Download or read book Increasing Student Achievement Through Small Learning Communities written by and published by . This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book New Small Learning Communities written by Kathleen Cotton and published by National Association of Secondary School Principals(NASSP). This book was released on 2004 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Professional Learning Communities at Work written by Richard DuFour and published by Solution Tree. This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides specific information on how to transform schools into results-oriented professional learning communities, describing the best practices that have been used by schools nationwide.
Download or read book Building School Based Teacher Learning Communities written by Milbrey W. McLaughlin and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building on extensive evidence that school-based teacher learning communities improve student outcomes, this book lays out an agenda to develop and sustain collaborative professional cultures. McLaughlin and Talbert—foremost scholars of school change and teaching contexts—provide an inside look at the processes, resources, and system strategies that are necessary to build vibrant school-based teacher learning communities. Offering a compelling, straightforward blueprint for action, this book: Takes a comprehensive look at the problem of improving the quality of teaching across the United States, based on evidence and examples from the authors’ nearly two decades of research.Demonstrates how and why school-based teacher learning communities are bottom-line requirements for improved instruction. Outlines the resources and supports needed to build and sustain a long-term school-based teacher professional community. Discusses the nature of high-quality professional development to support learning and changes in teaching.Details the roles and responsibilities of policymakers at all levels of the school system. “This book offers vivid examples of how teacher learning communities are formed and sustained. A must-read for educators at all levels who are serious about enacting change.” —Amy M. Hightower, Assistant Director, American Federation of Teachers
Download or read book Professional Learning Communities at Work TM written by Richard DuFour and published by Solution Tree Press. This book was released on 2009-02-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book that launched a school improvement movement offers research-based recommendations drawn from the best practices found in schools nationwide for continuously improving school performance. Coming from the perspectives of both a distinguished dean of education and one of America’s most widely acclaimed practitioners, this resource provides specific, practical how-to information about transforming schools into results-oriented PLCs.
Download or read book Reviving Professional Learning Communities written by Perry P. Wiseman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Professional Learning Community is undeniably one of the most effective processes out there for improving student achievement, as well a school's overarching culture and climate. With such widespread notoriety, though, there has been a dilution of the true essence of the term. Understanding of what a Professional Learning Community is varies from one district to another, from one school to another, even from one educator to another. It's about time for a resurrection. Reviving Professional Learning Communities does exactly that through the lens of a simple framework called, the 4S Approach. This new development helps practitioners build thriving learning communities through: (1) recognition and validation of each staff member's unique points of view, (2) natural conflict that accompanies the assorted viewpoints, (3) healthy teamwork, and (4) effective systems. Sprinkled throughout the book are also 32 practical, high-leverage strategies that are easy to understand and simple to put into practice right away. This book will most certainly help answer the perennial question: How do we achieve a genuine Professional Learning Community?
Download or read book Increasing Student Achievement Through Effective School Leadership written by Linda R. Vogel and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best practices in addressing the learning needs of all students, particularly those identified as at-risk for failure, must be informed by theory, research, and experience. The practitioners in this book share their experiences in designing support systems for a variety of at-risk student groups including English language learners, immigrant, refugee, and low socio-economic students. Emphasising the development of safe and supportive school cultures, the involvement of parents in student learning, and curriculum that addresses differentiated learning needs, this book provides practical ways that school leaders can advocate for and provide systemic supports for at-risk students. The effective use of technology to enrich student learning and promote engagement is also discussed, as well as the development of professional learning communities as a structure to promote on-going teacher growth in effective teaching practices. Although not typically considered as an at-risk population, meeting the needs of gifted and talented students who may not fully engage with school is also addressed. Finally, a stewardship model of leadership is explored, based on the actions of leaders in schools with high poverty and minority students that have consistently earned recognition as high performing. The ideas for engaging students, teachers, parents, and communities shared by practitioners in this book focus on effective means of collaboration, communication, relationship building, and strategic planning for at-risk student success and can be used by school leaders in every school to better serve all students.
