Sustaining School Restructuring by Reforming School Districts.

For over 10 years, the accelerated schools movement has worked to implement a cohesive philosophy and process for change in over 1,000 schools in 41 states. This paper describes the characteristics of accelerated schools and details the influences that districts have on them. It demonstrates how districts influence the success or failure of accelerated-school efforts by portraying instances of district support, as well as neglect and inadvertent sabotage. The paper next describes the genesis and history of school districts, and uses sociological social-movement (resource mobilization) and institutional theories to understand why the central focus of most districts has consistently been on compliance and control. The following conditions suggest that fundamental district reform may now be possible: (1) an articulated vision of change; (2) a network of agents who can effectively advocate for change at multiple levels; and (3) a shift in the institutional environment. The paper concludes by presenting the first pieces of the vision of a "new" school district that supports accelerated and other restructuring schools--cultural and functional match with its schools. (Contains 57 references). (LMI)