Julie A Marsh

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• Professor at University of Southern California

Although the COVID pandemic dramatically expanded K–12 remote learning in its first years, little is known about the lasting effects on virtual schooling policies and practices. Drawing on evolutionary theories of change and qualitative data from 2019 to 2022, we explore this topic in Oregon, a state with a long history of virtual schools. We find...

Advocates often predict that school choice policies will expand access to high-quality schools, particularly for marginalized communities. To interrogate this assumption, we employed a sequential mixed-methods analysis examining the state of charter reform in the District of Columbia. We observed that stakeholders consistently defined equity as uni...

School choice policies have become a prominent feature of K-12 education in recent decades, reflecting the broader institutionalization of market-based political ideology in education. In this qualitative multiple case study, we draw on framing theory and interviews with 57 state-level education policy actors to explore the nature of the continued...

Background In recent years, school districts have experienced a complex policy environment with myriad reforms aimed at addressing longstanding and historically entrenched disparities in opportunities and outcomes between racially minoritized students and White students. One such reform is standards-based accountability, with its emphasis on docume...

Background Across families from all backgrounds, and for all students, when parents and the broader community engage in sustained systematic program improvements, schools and districts are more likely to focus on and maintain improvements. As a result, federal and state lawmakers have implemented engagement mandates. The ways in which these mandate...

Purpose: Nearly all schools in the United States closed in spring 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze traditional public and charter school reopenings for the 2020–21 school year in five urban districts. We provide a rich and theoretically grounded description of how and why educational leaders made reopening decisions in each o...

Charter school policy represents two simultaneous forms of accountability, in which schools are accountable to both parents and authorizers. This study of a K-8 charter renewal decision interrogates these accountability relationships and the role of race and power in privileging the interests of particular stakeholders over others. Using counternar...

Governmental policies in the United States and beyond increasingly call for school leaders to involve local communities in decision-making, yet engagement practices have often centered the perspectives of White parents and marginalized the voices of racially minoritized families. In this comparative case study of seven school districts, we draw on...

Many urban school districts are adopting restorative practices (RP) as a means to reduce suspensions and resolve racial discipline gaps. In this study, we use a sensemaking framework to examine educators’ beliefs about discipline and their perceptions of RP and its implementation. We draw on survey responses ( N = 363) administered after educators...

A number of districts are moving toward a portfolio management model, in which central offices act as “portfolio managers” (PMs) that oversee—but may not actively manage—publicly funded schools. Using principal-agent theory, with its focus on goal alignment and the use of incentives, we explore how PMs operated in ways distinct from traditional dis...

Propelled by accountability policies, leaders have touted data-driven decision making as a means to improve K-12 student outcomes and drive equity, as teachers analyze data to change instruction. However, many data-driven decision-making reforms have failed to challenge inequity. Melanie Bertrand and Julie Marsh’s study of six middle schools shows...

Districts are relying on school autonomy to help schools differentiate educational programming for students and improve low-performing schools, yet we know little about how schools use autonomy in practice. Drawing on school case study and principal survey data from the Los Angeles Unified School District, we find variation in perceived school lead...

Background/Context Researchers have amassed considerable evidence on the use of student performance data (e.g., benchmark and standardized state tests) to inform educational improvement, but few have examined the use of nonacademic indicators (e.g., indicators of social and emotional well-being) available to educators, and whether the factors shapi...

Background/Context School leaders are central to state and district human-capital reforms (HCRs), yet they are rarely equipped with the skills to implement new evaluation, professional development, and personnel data systems. Although districts increasingly offer principals coaching and training, there has been limited empirical work on how these s...

In this policy brief, we use the case of California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to provide policymakers and educators guidance on how to involve the public in goal setting and resource distribution decisions. We provide clarity around who is and is not participating, why, and what broader lessons we can draw for implementing federal and...

In recent years, some U.S. school districts have shifted away from direct management of schools, toward systems in which some or all schools operate under enhanced autonomy, accountability, and parental choice. Yet dynamics driving these changes are understudied, and there are few comparative studies of system-level governance shifts. To address th...

The paradigm of test-based accountability has been a dominant force for decades, yet some argue that we have recently witnessed a dramatic change in the key beliefs influencing educational policy. To understand the extent of this transformation, we investigated the policy narrative supporting the adoption of a multiple measure accountability system...

Purpose There is a growing consensus in education that schools can and should attend to students’ social-emotional development. Emerging research and popular texts indicate that students’ mindsets, beliefs, dispositions, emotions and behaviors can advance outcomes, such as college readiness, career success, mental health and relationships. Despite...

This study sought to understand how teachers learn through the process of implementing supplementary curricula, and to what extent the use of curricular materials leads to changes in instructional approaches. Through implementing a STEM supplementary curricular unit aligned to NGSS, the researchers conducted multiple case studies to examine teacher...

We examine how district administrators’ conceptions of equity relate to the implementation of finance reform. We use sensemaking theory and four views of equity—libertarian, liberal, democratic liberal, and transformative—to guide a case study of two districts, finding evidence of two conceptions of equity: (1) greater resources for students with g...

