School-to-School Variation in Disciplined Inquiry

In recent years No Child Left Behind has provided new labels to supposedly high- and low-performing schools and has identified large numbers of schools as low performing. Are school-to-school differences in the quality of instruction offered as great as the public is led to believe? Using the disciplined inquiry typology of Newman, Marks, and Gamoran, we examine whether variation in observable indicators of school quality correspond to real differences in instruction between schools. Consistent with the large body of research on school effects we find very modest school-level variation in the prevalence of disciplined inquiry.