Public School Reform: Policy Talk and Institutional Practice
DAVID B. TYACK · American Journal of Education · 1991
The essay explores the complex relation between policy talk and institutional change in educational reform. It suggests problems with conventional divisions of history into "reform periods" and contrasts bursts of reform rhetoric with long-term trends in practice. Such trends are by no means easy to determine, for statistics are spotty. Reforms often go through distinct phases, penetrate different types of school districts at different rates, and have different impacts on various social groups. There are some major institutional trends that can be tracked over long periods of time, whatever the prevailing policy talk, and a linked set of reforms called "reorganization" provide an illustration. Finally, the essay probes policy talk and institutional practice by asking why some reforms stick, some ebb and flow, and some appear and disappear like fireflies.