There is a quiet revolution occurring in American public education policy. The debate surrounds the issue of how best to go about educating the country's youth in the modern--or postmodern--world. Simon looks beyond the debate to focus on what public school organization tells policymakers about outcomes.

Simon argues that public schools are open systems organizations, continually reacting to a changing environment and to evolving internal organizational conditions. The structure of public schools, he shows, has not changed dramatically, but the organizational priorities have and will...