Download or read book Bringing School Reform to Scale written by Heather Zavadsky and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing School Reform to Scale looks in detail at five school districts that have been honored in recent years by The Broad Foundation, whose annual award is granted "each year to the urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among poor and minority students." Heather Zavadsky examines five Broad Prize winners--Long Beach Unified School District, Garden Grove Unified School District, Norfolk Public Schools, Boston Public Schools, and Aldine Independent School District. As she notes, "the successes highlighted in this book do not represent one-year positive performance blips in these districts, and this book does not provide a list of 'best practice' silver bullets that sound effective but cannot be applied outside a unique context. Rather, the book describes the paths these districts have taken over years of intentional, sustained, patient focus on improving teaching and learning that fully aligns instructional practices across all organizational levels of a school system--something that can be done in any district given the right knowledge and tools." Bringing School Reform to Scale is a volume in the Educational Innovations series. "This book offers an unusually detailed look inside some of our best run school districts. Heather Zavadsky offers honest assessments, highlighting not only the inspiring successes, but also the many daunting challenges that remain. Very enlightening!" -- Ronald F. Ferguson, faculty cochair and director of the Achievement Gap Initiative, Harvard University "Bringing School Reform to Scale highlights the practices in five districts that won the prestigious Broad Prize--and shows how important fundamentals of good practices (including rigorous standards, aligned curriculum, and smart investments in human capital) can lead to great schools and successful districts." -- Mark Schneider, vice president, American Institutes for Research; former commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics "The media are good at spotlighting random school successes, education reforms that subsequently seem to evaporate. Why is it so difficult to sustain and spread productive change from school system to school system? The answers to these questions are crucial, and Bringing School Reform to Scale is a powerful contribution to an accumulation of knowledge regarding these issues." -- James W. Guthrie, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, Vanderbilt University "The analysis of the five high-performing districts points to practices, beliefs, systems, and structures that have led to dramatic turnarounds. The compilation of this work provides a road map toward scalable reform." -- William R. Hite, superintendent, Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland Heather Zavadsky is director of policy and communications at the Institute for Public School Initiatives for the University of Texas system.
Download or read book Scale Up in Education written by Barbara Schneider and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2006-12-28 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scale-Up in Education, Volume 2: Issues in Practice explores the challenges of implementing and assessing educational interventions in varied classroom contexts. Included are reflections on the challenges of designing studies for improving the instructional core of schools, guidelines for establishing evidence of interventions' impacts across a wide range of settings, and an assessment of national efforts to bring reform to scale in high-poverty schools. This volume also includes findings and insights from several federally funded research projects charged with bringing conceptual and analytic rigor to studies of successful scale-up. All of the chapters address the challenges of conducting scientific research in schools and provide insights for obtaining the support of teachers and school administrators. The result is a highly readable volume ideally suited for educators interested in the issues that inform intervention research, researchers concerned with designing practical studies that are methodologically sound, and policymakers engaged in evidence-based school reform.
Download or read book Scale up in Education Issues in practice written by Barbara L. Schneider and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scale-Up in Education, Volume 2: Issues in Practice explores the challenges of implementing and assessing educational interventions in varied classroom contexts. Included are reflections on the challenges of designing studies for improving the instructional core of schools, guidelines for establishing evidence of interventions' impacts across a wide range of settings, and an assessment of national efforts to bring reform to scale in high-poverty schools. This volume also includes findings and insights from several federally funded research projects charged with bringing conceptual and analytic rigor to studies of successful scale-up. All of the chapters address the challenges of conducting scientific research in schools and provide insights for obtaining the support of teachers and school administrators. The result is a highly readable volume ideally suited for educators interested in the issues that inform intervention research, researchers concerned with designing practical studies that are methodologically sound, and policymakers engaged in evidence-based school reform.
