The Dynamics of School Change: Response to the Article, “Comer's School Development Program in Prince George's County, Maryland: A Theory-Based Evaluation,” by Thomas D. Cook et al

Abstract

The essential findings of Thomas Cook and colleagues in their article, "Comer's School Development Program in Prince George's County, Maryland: A Theory - Based Evaluation," are expressed in their abstract as follows: A randomized experiment of Comer's School Development Program was conducted in 23 middle schools .... [This study] showed that Comer schools implemented some [but not all] of the program's central elements better than control schools .... This shortfall in program implementation may have been responsible for students in the experimental schools not changing any more than controls. Quasi-experimental analyses showed that the program theory may be correct in many of its predictions about student changes .... However, achievement gains were found in schools with a more explicit academic focus, suggesting that improving this focus should be as central to Comer's program theory as improving a school's social climate. Even more needed, though, are ways to improve program implementability, the sine qua non for student change. The study, as conducted, was not an evaluation of the School Development Program (SDP) organization or the process. It was a limited study of the effects of one application of the SDP process: using an experimental control