The Role of Teachers in Urban School Reform. ERIC/CUE Digest Number 154.

This digest, based on an extensive review of research on comprehensive school reform, presents a brief overview of the role of teachers in comprehensive schoolwide reform (CSR). CSR is most successful when schools have decision-making autonomy in administration and instruction. Teachers also prefer models that fit with the school's overall environment, staffing, and student population, and those that mesh with reforms already in progress. Teachers play a vital role in CSR implementation. Providing them with adequate resources for implementation and time for planning promotes their support. Some CSR models are very prescriptive, and provide curricula and assessments, while other models rely more on the school to develop materials that support the philosophy of the reform. Among the factors that facilitate implementation of reform efforts by teachers include provision by the designers of a structured curriculum, concrete examples of instructional practices reflecting the reform, and specific, practical mechanisms for achieving the higher standards established as a goal. (Contains 14 references.) (SLD)