Download or read book Extending Educational Reform written by Amanda Datnow and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11-02 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an effort to improve student achievement, thousands of US schools have adopted school reform models devised externally by universities and other organizations. Such models have been successful in improving individual schools or groups of schools, but what happens when educational reform attempts to extend from one school to many? Through qualitative data from several studies, this book explores what happens when school reform 'goes to scale'. Topics covered include: *why and how schools are adopting reforms *the influence of the local context and wider constraints on the implementation of reform *teachers and principals as change agents in schools *the evolution of reform design teams *the implementation, sustainability and expiration of reform, and its impact on educational change Each chapter concludes with guidelines for policy and practice. This book will be of interest to educational leaders and staff developers, educational researchers and policy makers, in the US and internationally.
Download or read book The Education We Need for a Future We Can t Predict written by Thomas Hatch and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Improve Schools and Transform Education In order for educational systems to change, we must reevaluate deep-seated beliefs about learning, teaching, schooling, and race that perpetuate inequitable opportunities and outcomes. Hatch, Corson, and Gerth van den Berg challenge the narrative when it comes to the "grammar of schooling"--or the conventional structures, practices, and beliefs that define educational experiences for so many children—to cast a new vision of what school could be. The book addresses current systemic problems and solutions as it: Highlights global examples of successful school change Describes strategies that improve educational opportunities and performance Explores promising approaches in developing new learning opportunities Outlines conditions for supporting wide-scale educational improvement This provocative book approaches education reform by highlighting what works, while also demonstrating what can be accomplished if we redefine conventional schools. We can make the schools we have more efficient, more effective, and more equitable, all while creating powerful opportunities to support all aspects of students’ development. "You won’t find a better book on system change in education than this one. We learn why schools don’t change; how they can improve; what it takes to change a system; and, in the final analysis, the possibilities of system change. Above all, The Education We Need renders complexity into clarity as the writing is so clear and compelling. A powerful read on a topic of utmost importance." ~Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/Universtiy of Toronto "I cannot recommend this book highly enough – Tom tackles long-standing and emerging educational issues in new ways with an impressive understanding of the challenging complexities, but also feasible possibilities, for ensuring excellence and equity for all students." ~Carol Campbell, Associate Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Download or read book School Turnarounds written by Heather Zavadsky and published by Harvard Education Press. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiration for this book was a crucial observation: that if the school turnaround movement is to have widespread and lasting consequences, it will need to incorporate meaningful district involvement in its efforts. The result is a volume that considers school turnaround efforts at the district level, examining the evidence thus far and indicating fruitful directions for district-based initiatives going forward. At the heart of the book are case studies of districts—in Philadelphia, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Denver, Sacramento, and Long Beach—that have developed systemwide policies and programs for instituting turnaround reforms in their member schools. These cases—and the book as a whole—bring district-based initiatives and options into the larger discussion of the turnaround movement and its potential for improving chronically low-performing schools.
Download or read book Expanding the Reach of Education Reforms Perspectives from Leaders in the Scale Up of Educational Interventions written by Thomas K. Glennan and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2000-10-28 with total page 747 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does one spread a successful educational reform? The essays here recount the authors?' experiences with the scale-up process. Among their lessons are the importance of building the capacity to implement and sustain the reforms, adjusting for local culture and policy, ensuring quality control, providing the necessary infrastructure, and fostering a sense of ownership. The process is iterative and complex and requires cooperation among many actors who must ensure that the results align with goals.
Download or read book Powerful Learning written by David Hopkins and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia s Public Schools written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-07-25 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The District of Columbia (DC) has struggled for decades to improve its public education system. In 2007 the DC government made a bold change in the way it governs public education with the goal of shaking up the system and bringing new energy to efforts to improve outcomes for students. The Public Education Reform Amendment Act (PERAA) shifted control of the city's public schools from an elected school board to the mayor, developed a new state department of education, created the position of chancellor, and made other significant management changes. A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools offers a framework for evaluating the effects of PERAA on DC's public schools. The book recommends an evaluation program that includes a systematic yearly public reporting of key data as well as in-depth studies of high-priority issues including: quality of teachers, principals, and other personnel; quality of classroom teaching and learning; capacity to serve vulnerable children and youth; promotion of family and community engagement; and quality and equity of operations, management, and facilities. As part of the evaluation program, the Mayor's Office should produce an annual report to the city on the status of the public schools, including an analysis of trends and all the underlying data. A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools suggests that D.C. engage local universities, philanthropic organizations, and other institutions to develop and sustain an infrastructure for ongoing research and evaluation of its public schools. Any effective evaluation program must be independent of school and city leaders and responsive to the needs of all stakeholders. Additionally, its research should meet the highest standards for technical quality.