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 The Effectiveness of Small Learning Communities in Program Improvement Schools written by Stephanie Kay Lewis-Briggs and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Professional Learning Communities written by Aaron R. Medsker and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Developing Faculty Learning Communities at Two Year Colleges written by Susan Sipple and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-03 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces community college faculty and faculty developers to the use of faculty learning communities (FLCs) as a means for faculty themselves to investigate and surmount student learning problems they encounter in their classrooms, and as an effective and low-cost strategy for faculty developers working with few resources to stimulate innovative teaching that leads to student persistence and improved learning outcomes.Two-year college instructors face the unique challenge of teaching a mix of learners, from the developmental to high-achievers, that requires using a variety of instructional strategies and techniques. Even the most experienced teachers can find this diversity demanding.Faculty developers at many two-year colleges still rely solely on the one-day workshop model that, while useful, rarely results in sustained student-centered changes in pedagogy or the curriculum, and may not be practicable for the growing cohort of part-time faculty members.By linking work in the classroom with scholarship and reflection, FLCs provide participants with a sense of renewed engagement and stimulate collegial exploration of ways to achieve educational excellence. FLCs are usually faculty-instigated and cross-disciplinary, and comprise groups of six to fifteen faculty that work collaboratively through regular meetings over an extended period of time to promote research and an exchange of experiences, foster community, and develop the scholarship of teaching. FLCs alleviate burnout and isolation, promote the development, testing, and peer review of new classroom strategies or technologies, and lead to the reenergizing and professionalization of teachers.This book introduces the reader to FLCs and to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, offering examples of application in two-year colleges. Individual chapters describe, among others, an FLC set up to support course redesign; an “Adjunct Connectivity FLC” to integrate part-time faculty within a department and collaborate on the curriculum; a cross-disciplinary FLC to promote student self-regulated learning, and improve academic performance and persistence; a critical thinking FLC that sought to define critical thinking in separate disciplines, examine interdisciplinary cross-over of critical thinking, and measure critical thinking more accurately; an FLC that researched the transfer of learning and developed strategies to promote students’ application of their learning across courses and beyond the classroom. Each chapter describes the formation of its FLC, the processes it engaged in, what worked and did not, and the outcomes achieved.Just as when college faculty fail to remain current in their fields, the failure to engage in continuing development of teaching skills, will equally lead teaching and learning to suffer. When two-year college administrators restrain scholarship and reflection as inappropriate for the real work of the institution they are in fact hindering the professionalization of their teaching force that is essential to institutional mission and student success.When FLCs are supported by leaders and administrators, and faculty learn that collaboration and peer review are valued and even expected as part of being a teaching professional, they become intrinsically motivated and committed to collaboratively solving problems, setting the institution on a path to becoming a learning organization that is proactive and adept at navigating change.
Download or read book Districtwide Implementation of Small Learning Communities written by Temple University, Urban Education Collaborative and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last 10 to 15 years, a variety of efforts to transform American high schools have gained both public and private support. Significant among these are initiatives to implement Small Learning Communities (SLCs), part of a larger school reform and restructuring effort designed to address a variety of goals, including "downsizing large schools, meeting the needs of at-risk students, solving the problem of failing schools, modeling the process of school restructuring, personalizing education for all students, empowering teachers and extending their roles, preventing dropping out, and finding an equitable substitute for tracking" (Raywid, 1996a, p. 9). In 2004, the Christina School District (CSD) in Wilmington, Delaware, was awarded a three-year federal grant to implement secondary school reform as outlined in the district's Transformation Plan, which called for the implementation of small learning communities (via theme-based academies) in district high schools. The SLC grant was designed to "substantially improve the academic achievement, climate and potential for success for CSD's high school students." The effort would build on the Ninth-Grade Learning Community (Academy) piloted in 2003-2004 at Christiana High School (CHS) and would, by the end of the grant period, include SLCs, including 9th-grade and career-themed academies at all three district high schools; interdisciplinary teams of core subject teachers across all grade levels ("wall-to-wall" implementation) to foster personalized and continuous relationships between the team of teachers and their students; rigorous curriculum to meet the needs of all children; and provision of high-quality, sustained, intensive professional development in core academic subjects and SLC implementation. The three goals agreed upon by the school teams were to increase academic achievement, create a positive school climate, and increase parent and community involvement and engagement. Glasgow High School (GHS) and CHS added a fourth goal: to decrease the achievement gap. During Year 1 of the grant, each of the high schools developed its own set of three-year goals and annual measurable objectives. This report on the evaluation of the CSD's SLC implementation provides an overview of the SLC implementation both at the district level and at the three schools--CHS, Newark High School (NHS), and GHS--over the full grant period. Special attention is given to describing efforts to meet goals and their alignment to best practices in SLC implementation and how these best practices may be used to implement SLCs elsewhere. Appended are: (1) School Goals; (2) Research-based Practices in SLCs (by Oxley's Domains); (3) Delaware Student Testing Program Summary Results; and (4) Delaware Highly Qualified Teachers & Staffing Ratios. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables and 2 footnotes.) [For "A Research Brief: Small Learning Communities--Recommendations for Success," see ED532061.].
