Disrupting Disruption: The Steady Work of Transforming Schools

In Disrupting Disruption, David Kirp and his coauthors look closely at three school districts in Oklahoma, New Jersey, and Virginia that have overcome the fragmentation, isolation, and lost learning opportunities of the public school system. They tell three compelling stories, buttressed by solid research, of how seemingly ordinary school districts, where White students don't constitute a majority and many students come from low-income families, have dramatically boosted graduation rates and closed the opportunity gap. As they show, every school system can and should do as well through steady work, setting high expectations, and weaving a safety net of supports for each student.

David Kirp is a Professor of the University and Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, a frequent contributor to The New York Times and Washington Post, and a senior scholar at the Learning Policy Institute. His most recent books are The College Dropout Scandal (Oxford, 2019) and Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools (Oxford, 2013), which was awarded the 2014 Outstanding Book Award, American Educational Research Association. His notable earlier books include The Sandbox Investment: The Universal Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics, which received the Award for Excellence in Education from the Association of American Publishers, and Shakespeare, Einstein and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education, which garnered the Research Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Higher Education. A former trustee of Amherst College, he has worked with policymakers, foundations and non-profits. He served on President Barack Obama's 2008-2009 transition team, where he drafted policy agendas for early education and community schools. Earlier in his career he was the founding director of the Harvard Center for Law and Education and an associate editor at the Sacramento Bee.

Marjorie Wechsler is the Principal Research Manager and co-lead of the Educator Quality team at the Learning Policy Institute. She has more than 25 years of experience conducting policy research at the national, state, and local levels. She leads mixed-methods research studies related to teacher and leader quality and early childhood learning. Her work at LPI focuses on supporting and documenting systems change to advance equity. Prior to joining LPI, she was Co-Director of SRI International's Center for Education Policy.

Madelyn Gardner is a doctoral student studying Human Development, Learning, and Teaching at Harvard University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of human development and public policy, with a particular interest in unpacking the elements of early learning experiences that benefit children's learning and growth. She currently serves as a research assistant to Professors Stephanie Jones and Nonie Lesaux on the Early Learning Study at Harvard. Before beginning her doctoral studies, Madelyn worked at the Learning Policy Institute, where she conducted research focused on issues of access, quality, and equity in state early learning systems and on strategies for effective educator preparation and development.

Titilayo Tinubu Ali is a partner at Bellwether Education Partners and adjunct professor at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. She previously served as senior advisor and senior director of research and policy at the Southern Education Foundation, a nonprofit founded more than 150 years ago focused on advancing equitable education policies and practices for Black students, other students of color, and students from low-income backgrounds in the South. Before that, she served as a consultant, senior researcher and policy analyst at the Learning Policy Institute where she co-led the equitable resources and access team and co-authored the book On the Road to High-Quality Early Learning: Changing Children's Lives. She holds a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law, an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A., with honors, from Spelman College.