Download or read book Implementing Deeper Learning and 21st Century Education Reforms written by Fernando M. Reimers and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-11-04 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book is a comparative analysis of recent large scale education reforms that broadened curriculum goals to better prepare students for the 21st century. The book examines what governments actually do when they broaden curriculum goals, with attention to the details of implementation. To this end, the book examines system level reforms in six countries at various levels of development. The study includes system level reforms in jurisdictions where students achieve high levels in international assessments of basic literacies, such as Singapore and Ontario, Canada, as well as in nations where students achieve much lower levels, such as Kenya, Mexico, Punjab-Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The chapters examine system-level reforms that focus on strengthening the capacity to teach the basics, as in Ontario and Pakistan, as well as reforms that aim at building the capacity to teach a much broader set of competencies and skills, such as Kenya, Mexico, Singapore and Zimbabwe. The volume includes systems at very different levels of spending per student and reforms at various points in the cycle of policy implementation, some just starting, some struggling to survive a governmental transition, and others that have been in place for an extended period of time. From the comparative study of these reforms, we aim to provide an understanding of how to build the capacity of education systems to teach 21st century skills at scale in diverse settings.
Download or read book The New Meaning of Educational Change written by Michael Fullan and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 1991-06-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1982, this work revolutionized the theory and practice of education reform. Now 25 years later, the fourth edition of Fullans groundbreaking book continues to be the definitive compendium to all aspects of the management of educational change--a powerful resource for everyone involved in school reform.
Download or read book Facing the Challenges of Whole School Reform written by Mark Berends and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2002-04-03 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About a decade ago, New American Schools (NAS) set out to address theperceived lagging performance of American students and the lacklusterresults of school reform efforts. As a private nonprofit organization,NAS's mission was-and is-to help schools and districts raise studentachievement levels by using whole-school designs and design team assistanceduring implementation. Since its inception, NAS has engaged in adevelopment phase (1992-1993), a demonstration phase (1993-1995), and ascale-up phase (1995-present). Over the last ten years, RAND has been monitoring the progress of the NASinitiative. This book is a retrospective on NAS and draws together thefindings from RAND research. The book underscores the significantcontributions made by NAS to comprehensive school reform but also highlightsthe challenges of trying to reform schools through whole-school designs.Divided into sections on each research phase, the book concludes with anafterword by NAS updating its own strategy for the future. This book willinterest those who want to better understand comprehensive school reform andits effects on teaching and learning within high-stakes accountabilityenvironments.
Download or read book Going to Scale with New School Designs written by Joseph P. McDonald and published by . This book was released on 2009-08-08 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since it was first invented, Americans have been trying to re-design the American high school. One of the latest approaches funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is to find inventive high school designs that work well in one location and replicate them in other locations. The authors of this book followed a design team from Big Picture Learning as it worked to do exactly this, recording the challenges it faced, and the strategies it employed. Their accessible and entertaining account of Big Pictures work is laced with stories about scaling up by other school design teams, and in other enterprises beyond high school. Based on careful research, the book is both a practical guide to a new dimension of school reform, and also an interesting read for anyone interested in school change.
