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It's a *delicate* balance, says this report prepared by the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, which offers case studies across three decentralized school districts -- Chicago, Milwaukee and Seattle -- and underscores changes needed in school organization to accommodate teachers as they attempt to learn new policies and address students' needs. Among the common-sense recommendations (so often ignored) are: "Central office policies and mandates should be evaluated based on how they help principals and teachers improve instruction and student learning," and "Districts should be responsible for providing a plan, a realistic time-line, and sufficient resources to build staff capacity when new instructional policies are adopted." Mostly important, perhaps, the report concludes that "If teachers and principals are to truly focus on instruction, central office demands need to be drastically reduced." The report begins with this quote from a teacher: "I see everything in terms of delivering instruction and making learning happen. And the further we get from my classroom, the less I see that they maintain that idea...." (884k PDF file)

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