The Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC) a statewide curricular reform substantially changed high school rigor. Beginning for the class of 2011, the MMC mandated four years of English, mathematics, and three years of science; requiring all students to take Algebra II and physics or chemistry. Michigan high school principals, responding to new curricular requirements, may have changed course sequencing, teacher hiring, or definitions of student success in response. Presenting descriptive analysis of high school characteristics and administrator interviews, this study frames four Michigan high schools and the principals who lead them. Results situate within a theory of action with principals' behaviors and decision-making relative to economic constraints, constituent preferences, and state requirements. School context and principal sense-making interweave into observed behaviors, complicating or easing reform enactment depending on community and student predispositions. Endeavoring to meet stakeholder demands, interviewed principals report additional elective opportunities, reorganized course schedules, increased virtual learning and credit recovery opportunities, and reallocated teachers course assignments. Yet, additional reform policies, such as No Child Left Behind and School of Choice, combine with two exogenous economic recessions--state and nationwide--complicating budgets and the educational landscape.
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