Download or read book Engaging Schools written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-12-21 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it comes to motivating people to learn, disadvantaged urban adolescents are usually perceived as a hard sell. Yet, in a recent MetLife survey, 89 percent of the low-income students claimed "I really want to learn" applied to them. What is it about the school environmentâ€"pedagogy, curriculum, climate, organizationâ€"that encourages or discourages engagement in school activities? How do peers, family, and community affect adolescents' attitudes towards learning? Engaging Schools reviews current research on what shapes adolescents' school engagement and motivation to learnâ€"including new findings on students' sense of belongingâ€"and looks at ways these can be used to reform urban high schools. This book discusses what changes hold the greatest promise for increasing students' motivation to learn in these schools. It looks at various approaches to reform through different methods of instruction and assessment, adjustments in school size, vocational teaching, and other key areas. Examples of innovative schools, classrooms, and out-of-school programs that have proved successful in getting high school kids excited about learning are also included.
Download or read book New Schools for a New Century written by Tewel and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1995-02-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining both the theory as well as the practice of the education reform process, this unique breakthrough volume focuses on every aspect of the change process in high school education today. Short- and long-term strategies for each phase of the process-provoking, creating, managing, supporting, and sustaining reform-are covered. Based on the real-life experiences of the author and others, this book recognizes that most high school reform is short-lived. It stresses the ways to create and maintain positive change, making the process a long-lasting, worthwhile mission for the school's leadership and ultimately the students. Short, useful summaries of high school reform provide true-life pictures of what really happens in the midst of changing the way educational institutions operate. These stories cover school-based management, collaborative or shared leadership, school-within-a-school groupings, interdisciplinary instruction, school-based budgeting, new models for professional development, and others. Through these examples, readers can understand how reform strategies work and how to apply and adapt them to their own situations. As an added feature, this book provides the names and locations of schools attempting each reform as well as the names and addresses of school reform networks that readers can contact in their own efforts.
Download or read book Urban School Reform written by Frederick M. Hess and published by Harvard Education Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indispensable book for administrators, policymakers, scholars, and practitioners, Urban School Reform presents a revealing portrait of reform efforts while identifying the full range of issues that education reformers will need to address in districts across the country in the years ahead. Today's urban school reformers face a bewildering array of challenges. Urgent problems pertaining to governance, management, labor relations, classroom instruction, and numerous other areas face those who wish to reform and improve urban schools. Having undergone one of the nation's most comprehensive school reform efforts in recent years, San Diego has been a site of nationwide interest--one that is uncommonly well suited to learning about the challenges facing all reformers. This timely book addresses the full range of critical issues pertaining to urban school reform by looking closely at the recent reform efforts in San Diego. In essays by an impressive gathering of scholars and practitioners from across the country, the book considers crucial dimensions of reform efforts in the San Diego schools, including performance, governance, the external environment, central leadership and management, district infrastructure, support services, and school-level instructional efforts. The result is a full-scale assessment of San Diego's reform efforts--a record of unmistakable relevance and value to other urban reform movements throughout the United States.
Download or read book Design Based School Improvement written by Rick Mintrop and published by Harvard Education Press. This book was released on 2020-08-12 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the heart of the effort to enact and scale up successful school reforms is the need for more robust links between research and practice. One promising approach is design development, a methodology widely used in other fields and only recently adapted to education, which offers a disciplined process for identifying practical problems, assessing evidence of outcomes, accounting for variability in implementation and results, and establishing a foundation for broader understanding of the problem and proposed solutions. This exciting new book provides a practical guide for education leaders who are seeking to address issues of equity in their schools and want to pursue this approach. The book provides a step-by-step description of the process, augmented by case studies of four education leaders: Christine, a middle school principal who is concerned with the volume of disciplinary referrals in her school; Michelle, an elementary school principal who wants to address achievement gaps; Eric, an assistant superintendent who wants to improve the quality of principals’ instructional feedback to teachers; and Nora, a high school principal who is concerned about the use of racial and homophobic slurs in the hallways. The book follows each of these leaders as they formulate and refine interventions to address these problems. Design-Based School Improvement also includes a series of “excursions into theory” that discuss the research basis for design-based improvement. The author—a leading thinker about policy implementation and school reform—shows a profound appreciation for the complexity of work in schools and the deep and sustained thinking entailed in undertaking productive change. By bringing theory to life and putting it in the hands of skilled practitioners, this book promises to become an invaluable resource for education leaders seeking to solve problems of equity and social justice in schools.
