THE ASPIRATIONS OF SYSTEMIC REFORM MEET THE REALITIES OF LOCALISM

This care study describes and analyzes how, over 30 years, a California suburban school district has responded to a succession of federal and state mandates. It examines responses at both the district office and at individual school sites, situating ifs analysis in the context of the school reform implementation studies. Ii concludes that the policy ''conversation'' represented by Redwood City's behavior rather than the more ambitious agenda of systemic reform, represents the likely course of policy progression in education.