ABSTRACT
The challenge for urban schools is to adopt an agenda for instructional improvement that affords challenging intellectual work for all students while at the same time assuring that basic skill acquisition occurs. The chapter examines the relative prevalence of human resource development across the city. A key aim of the Experiences of Actively Restructuring Schools study was to explore efforts to improve instruction among schools that were aggressively taking advantage of the opportunities provided by reform to initiate local change. Teachers expressed considerable optimism regarding instructional change, a growing sense of shared purpose with colleagues, and a high degree of personal satisfaction. The chapter focuses on two other critical facets of the technical core of instruction. First, schooling is a human resource-intensive enterprise; its effectiveness is directly linked to the quality of its teacher. Second, the productivity of a school faculty depends on the merits of the instructional ideas and materials with which they work.