Download or read book A Case Study on the Effect of Small Learning Community School Setting on Student Achievement in an Urban Comprehensive High School written by Matthew J. Jacobs and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The purpose of this mixed method study is to investigate the effectiveness of the implementation of a small learning community and its impact on teaching pedagogy, student learning and as well as developing student self-esteem. Nested within the Constructivist Theory, Bandura's Social Learning Theory and Tinto's Theory for Institutional Departure informed the interpretations of the findings and the literature review provides context for the study with what is documented around small learning theories and making the large, complex high school more student-centered and focused. A mixed method approach was utilized in one of the largest urban high schools in Southeastern Connecticut that implemented such a program to increase student achievement. Through the research process, it was found that students, when given the tools to succeed, are more likely to accept accountability for improvement with the support and assistance of the teachers. Through the smaller learning community implementation, while quantitatively showing little significant improvement on student grade, qualitatively students had a better perception on school and how to complete assignments which, in turn, effected their perceptions of school. The findings of this study are presented to inform school administrators, guidance counselors and teachers on the many ways that effective student engagement can impact student perception and performance as well as scheduling reform in the comprehensive secondary school"--Author's abstract.
Download or read book Learning Together Leading Together written by Shirley M. Hord and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2004-01-05 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly the education world is recognizing that the development of learning communities is an effective means for improving schools without increasing the budget or adding new programs. This indispensible volume offers practical advice gathered from 22 schools (elementary, middle, and high schools) that have successfully modeled or are creating professional learning communities.
Download or read book Creating and Sustaining Small Learning Communities written by Grace Sammon and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CD-ROM contains: 33 planning templates -- data collection and assessment tools -- frequently asked questions.
Download or read book Small Schools written by Michael Klonsky and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When education activists in New York, Chicago, and other urban school districts in the 1980s began the small-schools movement, they envisioned a new kind of public school system that was fair and equitable and that encouraged new relationships between teachers and students. When that movement for school reform ran head-on into the neo-conservative takeover of the Department of Education and its No Child Left Behind strategy for school change, a new model of federal power bent on the erosion of public space and the privatization of public schooling emerged. Michael and Susan Klonsky, educators who were among the early leaders of the small-schools movement, tell the story of how a once-promising model of creating new small and charter schools has been used by the neocons to reproduce many of the old inequities. Small Schools is the engaging story of what happens when the small-schools movement meets the Ownership Society.
Download or read book Improving Achievement in Low Performing Schools written by Randolph E. Ward and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2004-02-03 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I find here nothing less than a blueprint for transforming a failing urban school district with abysmal levels of student and adult performance into one of fiscal and academic respectability. No small feat!" Roland S. Barth Author, Lessons Learned How can multi-stressed, low-performing schools overcome obstacles to respond to the unique learning needs of students? As accountability in schools becomes more crucial, educators are looking for comprehensive and innovative management practices that respond to challenges and realities of student academic achievement. In order to improve academic performance and the quality of instruction, the entire school community needs to be involved. Improving Achievement in Low-Performing Schools provides six steps to overcome low performance. School principals and teacher leaders can create a school culture that supports the goals for student achievement and expects the same standards for all students. This excellent new resource focuses on: Improving student achievement in the core subjects Aligning teaching and learning with student performance Linking professional development for all staff to the goals for students Creating safe, clean, and secure school facilities Forging stronger links with parents, families, and the community Increasing management effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability The student is the chief client served by the educational profession. As students and their families become more confident that educators are dedicated to meeting students′ individualized needs, they become committed to supporting the key results accountability process.
