Reforming Again, Again, and Again

Item

Title

Reforming Again, Again, and Again

Abstract/Description

Why do reforms return again and again? To illustrate that the question is valid, I offer three examples drawn from instructional, curricular, and governance planned changes that have returned more than once. To answer the question, I first examine the dominant explanation presented by researchers and policymakers: the lack of rationality in proposing and implementing planned change. I explore why the dominant explanation is flawed in its frequently used metaphors and analysis. I then offer alternative explanations for recurring reforms?a political and an institutional perspective harnessed together?to explain the puzzle of why reforms return. The point of this analysis is to enlarge the repertoire of explanations that researchers and policymakers use to examine potential and past reforms. The policymaking stakes run high for expanding the range of explanations because the questions of why reforms failed in the past and why they return go to the heart of present policy debates over whether federal, state, and district mandates to alter schooling will get past the classroom door.

Author/creator

Cuban, Larry

Date

1990

In publication

Educational Researcher

Volume

19

Issue

1

Pages

3-13

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Historical

Language

en

ISSN

0013-189X

DOI

10.3102/0013189X019001003

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (SAGE Journals)

Citation

Cuban, L. (1990). Reforming Again, Again, and Again. Educational Researcher, 19(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X019001003

Item sets

Handbook Chapter 14 Citations

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