California's Reading Initiative: Constraints on Implementation in Middle and High Schools

Abstract

This article examines interactions between the policy environment and schools as institutions to understand how eight middle and high schools in California responded to demands to improve student reading. The authors argue that school-level reading programs were shaped by the broader institutional environment: institutional norms that govern conceptions of appropriate roles and responsibilities, technical components of the middle and high school curriculum, and the limitations posed by resource constraints. The authors consider the state curriculum policy an impetus for schools to focus on reading development but insufficient to overcome these other important constraints. At the same time, the authors contend that the organization and allocation of resources to support instruction made important contributions to reading development. This article uses data from case studies of eight middle and high schools located in six school districts in California.