This article examines the impacts of the National Science Foundation's Urban Systemic Initiative reforms in four cities: Chicago; El Paso, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Miami, Florida, based on analysis of 47 principal interviews. We analyze the role of school administrators in addressing the demands of both systemic reform in mathematics and science and state, district, and local accountability policies. Specifically, we examine their concepts of their roles and ability to balance contradictions and paradoxes between systemic reform and accountability. Our research demonstrates that principals must overcome many challenges before they are able to affect desired achievement outcomes for all students. Key among the identified challenges is the ability of principals to balance the demands of the reform effort with the press to negotiate multiple policies, especially in the areas of student assessment and school accountability for which they are ultimately responsible.
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