Focuses on a problem of practice faced by educational leaders: how to effectively manage the relationship between the central office and schools. The authors argue that there is no "one best way" to structure the central office-school relationship. Instead, they say, what matters is whether district leaders eff ectively select and implement their strategy.

Achieving Coherence in District Improvement focuses on how to effectively manage the relationships between central offices and schools. Based on the study of five large urban districts that have demonstrated improvement in school achievement, the authors argue that there is no "one best way" to structure the central office-school relationship. What does matter is whether district leaders effectively align resources, systems, stakeholders, and culture to create a coherent approach to districtwide improvement.

"This timely and informative study is an important addition to any urban superintendent's tool kit." -- Barbara Byrd-Bennett, CEO, Chicago Public Schools

"Avoiding simplistic one-size-fits-all solutions, the authors capture the diversity of organizational approaches while at the same time extrapolating core commonalities among them. Rich, practice-based accounts from the field make for an engaging and inspiring read." -- James P. Spillane, professor of learning sciences and human development and social policy, Northwestern University

"This thoroughly readable book examines high performing school districts and finds that what explains success in these systems is not centralization or decentralization, autonomy or alignment. The simple answer is coherence--getting everything to hang together and make sense. In a school reform debate that is too often dominated by ideology and extremes, Achieving Coherence in District Improvement makes incredibly good sense." -- Andy Hargreaves, Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education, Boston College, and education advisor to the premier of Ontario

SUSAN MOORE JOHNSON is the Jerome T. Murphy Professor in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. GEOFF MARIETTA is an instructor in education and a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. MONICA C. HIGGINS is the Kathleen McCartney Professor of Education Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. KAREN L. MAPP is a senior lecturer in education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the faculty director of the Education Policy and Management master's program. ALLEN GROSSMAN is a former Harvard Business School professor of management practice.