Background Design-based learning and makerspace programs have been shown to be effective in increasing student motivation for STEM learning. Since these programs have largely been implemented for middle school and older students, less is known about their motivational implications in elementary school contexts. The purpose of this study was to unde...

This chapter describes a rigorous model for analyzing multiple case study data that advances both evaluative and theoretical goals. Specifically, this approach, which we refer to as DIVE, involves cyclically analyzing case-ordered meta-matrix displays to uncover patterns in the data. The DIVE approach assists researchers in conducting complex thema...

School accountability and improvement policy are on the precipice of a paradigm shift. While the multiple-measure dashboard accountability approach holds great promise for promoting more meaningful learning opportunities for all students, our research indicates that this can come with substantial challenges in practice. We reflect upon the lessons...

Social-emotional learning refers to the beliefs, attitudes, personality traits, and behaviors that students need to succeed in school and life. Our study looks closely at ten “outlier schools” in California’s CORE districts whose students report strong social-emotional learning outcomes compared to other, similar middle schools. The brief and infog...

This paper examines the effects of strategic new school openings (SNSOs) on student achievement at brand new (“relief”) campuses built to alleviate overcrowding at neighboring “feeder” campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). We focus on a subset of schools involved in LAUSD's Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI), which aimed...

Although multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems have gained popularity in the United States, few studies have examined their implementation or how they are shaped by organizational context. New Orleans provides a strategic case to examine the enactment of a state teacher evaluation policy in a highly decentralized setting with variation in org...

Given the dearth of high-quality curriculum materials aligned with the new standards (NGSS and CCSS) and low student persistence in STEM fields, we sought to develop and test a STEM curriculum that would improve student knowledge, interest, and emotions. A cluster randomized control trial was conducted to assess the impact of Speedometry, a two-uni...

This article seeks to deepen our understanding of the nature and quality of democratic participation in educational reform by examining the first-year implementation of California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) mandating civic engagement in district decision-making. Drawing on democratic theory, empirical literature, and data from 10 distri...

Purpose The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs). Design...

Design-based learning and makerspace programs have been shown to be effective in increasing student motivation for STEM learning. However, these programs have largely been implemented for middle school and older students, and less is known about their motivational implications in elementary school contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine...

The curriculum, Hot Wheels Speedometry (Mattel, El Segundo, CA, USA), was designed to align with the Next Generation Science Standards for science and the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. Our objective was to develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of this integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculu...

Purpose: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) represents a notable shift in K-12 accountability, requiring a more comprehensive approach to assessing school performance and a less prescriptive approach to intervening in low-performing schools. In this article, we seek to leverage the experiences of California’s CORE (California Office to Reform Ed...

Background Scholars widely acknowledge that politics help explain why policies are adopted and how they play out in states, districts, and schools. To date, political analyses of education reform tend to isolate a particular policy and examine the politics of its adoption or implementation, but pay less attention to the effects of the politics of s...

Despite the press for data-informed decision making, there is still much to learn about when and under what conditions data promote changes in instruction and when they may contribute to other outcomes. The study uses qualitative comparative analysis to examine 245 cases of teachers’ data use in five middle schools from a year-long study in the Uni...

Rising opposition to the Common Core Standards (CCS) has undermined implementation throughout the country. Yet there has been no scholarly analysis of the predictors of CCS opposition in the populace. This analysis uses poll data from a statewide poll of California voters to explore the demographic and policy predictors of CCS opposition. We find o...

School reconstitution, a turnaround strategy that prescribes massive staffing turnover, is expected to result in more committed and capable school staff and innovative practices. However, little evidence supports this assumption. We use quasi-experimental designs to assess the impact of reconstitution on student achievement and teacher mobility, fi...

Purpose: Supporting teachers’ use of data has become a large part of educational leaders’ instructional leadership. Drawing on sensemaking theory, we explore how features of data and teachers’ perceptions of them may matter when teachers consider student learning data. Design: The article draws on a 1-year, comparative case study of five low-income...

We examine the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI), which sought to turnaround the district’s lowest-performing schools. We ask whether school turnaround impacted student outcomes, and what explains variations in outcomes across reform cohorts. We use a Comparative Interrupted Time Series approach using admi...

Purpose: A common strategy used in school improvement efforts is a mandated process of formal planning, yet little is known about the quality of plans or the relationship between plan quality and implementation. This mixed-methods article investigates plan quality, factors associated with plan quality, and the relationship between plan quality and...

This article examines an understudied aspect of teachers’ sensemaking of student learning data: the way in which teachers explain the causes of the outcomes observed in data. Drawing on sensemaking and attribution theory and data collected in six middle schools, we find that while teachers most often attributed outcomes to their own instruction, th...

Background Despite increased access to student learning data, scholars have demonstrated that teachers do not always know how to use these data in ways that lead to deep changes in instruction and often lack skills and knowledge to interpret results and develop solutions. In response, administrators have invested in instructional coaches, data coac...

Despite a growing body of research on data use in education, there has been relatively little focus on the role of students. This article begins to fill this gap by exploring teacher and administrator reports on engaging students in data use at six middle schools. Even though teachers expressed a belief that involving students in data use would mot...

Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity to interpret and respond to student learning data. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the implementation of these initiatives. This article begins to addresses this gap by examining the elements of a coach's practice that appear to bu...

As accountability systems have increased demands for evidence of student learning, the use of data in education has become more prevalent in many countries. Although school and administrative leaders are recognizing the need to provide support to teachers on how to interpret and respond to data, there is little theoretically sound research on data-...

This article examines parent engagement in a Los Angeles portfolio district reform. Based on data from a 3-year study, we use the lens of democratic theory to examine the design and implementation of mechanisms seeking parent input in the selection of plans to operate low-performing and new schools. We find that despite significant efforts to move...

In this essay, the authors explore trends in intergovernmental relations (IGR) by analyzing recent education policies—No Child Left Behind Act, Common Core State Standards, and local empowerment policies. Identifying a resurgent role for local actors in education policy, the authors argue that recent federal efforts to exert more control have in ma...

Purpose Despite the popularity of school “turnaround” and “portfolio district” management as solutions to low performance, there has been limited research on these strategies. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring the strategic case of Los Angeles Unified School District's Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI) which combine...

This study drew on teacher survey responses from randomized experiments exploring three different pay-for-performance programs to examine the extent to which these programs motivated teachers to improve student achievement and the impact of such programs on teachers' instruction, number of hours worked, job stress, and collegiality. Results showed...

Background/Context In recent years, states, districts, schools, and external partners have recognized the need to proactively foster the use of data to guide educational decision-making and practice. Understanding that data alone will not guarantee use, individuals at all levels have invested in interventions to support better access to, interpreta...

This article examines the micropolitics of implementing New York City’s Schoolwide Performance Bonus Program and school governance bodies (Compensation Committees) that determined distribution of school-level rewards among personnel. Drawing on a two-year, mixed-methods study, the author finds that although most participants surveyed described a de...

Drawing on a statewide study of Florida middle-school reading coaches, this article examines what constitutes, contributes to, and is associated with high-quality coaches and coaching. Authors find that coaches generally held many of the qualifications recommended by state and national experts and principals and teachers rated their coaches highly...

In 2007, New York City schools commenced a school-level pay-for-performance program for teachers and staff in about 200 schools. The authors found that the program didn't improve schools or student outcomes. Why? Because the program failed to create conditions that theory suggests are necessary for performance-based incentive programs to change beh...

In calling for the transformation of military medical education and training, the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended relocating basic and specialty enlisted medical training to a single site to take advantage of economies of scale and the opportunity for joint training. As a result, a joint medical education and training campu...

Over the past few years, military leaders have realized that the Military Health System (MHS) has to transform itself and the way it does business. This need has been driven by the rapid escalation in the costs of health care, a changing environment with an increased emphasis on performance management, the unprecedented challenges facing the U.S. m...

This article examines the convergence of two popular school improvement policies: instructional coaching and data-driven decision making (DDDM). Drawing on a mixed methods study of a statewide reading coach program in Florida middle schools, the article examines how coaches support DDDM and how this support relates to student and teacher outcomes....

Many policymakers suggest that school-based reading coaches can improve teachers’ practice, which consequently will improve students’ literacy skills. Although reading coaches are increasingly prevalent in schools nationwide, empirical evidence for their effects on student achievement is scarce. This article helps to address this gap by conducting...

Edison Schools, Inc., is the largest and most visible among a growing number of Education Management Organizations that have entered into contracts to manage public schools, including both conventional and charter schools. Edison's approach to managing schools is comprehensive, and it distinguishes itself from most other school improvement strategi...

In 2002, the RAND Corporation launched a project to understand how educators are responding to the new accountability requirements in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania--three states that represent a range of approaches, regions, and student populations. The researchers aimed to identify the factors that enhance the implementation of SBA systems...

Drawing on three years of field research and extensive theoretical and empirical literature, Democratic Dilemmas chronicles the day-to-day efforts of educators and laypersons working together to advance student learning in two California school districts. Julie A. Marsh reveals how power, values, organizational climates, and trust played key roles...

The current high-stakes accountability environment has created strong incentives for educators to systematically collect and use data to inform instructional decisions. This article examines the strategies employed by three urban school districts to promote data use for instructional improvement and their effect on administrator, principal, and tea...

This product is part of the RAND Education working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers'latest findings and to solicit informal peer review. They have been approved for circulation by RAND Education but have not been formally edited or peer reviewed. Unless otherwise indicated, working papers can be quoted and cited w...

This paper reports findings from a study of the effectiveness of charter schools in California. The study's purpose was to report preliminary findings to the Legislative Analyst's Office relating to the educational performance, characteristics, and practices of charter schools and their sponsoring agencies. The study addressed six central questions...

In 1992, the U.S. Department of Education awarded three-year grants to five states and the District of Columbia for the development of curriculum frameworks in mathematics or science for grades K-12 together with new approaches to teacher education, certification, and professional development. This final report on the Dwight D. Eisenhower State Cur...