ABSTRACT
Our account of events at the intersection encounters between instructional leaders (ILs), principals, and teachers intentionally takes no position on the overall merits of the San Diego City Schools (SDCS) reform or does it make any judgments about any group of individuals' willingness or capacity to carry it out. It is possible to view the teachers', the principals', and the ILs' experiences from any of several different perspectives. Some readers, for example, may consider the teachers a group of ill-informed, uncaring educators who willfully obstructed an inspired reform; others may focus on the role of the ILs and lament their lack of experience in transmitting the ideas of the reform to an audience of principals who initially had been eagerly enthusiastic. A third group of readers might conclude that a thoughtful reform had foundered on the shoals of political forces and cultural clashes beyond the control of all concerned. Each viewpoint carries its own truth; which interpretation ultimately is most satisfying will depend on readers' individual perspectives.
