The urban elementary school profiled in this case study was considered low performing based on state-mandated assessment scores from the time the school opened its doors in 1998 until very recently, putting the school on academic watch under the terms of the No Child Left Behind Act. However, in recent years the school realized a significant turnaround with the placement of a proactive principal and internal specialized supports accompanied by district office support. Survey data on school culture measures demonstrate an improvement in professional communities of practice, collaborative leadership, and evidence-based practice. This case study provides evidence that leadership coupled with multiple and coherent district supports can result in dramatic change at a school in a short period.

Eilers / SCHOOL-LINKED COLLABORATIVE SERVICESThis study examines whether the alternative policy instrument, systems change, fits the problem of efficient and effective local services. An initiative known as school-linked collaborative services, implemented by a team of county-level policy makers and community-based teams, is the focus. The findings reveal that the policy instrument of systems change devolved authority to the street-level bureaucrats but not responsibility for meeting objectives. As well, the effort to minimize duplication of services through collaboration inadvertently created new layers of bureaucratic control. Implications suggest that systems change alone is not an adequate policy instrument. Suggestions for combining policy instruments of systems change and capacity building are discussed.

I examine the state policy context of implementing an initiative that transforms the training and role of today's school counselors. This is essentially a story of political process. Like the implementation of many initiatives, the Transforming School Counselor Initiative (TSCI) is a process of gaining support and then institutionalizing a newly-formed vision for the role and function of a profession that has been a part of the school organization for the better part of a century. I examine the educational reform contexts of California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio as it relates to implementing the Initiative. As such, the framework for analysis on state policy context draws from macropolitical processes as a way of examining practices and actions of key state stakeholders, such as the state departments of education, the counseling profession's state-level association and state legislation and statutory language. The final 2 of 30 analysis ranks the 5 states with regard to their institutional capacity to fully implement and stabilize reform initiatives related to school counseling.