Download or read book Implementation in a Longitudinal Sample of New American Schools written by Sheila Nataraj Kirby and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New American Schools (NAS) a private nonprofit corporation, began in 1991 to fund the development of designs aimed at transforming entire schools at the elementary and secondary levels. After competition and development phases, NAS currently is scaling up its designs to form a critical mass of schools within partnering districts. During this phase, RAND's research activities include monitoring the progress of a sample of NAS schools in seven partnering jurisdictions through the 1999-2000 school year. An earlier report provided an overview of the progress in implementation and performance in a longitudinal sample of schools three years into the scale-up phase. The current report provides an update on the progress in implementation one year later in a longitudinal sample of schools adopting one of seven designs. It is based on a variety of data gathered from the schools: principal and teacher surveys conducted during the 1996-1997, 1997-1998, and 1998-1999 school years, and data provided by districts on school demographic characteristics. New American Schools (NAS) was founded in 1991 as a private, non-profit organization dedicated to whole-school reform. NAS's mission is to help schools and districts significantly raise the achievement of large numbers of students with whole-school designs and the assistance design teams provide during the implementation process. NAS is currently in the scale-up phase of its effort in which the designs are being widely diffused in partnering jurisdictions across the nation. An earlier report, Implementation and Performance in New American Schools, by Berends, Kirby, et al. (2001) provided an overview of the progress in implementation and performance in a longitudinal sample of schools three years into the scale-up phase. This report provides an update on the progress of implementation a year later. These schools adopted one of seven NAS designs and are located in one of seven jurisdictions that chose to partner with NAS at the beginning of the scale-up phase. The study focused on three research questions: What was the level of implementation in NAS schools four years after scale-up and how has this changed over time? What factors impeded or facilitated the implementation of NAS designs in these schools? Among schools that dropped the NAS designs, what factors contributed to this decision? The report makes clear that several factors need to be aligned for designs to be well-implemented in schools: strong principal leadership, teachers who support the designs and have a strong sense of efficacy, strong district leadership and support, and clear communication and assistance from design teams. Without strong implementation, the promise of these designs to help schools improve is unlikely to be met. These are sobering and important lessons for federal, state, and local efforts aimed at comprehensive school reform.
Download or read book Implementation in a Longitudinal Sample of New American Schools Four Years Into Scale Up written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a private nonprofit corporation, New American Schools (NAS) began in 1991 to fund the development of designs aimed at transforming entire schools at the elementary and secondary levels. After competition and development phases, NAS currently is scaling up its designs to form a critical mass of schools within partnering districts. During this phase, RAND's research activities include monitoring the progress of a sample of NAS schools in seven partnering jurisdictions through the 1999-2000 school year. This is one in a series of reports aimed at those who want to better understand the burgeoning area of whole-school or comprehensive school reform, and is one of two reports focusing on trends in implementation in a longitudinal sample of NAS schools. This report is the follow-on report to M. Berends, S.N. Kirby, S. Naftel, and C. McKelvey, Implementation and performance in New American Schools: Three years into scale-up (2001). This earlier report also provided a look at performance in these NAS schools.
Download or read book Monitoring the Progress of New American Schools written by Mark Berends and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Implementation and Performance in New American Schools written by Mark Berends and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a private nonprofit corporation, New American Schools (NAS) began in 1991 to fund the development of designs aimed at transforming entire schools at the elementary and secondary levels. This report describes trends in implementation, school performance, and related factors for a sample of NAS schools. It is based on a three-year longitudinal study of these schools.
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 Handbook of Implementation Science for Psychology in Education written by Barbara Kelly and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-20 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Implementation science is the science of the effectiveness of research for real-world practitioners. This book is an indispensable, highly innovative and evidence-based resource aimed at utilizing research in psychology to improve all aspects of education, from individual teaching programs to organizational development. It addresses the widespread confusion and disappointment about the lack of effectiveness of real-world psychology and provides twenty-seven chapters offering proven policies, strategies and approaches for designing, supporting and improving interventions in schools. Collectively, the chapters go beyond the realm of psychology and education, tackling concerns about how to promote positive change in any context, covering topics from epistemology through statistics to examples of implementation approaches, frameworks and protocols. This book creates an immensely relevant body of information and evidence for any practitioner or organization facing the challenges of change. Essential reading for practitioners, policy makers, stakeholders and funders in psychology, education and beyond.
