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Scholars Reaching Outside Education for School Fixes

The story of how New York City’s beleaguered police department turned itself around between 1994 and 1996 has become a classic case study in graduate business schools.

Management students routinely read how William Bratton, the brash former police commissioner from Boston, took the helm of the Big Apple’s force and transformed it by introducing a computerized data-management system and changing the culture of police work.

Now, some education scholars, in newly published papers and a book out this month, say educators looking to turn around failing schools ought to heed lessons from leaders in other fields, such as Mr. Bratton, who have...