This volume is an examination of how school districts and national school reform organizations can work together to promote effective school reform district wide. It is based on 10 years of research and evaluation studies with James Comer School Development Program (SDP). Using a set of urban school district cases, it analyzes how districts and the SDP learned to collaborate and what mechanisms seem to be especially promising in bringing systemic reform to life. The book also analyzes what school districts should look for in a national reform organization and how districts have learned to support reform efforts by taking on some of the processes of the national reform organization as their own.

This volume is an examination of how school districts and national school reform organizations can work together to promote effective school reform district wide. It is based on 10 years of research and evaluation studies with James Comer School Development Program (SDP). Using a set of urban school district cases, it analyzes how districts and the SDP learned to collaborate and what mechanisms seem to be especially promising in bringing systemic reform to life. The book also analyzes what school districts should look for in a national reform organization and how districts have learned to support reform efforts by taking on some of the processes of the national reform organization as their own.

In the USA, the Comer programme assists underachieving urban schools by examining their system and their students. The implications of the successes reported in this volume show that children from all backgrounds can gain vital social and academic skills when education addresses their needs.