Chapter 5: Integrated Governance in Trenton Public Schools (NJ): Coordinated Efforts to Raise Performance in High Schools

This study constitutes part of a larger research project that examines the effects of school governance reform on high schools in major urban districts. Earlier project reports analyzed the new governance framework that was implemented with the 1995 Chicago School Reform Amendatory Act. This act moved the Chicago Public Schools system toward integrating authority at the system wide level, reversing the trend toward decentralization of school operations. The new educational accountability agenda in Chicago has been aimed at system wide improvement of teaching and learning in the district’s public schools. Previous reports identified the new governance framework as Integrated Governance (Wong, 2000, 2001, Wong Dreeben, Lynn & Sunderman, 1997), and assessed the implementation of the system wide accountability agenda in Chicago high schools (Wong, 1999). This study analyzes the current arrangement of integrated governance in Trenton, NJ and the initiatives the district has introduced in order to build capacity for raising academic performance in high schools.