Download or read book Challenges of Conflicting School Reforms written by Mark Berends and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2002-03-29 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A decade ago, New American Schools (NAS) launched an ambitious effort forwhole-school reform to address the perceived lagging achievement of Americanstudents and the lackluster school reform attempts that have produced so fewmeaningful changes. As a private nonprofit organization, NAS set out tohelp schools and districts significantly raise the achievement of largenumbers of students by offering whole-school designs and design-basedassistance during the implementation process. NAS is currently in thescale-up phase of its effort, and its designs are being widely diffused toschools across the nation. During the 1997_1998 and 1998_1999 school years,RAND assessed the effects of NAS designs on classroom practice and studentachievement in a sample of schools in a high-poverty district. RAND foundthat high-poverty schools often have fragmented and conflicting environmentswith difficult and changing political currents and entrenched unions.Teachers in high-poverty schools tend to face new accountability systems andfluctuating reform agendas. These teachers generally lack sufficient timefor implementing reform efforts, often becoming demoralized and losing theirenthusiasm for the difficult task of improving student performance underdifficult conditions. RAND concluded that high-stakes tests may motivateschools to increase performance and to seek out new curricula andinstructional strategies associated with comprehensive school reforms.However, those same tests may provide disincentives to adopt richer, morein-depth curricula that can succeed in improving the learning opportunitiesof all students, particularly those in high-poverty settings.
Download or read book Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning written by Frank K. Lester and published by IAP. This book was released on 2007-02-01 with total page 1380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The audience remains much the same as for the 1992 Handbook, namely, mathematics education researchers and other scholars conducting work in mathematics education. This group includes college and university faculty, graduate students, investigators in research and development centers, and staff members at federal, state, and local agencies that conduct and use research within the discipline of mathematics. The intent of the authors of this volume is to provide useful perspectives as well as pertinent information for conducting investigations that are informed by previous work. The Handbook should also be a useful textbook for graduate research seminars. In addition to the audience mentioned above, the present Handbook contains chapters that should be relevant to four other groups: teacher educators, curriculum developers, state and national policy makers, and test developers and others involved with assessment. Taken as a whole, the chapters reflects the mathematics education research community's willingness to accept the challenge of helping the public understand what mathematics education research is all about and what the relevance of their research fi ndings might be for those outside their immediate community.
Download or read book Focus on the Wonder Years written by Jaana Juvonen and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Young teens undergo multiple changes that seem to set them apart from other students. But do middle schools actually meet their special needs? The authors describe some of the challenges and offer ways to tackle them, such as reassessing the organization of grades K-12; specifically assisting the students most in need; finding ways to prevent disciplinary problems; and helping parents understand how they can help their children learn at home.
Download or read book Translating Theory and Research Into Educational Practice written by Mark A. Constas and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows, in detail and with examples, how educational theory and research can be translated into practice. This book provides descriptions of successful strategies that have been used to bridge the gap among theory, research, and practice.
Download or read book System wide Efforts to Improve Student Achievement written by Kenneth K. Wong and published by IAP. This book was released on 2006-03-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Strong system-wide support is increasingly being identified as laying an important role in policy efforts aimed at increasing student achievement (Hightower, Knapp, March, and McLaughlin: 2002). Yet current research often views district and other system-wide support as largely governance changes without substantive linkage to school improvement outcomes (Cuban and Usdan: 2003). In this volume we seek to deepen our understanding of the role of school districts and system-wide initiatives through a series of case studies that focus on how school districts and system-wide actors facilitate policy innovation and reform initiatives that are designed to improve student achievement. Through both quantitative and qualitative studies from diverse settings across the country, chapters in this volume examine the role of instructional technology, alternative accountability practices, management and partnership reforms, and school improvement efforts through new incentive and support practices. While challenges remain, these case studies demonstrate how districts support and facilitate school change aimed at improving student achievement.
