Because I already made up my mind. O , Principal One can hear in these words a school leader grappling with the task of bringing teachers around to a point of view many of them distrust and, in some cases, strenuously oppose. A similar challenge arises when parents question the wisdom of detracking. Schools that manage to reform without too much internal rancor or public turmoil are invariably led by strong principals who reach out to persuade others of the reform's virtues. In a few schools, principals initially introduced heterogeneously grouped classes made up of student and faculty volunteers, collected data on these classes' performance, and then slowly expanded the practice within the school.
School principals can also block tracking reform.
They can simply ig- nore state documents on the policy or actively undermine district efforts to detrack. Political influences on tracking are reflected in three general patterns of activity. First, actors close to schools, such as teachers and school princi- pals, exercise the most influence over policy, and actors distant from school settings, such as the state, wield little or no influence. Second, of the school insiders, principals are instrumental in steering proposals through rough waters and seeing to it that detracking is given a chance or in rallying op- position to reform and insisting that curriculum differentiation remain a hallmark of their school. And third, parents are generally secondary players in developing policy, but when their influence is expressed, it has a strong, differentiating effect.