultures led by the principals: (1) a school values-based culture, such as respect; (2) a caring culture based on trust and a positive atmosphere; (3) a maintenance achievement-oriented culture; and (4) a creative culture that supports the teachers and takes risks in using resources beyond their intended purpose.

Exploring principals' exploitation of resources within a cracking culture may promote school improvement and innovation during national reform implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the expectations of and possible tensions in school leadership regarding the implementation of the 2014 Danish school reform and, by extension, to address emerging perspectives linking school leadership, learning and well-being.

An analysis of central policy documents in the reform as well as research reports examining the role of leadership in the implementation of the reform offers insights into the new expectations of and tensions in school leadership. Drawing on theories of school leadership, the analysis highlights the various forms and aspects of school leadership that are at play in the reform.

The analysis identifies expectations regarding school leadership, ranging from aspects of strategic leadership that focus on management by objectives and results to aspects that are closer to teaching, such as curriculum and instructional leadership. It furthermore highlights barriers with regard to realizing policy intentions of strengthening instructional leadership, such as encroaching upon pedagogical and curriculum leadership, which have traditionally been the domain of teachers. Meanwhile, the kind of leadership that can be practiced through data-based management by objectives and results seems to have been perceived as a more viable approach in the implementation of the reform.

The papers' theoretical and empirical foundation is rooted in Danish and Scandinavian perspectives on schooling, and thus the generalizability of the findings may be limited to countries with similar perspectives or “packages of expectations” on linking school leadership, learning and well-being.

The paper provides an original contribution through its engagement with the tensions inherent in the specific “package of expectations” and new demands on school leadership in the 2014 school reform.

More than five years have passed since A Nation at Risk was published in 1983 by then‐Secretary of Education Terrance Bell's National Commission on Excellence in Education. Those years have seen the publication of an enormous body of both primary material, composed of research reports, essays, and federal and state reform proposals and reports; and secondary material, composed of summaries and reviews of the original reform reports and reports about effective programs that are based on reform recommendations. This annotated bibliography seeks to identify, briefly describe, and organize in a useful manner those publications dealing with K‐12 education reform and improvement. The overall purposes of this article are to bring organization to that list, and also to trace relationships and influences from the federal initiatives to the states and professional associations, and from there to the school districts and individual schools.

Turning an education reform program into school reality greatly depends on the principal. In certain cases, principals choose to implement reform instructions only partially. The purpose of this paper is to explore school principals’ considerations leading to their decisions not to fulfill a national reform’s guidelines in a full and complete way.

This qualitative study is based on interviews with 59 school principals. Generating themes was an inductive process, grounded in the various perspectives articulated by principals.

Data analysis yielded three major considerations: adjusting to school reality; caring for teachers; and using discretion.

Longitudinal studies in order to explore how principals’ considerations and mediation strategies evolve and unfold throughout the reform implementation would be useful. The authors suggest complementing principals’ verbally expressed perceptions with more objective measures such as direct observations (recorded on video and then reflected upon), to evaluate their considerations and mediating strategies.

Providing prospective and in-service principals with leadership education programs in order to develop an upgraded understanding of their role as mediating agents between the inner and outer spheres of school-life.

As principals serve as mid-level policymakers who leave their “fingerprints” on policies received from the authorities, exploring these considerations may contribute to both the scholarship and the practice of the leadership role in times of education reforms.

Despite the popularity of school “turnaround” and “portfolio district” management as solutions to low performance, there has been limited research on these strategies. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring the strategic case of Los Angeles Unified School District's Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI) which combined both of these reforms. It examines how core mechanisms of change played out in schools and communities during the first two years of implementation.

The paper draws on a mixed methods study, combining data from surveys, case studies, leader interviews, observations, and document review. It is guided by a conceptual framework grounded in research on school turnaround and portfolio districts, along with the district's implicit theory of change.

The paper finds early success in attracting diverse stakeholder participation, supporting plan development, and ensuring transparency. However, data also indicate difficulty establishing understanding and buy‐in, engaging parents and community, attracting sufficient supply of applicants, maintaining neutrality and the perception of fairness, and avoiding unintended consequences of competition – all of which weakened key mechanisms of change.

Data from parent focus groups and school sites may not be representative of the entire population of parents and schools, and data come from a short period of time.

The paper finds that developing processes and procedures to support complex reform takes time and identifies roadblocks others may face when implementing school turnaround and portfolio management. The research suggests districts invest in ways to ensure neutrality and create a level playing field. It also indicates that leaders should anticipate challenges to engaging parents and community members, such as language and literacy barriers, and invest in the development of unbiased, high‐quality information and opportunities that include sufficient time and support to ensure understanding.

This paper begins to fill a gap in research on popular reform strategies for improving low‐performing schools.