Download or read book A Nation at Risk written by Kenneth K. Wong and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This special issue examines the underlying assumptions of the "A Nation At Risk" report, the context within which the Commission's work was situated, and the effects of the report in improving teaching and learning, as well as the performance of the public educational system. The purpose is to address three broad questions: Was America's education system really putting the nation at risk in the early 1980s? What is the legacy of "A Nation At Risk"? Given our current knowledge on education and human development, the report's overall concern is restated: What risks and opportunities lay before the nation today, and how will they affect the notion of a "learning society" and our public education system? Taken as a whole, the seven articles address the three broad issues identified regarding the past, current, and future of educational reform in the United States.
Download or read book Leadership Lessons from Comprehensive School Reforms written by Joseph Murphy and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The process of understanding a text from the narrator s point of view is crucial for the tasks of interpreting and translating the Bible. If the translator s understanding of a narrative from the narrator s point of view is erroneous, then the whole process of translating the message into another language may also fall into error. This poses Bible translators a difficult challenge: How can we understand the narrator s point of view of the biblical stories which are culturally, geographically, and historically remote from our own? Understanding a text from the narrator s point of view must precede the translation process. In this work Hankore presents an argument for the intended utterance of Genesis 28:10 35:15 before proposing in brief how to translate it. By following this process, Hankore shows that a correct understanding of the concept of the ancient Israelite vow in the framework of a social institution is fundamental to reading and translating Genesis 28:10 35:15, and goes on to show how this same votive framework assist an explanation of the relevance of Genesis 34 to the Jacob story.
Download or read book Selected Rand Abstracts written by Rand Corporation and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes publications previously listed in the supplements to the Index of selected publications of the Rand Corporation (Oct. 1962-Feb. 1963).
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 Reevaluating Evaluation written by Laura M. Desimone and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the context of the evolution of education program evaluation and the current emphasis on scientific precision, this special issue presents several of the challenges to program evaluation that scholars are facing today. In addition, it shares recent insights and experiences that will contribute to continued improvement of program evaluation and responds to the call for more exactness without losing sight of the lessons learned from evaluation over the past several decades. The eight papers address five main areas: evaluation design, instrumentation, implementation, politics, and analysis. As a whole, this issue is designed shed light on the five issues, as well as provide information useful for those interested in increasing the rigor of education research to increase the ability to improve schools.
Download or read book Handbook of Education Policy Research written by Gary Sykes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 2586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Co-published by Routledge for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Educational policy continues to be of major concern. Policy debates about economic growth and national competitiveness, for example, commonly focus on the importance of human capital and a highly educated workforce. Defining the theoretical boundaries and methodological approaches of education policy research are the two primary themes of this comprehensive, AERA-sponsored Handbook. Organized into seven sections, the Handbook focuses on (1) disciplinary foundations of educational policy, (2) methodological perspectives, (3) the policy process, (4) resources, management, and organization, (5) teaching and learning policy, (6) actors and institutions, and (7) education access and differentiation. Drawing from multiple disciplines, the Handbook’s over one hundred authors address three central questions: What policy issues and questions have oriented current policy research? What research strategies and methods have proven most fruitful? And what issues, questions, and methods will drive future policy research? Topics such as early childhood education, school choice, access to higher education, teacher accountability, and testing and measurement cut across the 63 chapters in the volume. The politics surrounding these and other issues are objectively analyzed by authors and commentators. Each of the seven sections concludes with two commentaries by leading scholars in the field. The first considers the current state of policy design, and the second addresses the current state of policy research. This book is appropriate for scholars and graduate students working in the field of education policy and for the growing number of academic, government, and think-tank researchers engaged in policy research. For more information on the American Educational Research Association, please visit: http://www.aera.net/.
