School District Management Strategies to Link Testing with Instructional Change

Based on two years of field work in six school districts, I discuss in this paper some conditions which appear to be present in school districts who are trying to manage the dissemination and use of test data for instructional change. I then describe three strategies—or, more precisely, three configurations of linkage activities—which we saw in our districts. Finally, I list several characteristics which these strategies have in common, and suggest some implications for school districts interested in the management problems associated with connecting testing with instructional change.