麦克斯维尔担任市督学近二十年（1898-1918年），在这一时期的纽约市公共学校变革扮演着重要的角色，被誉为“大纽约市公共学校体系的奠基人”。作为美国最大的城市，纽约市学校变革是进步主义时期美国城市学校变革的缩影，其变革结果形塑了美国现代城市学校制度。但关于这一重要课题，国内研究仍较为薄弱。本文基于城市宪章、督学工作报告等史料，分析麦克斯维尔如何改革纽约市公共学校体系，旨在重新探究进步主义时期纽约市学校变革的历程。 在众多进步主义改革团体的支持下，麦克斯维尔积极地推进纽约市学校管理集权化改革。通过推动立法和修改城市宪章，废除了双重教育管理体制，获致了大部分的教育管理权力；通过细化学校管理层级、明确分工，建立一整套的教师专业化联动机制，确立了高度科层化的城市学校管理体制。另外，麦克斯维尔致力于扩展学校功能，丰富并分化课程，引入假期学校、活动中心等社会福利项目，以适应转型时期的工业化城市发展。但是，基于“效率崇拜”，纽约市市长不顾麦克斯维尔的反对强力干预公共教育事务，引入并推广“葛雷制”，使后期的纽约市学校变革深陷政治泥潭。 麦克斯维尔变革纽约市公共学校的历程充分反映出教育变革的多元性与复杂性，城市学校体系庞大的身躯及其复杂的政治生态环境牵制着改革的进程。作为一项牵涉众人利益的公共事业，城市学校的变革始终是不同利益团体通过政治博弈不断地影响教育决策的动态过程。正因如此，“让学校远离政治”终将只是黄粱一梦。

Acting as city school superintendent for nearly twenty years, William Henry Maxwell played a significant role in the transformation of the public schools in New York City. He was credited by contemporaries with laying the “foundation of the public school system of the Greater City of New York.” As the biggest city of the United States, New York city school reform epitomizes the transformation of America urban schools during the progressive era. While concerning this important issue, the current studies are still inadequate. Based on primary sources such as city charter, the annual reports of superintendent, and so on, this paper analyzes how Maxwell reformed the New York City public school system, and re-explores the development of the modern school system in New York City during the progressive era. Under the support of progressive reform groups, Maxwell vigorously promoted the centralization of New York schools. By means of revising the Charter of New York City, reformers abolished the dual school administration system, and empowered school superintendent to manage a majorioty of educational affairs in the public school system. Through specifying school hierarchy, establishing the whole linkage mechanism of professionalization, Maxwell reshaped the New York public schools, and established modern school system, which was highly centralized, highly professionalized, and highly bureaucratized. Besides, Maxwell committed to extending the social function of schools, via the enrichment and differentiation of curriculums, and also through introducing new programs into the city school system, such as vacation schools, recreation centers, medical inspection, etc. However, driven by the cult of efficiency, the mayor of New York intervened in public educational affairs aggressively against Maxwell’s objection. The mayor made every effort to install and extend the Gary system into New York public schools, as a consequence, the transformation of the New York schools was strongly shaped by political machine in the late 1910s. Maxwell’s experience of school reform in New York City during the progressive era fully reflected the diversity and complexity of educational reform, the huge system of urban school and the complicated political settings hampered the process of reform. As a public cause concerning everyone’s interests, the transformation of urban schools was a dynamic process, during which various interest groups effected the decision-making of education consistently through playing political games. Therefore, “lifting schools out of politics” was just an illusion.