Simmons, John. (Ed.) (2006) Breaking Through: Transforming Urban School Districts. Reviewed by Anthony H. Normore, California State University-Dominguez Hills

Simmons, John. (Ed.) (2006) Breaking Through: Transforming Urban School Districts. (Foreword by Deborah Meier) NY, NY: Teachers College Press. Pp. 264     ISBN 0-8077-4657-6 Reviewed by Anthony H. Normore California State University–Dominguez Hills October 15, 2007 In order to scale-up and sustain policies and leadership in urban school districts, there is little doubt that a transformation of the school systems themselves is necessary to improve classroom results in all schools. Without a transformation, improvements can only be incremental and piecemeal, confined only to a group of classrooms or a group of schools, rather than system-wide. Whereas smaller school districts are already applying the lessons and practices that have successfully transformed large corporate organizations in the past century – and more recently, several small school districts--large district transformation has not been achieved yet. In a recently released book entitled Breaking Through: Transforming Urban School Districts, John Simmons presents critical work that captures the many dimensions of issues in urban school district reform. Through the application of current research, Simmons illuminates what has been successful and unsuccessful in cities such as Boston, San Diego, Houston, and particularly Chicago. The book focuses on lessons learned from existing large district reform strategies used in the United States that can help close the achievement gap. The format of the book is researcher/practitioner-friendly. It is clear and easy to follow and provides an excellent source of new knowledge for all stakeholders in education who are interested in the improvement of schools in America’s urban school districts. Essentially, the contributors “engage and tease out” the complexities of sustainable change by providing powerful example of school reform processes and suggests how these can be applied to large school districts. The book has twelve chapters divided into three separate sections. In section one, four chapters are written by Simmons. In chapter one, he provides an overview of Chicago’s history and a summary of the lessons learned. The history of school reform in Chicago demonstrates the success a system can have when it draws from some of the best practices of high-performance organizations. It also highlights some of the pitfalls when the model for improvement is ineffective. Through the means of real-life case studies focused on large school district reform over the last sixteen years in Chicago, chapter two highlights the three organizing principles on which transforming large school districts rest: (a) consistency: one vision in the classroom and the central office, (b) simultaneity: work everywhere at once, and (c) quality: learn from the best. These three principles are further presented in comprehensive detail as running themes throughout all four chapters in section two. In chapter three, Simmons discusses the four fundamental strategies for rethinking how to transform the mediocre results that most districts are getting. These strategies include: (a) create leaders at every level (i.e., lessons from high performance organizations, building local leadership such as local school councils, building central office leadership, building principals), (b) transform the structure and culture of the system (i.e., lessons on structure and culture from high-performance organizations, structuring and shaping culture through local school councils, breaking down districts into smaller areas, how structural change improves instruction, and what happens when cultural change is missing), (c) improve instruction (achieving quality instruction, teacher professional development), and (d) involve parents and make funding adequate and equitable (i.e., lessons on parental support, parent engagement) (p. 51). In chapter four, emphasis is placed on how superintendents are responsible for all aspects of change and transformation processes, from the most mundane to the most elusive. Simmons presents two case studies that represent two ends of a spectrum. One illustrates “improvements in business practices, including the nuts and bolts of procurement” (p. 57) while the other case reveals the difficulties with getting a wide constituency to engage and support change. Simmons summarizes in a table the differences and commonalities among all several big-city superintendents as they developed strategies for transforming their school districts. In the second section of the book, leading authors in the field present and discuss the four key strategies for leading transformation of a school district and turn to specific models for beginning to close the gap in student achievement. The section is replete with essays spread throughout four chapters in which we find various scholars who spent years working in, studying, and consulting to large organizations and school systems. These essays focus on the different expert strategies used for accelerating change of school districts. The authors suggest that an outcome of accelerated change is achieved by creating more effective leaders at every level. In essay one of chapter five, Codding and Tucker offer strategies for transforming school leadership. With a high percentage of school principals leaving the profession and a national crisis in the number of teachers interested in this position, districts must revamp and strengthen recruitment and training efforts to ensure schools are led by effective school leaders. The second essay focuses on professional development of school leaders. Peterson and Kelley describe several models of professional development and discuss issues and ideas for improving the training of school leaders who serve as instructional and organizational leaders. In essay three, Susan Moore Johnson asserts that collaborative and cooperative leadership is the key to sustained education reform (p. 85). By looking at three district leadership models (i.e., laissez-faire, management, top-down control, and collaborative leadership), she emphasizes how important it is for the superintendent to take on this role, to ensure accountability for themselves and demand accountability from others. Chapter six contains seven essays. Elmore offers seven principles of actions, accountability, instruction and improvement. These principles push against the existing pattern of school reform and school culture. The author asserts that these principles can be used to design school reform strategies that break the old pattern. In the second essay, Dolan discusses why organizations cannot learn. The author examines various reform strategies, identifies what prevents these reforms from being successful, and offers a framework for assisting school systems how to not “make the same mistakes’ (p. 102). In the third essay, Simmons and Karasik present the Edmonton reform model – a model used throughout the world based on school site decision making. As a result of an interview with the superintendent, these authors describe the Edmonton reform model and share some of the advantages and pitfalls of this model today. Fullan, in the fourth essay, outlines several strategies for overcoming dysfunctional infrastructures so educators can focus on systemic reform (p.115). The author describes the problems and promises of whole school and system-wide reform (i.e., school capacity, infrastructures). In essay five, Wallen and Goldberger examine factors that determine America’s