31 Various 2005 <p><span style="font-size: 12pt">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: &quot;Central office policies and mandates should be evaluated based on how they help principals and teachers improve instruction and student learning,&quot; and &quot;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.&quot; Mostly important, perhaps, the report concludes that &quot;If teachers and principals are to truly focus on instruction, central office demands need to be drastically reduced.&quot; The report begins with this quote from a teacher: &quot;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....&quot; (884k PDF file)</span></p> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><span style="font-size: 12pt">Retrieved June 2, 2008 from <a href="http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/ENEWS/sept05.pdf">http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/ENEWS/sept05.pdf</a>&nbsp;(or</span></div> <div><span style="font-size: 12pt"><a href="http://lists.ucla.edu/pipermail/mentalhealth-l/2005-September/000126.html">http://lists.ucla.edu/pipermail/mentalhealth-l/2005-September/000126.html</a>)</span></div> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/ENEWS/sept05.pdf