What We Talk about When We Talk about School Reform

In this article, Marjorie Roemer tells the story of a collaborative effort between secondary school and university faculty members to implement the use of writing portfolios as a means of assessment in high school English classes. Her story illustrates how this work, which involved the English faculties of ten high schools in a large urban school district, reflects some of the complexities of school reform. The author argues that the process of implementation is as crucial as the proposed reforms themselves. Thus, she looks at the development of this school-reform initiative not merely in terms of its final accomplishments, but also as it unfolded in the diverse environments of the participants and with the particular points of view their varied experience dictated. Through the testimony of teachers, school administrators,and university consultants, Roemer demonstrates how the participants understood change and its process in strikingly different ways. Despite their shared purposes, the results of this initiative were considered a success by some, a failure by others.