ability to deliver quality early education programs and care that meet the needs of young children before they enter school. These authors offer an action plan to superintendents, as they partner with the community, to plan and provide the necessary information and resources to prepare young children for success in school. In essay six, Lee highlights the differences between restructured schools and traditionally structure schools as these differences pertain to the fundamental outcomes of equity and excellence. Under the sponsorship of the Center of the Organization and Restructuring of Schools (CORS), the author and her colleague analyzed a nationally representative sample of nearly 800 U.S. high schools using data collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics. They found that students learned more in highly restructured schools, learning was more equitably distributed and less stratified by socioeconomic status in restructured schools, learning dropped off when schools adopted too many restructuring practices, and restructuring effects were sustained over students’ four years in high school (p. 129). In the final essay of chapter six, Urbanski explores the relationship between school leaders and the teachers union. The author offers various recommendations for building labor-management collaboration and focusing it on improving student achievement. Among the recommendations are the following: (a) negotiate “living contracts”, (b) improve teacher quality, (c) develop a system of differentiated staffing and differential pay for teachers, (d) develop a system of professional accountability, (e) develop a system of incentives, and (f) make public schools more like private schools (pp. 134-144). Three essays devoted to improving the quality of instruction make up chapter seven. In the first essay, Darling-Hammond examines the major problems and issues in several areas related to teacher preparation. She identifies the causes of poor quality teaching and offers an overview of the strategies and their outcomes to date for addressing these issues – especially for the more underserved student populations. The author suggests that successful school districts (a) engage in more aggressive teacher recruitment efforts, and do it early, (b) set competitive salaries and allocate resources to teaching, (c) provide mentoring for new teachers and professional development for all teachers, (d) ensure good working conditions, and (f) design schools that support strong teacher-student relationships (p. 167). The second essay focuses on Danielson’s suggested framework for teaching that promotes improved teacher quality. Danielson asserts that “school districts have little chance of improving student learning without attending to the quality of teaching…and they can’t improve teaching quality unless they operate within a common definition of what quality instruction is” (p. 168). In the final essay of chapter seven, Jamentz outlines what districts and communities can do to cultivate accountability. She offers six strategies that include: (a) articulate standards for student performance, (b) use professional development, (c) invest in quality assessments, (d) de-privatize instruction, (e) engage the larger public, and (f) define standards for adult performance (p. 176). Chapter eight entails two chapters dedicated to building effective support with parents and funding. In essay one, Goldberger identifies the characteristics of effective parent engagement programs and highlights three models that have proved to be successful. The three models identified as “best practice” models include the teacher-parent collaboration program in Central Park East, New York City; National Network of Partnership Schools that emanated from research at Johns Hopkins University; and The Alliance Schools which use the Industrial Areas Foundation model of community and parent engagement (p. 190). Odden focuses on education reform and school finance in the second essay. The author presents three approaches to adequate school finance (expenditure and performance approach, cost function approach, and evidence-based approach) and offers suggestions for ensuring that schools receive the adequate funding. In section three of the book, Simmons explores a process for redesigning systems that has worked successfully in high-performing corporate organizations and how this process – known as the Z Process (i.e., readiness, redesign, implement and improve) - has also worked in several small school districts. The central premise of chapter nine focuses on three studies (i.e., Foundations for Success; An Impossible Job: The View from the Urban Superintendent’s Chair; and The Annenburg Institute for School Reform’s “Smart District”). These studies identify the current issues with large district reform, and what happens when "best practice" is not enough. Highlighted also are the difficulties that any district will have unless it confronts the fact that schools will not be substantially improved without change to the system itself. In chapter ten, Simmons offers fourteen points, based on Deming’s fourteen points to school reform, for continuous improvement in education. Such improvements will require a high-performance paradigm shift. Chapter eleven provides a comprehensive overview about how the three phases of the Z Process work. Simmons asserts that “when it comes to organizational improvement… how you make change is even more important than the change you make. If the stakeholders do not participate adequately in the process, they will not develop the understanding and ownership that they need to make the change work” (p. 224). The Z Process best captures the process for transforming organizations that has been used by organizations around the world. The phases of the process include: (a) preparing the leadership for change (readiness), (b) developing action plans within and across departments (redesign), and (c) implementing the redesign and continuously improving it (p. 224). In the final brief chapter, Simmons notes how important it is for district leaders “and all parties with a stake in school reform to begin looking through the lens of systemic organizational change, to start thinking about how to take the next step toward system overhaul, and, finally, to act” (p. 236). Breaking Through: Transforming Urban School Districts, is valuable and insightful. Its recommendations are presented with rigor and thought. It offers hope for the creation of school districts that truly serve all their students and provides powerful strategies for closing the achievement gap. It is especially recommended by this reviewer to “every leader at every level” including district administrators, policymakers, and public officials who are interested in further understanding the transformation of urban schools and who wish to design better options for the districts they serve. School-site leaders, teachers, parents, and educational consultants can also benefit from it. Furthermore, the book ought to be considered as a resource for college leadership preparation, certification, and training programs. This book can undoubtedly serve as a critical guide for those who have dedicated themselves to “the daunting task of teaching children and improving schools in our nation’s urban districts” (p. xiv). About the Reviewer Anthony H. Normore Associate Professor, Graduate Education Division Educational Administration/Leadership Program Room 1447, College of Education California State University-Dominguez Hills 1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson (Los Angeles), CA 90747