Learning from L.A.: Institutional Change in American Public Education

2010 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice
2010 "Districts in Research and Reform" Publication Award, American Educational Research Association

Drawing on a four-year study of the last 40 years of education reform in Los Angeles, Learning from L.A. captures the sweeping change in American education. It puts forth a provocative argument: while school reformers and education historians have tended to focus on the success or failure of individual initiatives, they have overlooked the fact that, over the past several decades, the institution of public education itself has been transformed.

Colorful characters, dramatic encounters, and political skirmishes enliven this rich account of the wrenching transformations that took place in the Los Angeles Unified School District from the 1960s onward. The book focuses particularly on four key ideas that emerged through a succession of reforms beginning in the 1990s—decentralization, standards, school choice, and grassroots participation. Though the particular plans that gave rise to these ideas may have faded, the ideas themselves have taken root and developed in ways that those who inaugurated or participated in these reforms never anticipated."

Charles Taylor Kerchner is a research professor at Claremont Graduate University. David J. Menefee-Libey is professor of politics and coordinator of the Program in Public Policy Analysis at Pomona College. Laura Steen Mulfinger is a doctoral candidate at Claremont Graduate University. Stephanie E. Clayton is a doctoral student at the University of Southern California.