CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2021
Drawing on decades of research, policy, and practice, Jennifer A.
O'Day and Marshall S. Smith show how strategies for pursuing educational
quality and equal outcomes for all students can be linked, presenting an
ambitious idea of the future of American education and a comprehensive
theory of change for enacting that vision.
The authors argue that systemic causes require systemic solutions.
Analyzing the failures of past efforts to address and remedy systemic
inequality, O'Day and Smith maintain that our current standards-based
policy framework needs to be connected to a continuous improvement
approach to build on and scale up successes and to address gaps in
outcomes. They emphasize the value of focusing on a small set of
high-leverage issues that are particularly salient for underserved
students, and they call for deeper coordination between schools and
community-based organizations to mobilize a coherent response to
in-school and out-of-school inequities.
The authors outline a change strategy that incorporates a balance of
pressure and support from three sources: government and administrative
policy, professional accountability and networking, and collective
engagement of parents and other stakeholders. The authors combine
discussion of research with examples of promising practices and progress
in school systems across the country, and offer opportunities for
readers to begin and sustain improvement efforts.
