School Improvement for Real

School Improvement for Real PDF Author: David Hopkins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113458069X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
As societies continue to set educational goals that are, on current performance, beyond the capacity of the system to deliver, strategies for enhancing student learning through school and classroom intervention have become increasingly important. Yet, as David Hopkins argues in his book, many of the educational initiatives recently developed under the umbrella of school improvement are inadequate or unhelpful. Simply blaming teachers and delegating financial responsibility, he maintains, has little positive impact on classroom practice. This is the bleak context within which school improvement has to operate today. School Improvement for Real offers a genuine alternative: a strategy for educational change that focuses on student achievement by modifying classroom practice and adapting the management arrangements within the school to support teaching and learning. It outlines an approach to school improvement that has a medium term, systemic orientation, providing both principles and suggestions for better practice. The author's experience in the field of school improvement ensures that the text is informed by a practical wisdom that is so often lacking from the more typical managerial texts on improvement and effectiveness.

The Data Toolkit

The Data Toolkit PDF Author: Robert T. Hess
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1412992974
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
The authors provide ten easy-to-use data analysis tools that facilitate problem-solving at school and district levels. Included are instructions, sample scenarios, and case studies.

Organizing Schools for Improvement

Organizing Schools for Improvement PDF Author: Anthony S. Bryk
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226078019
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
In 1988, the Chicago public school system decentralized, granting parents and communities significant resources and authority to reform their schools in dramatic ways. To track the effects of this bold experiment, the authors of Organizing Schools for Improvement collected a wealth of data on elementary schools in Chicago. Over a seven-year period they identified one hundred elementary schools that had substantially improved—and one hundred that had not. What did the successful schools do to accelerate student learning? The authors of this illuminating book identify a comprehensive set of practices and conditions that were key factors for improvement, including school leadership, the professional capacity of the faculty and staff, and a student-centered learning climate. In addition, they analyze the impact of social dynamics, including crime, critically examining the inextricable link between schools and their communities. Putting their data onto a more human scale, they also chronicle the stories of two neighboring schools with very different trajectories. The lessons gleaned from this groundbreaking study will be invaluable for anyone involved with urban education.

School Improvement for Real

School Improvement for Real PDF Author: David Hopkins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134580681
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
As societies continue to set educational goals that are, on current performance, beyond the capacity of the system to deliver, strategies for enhancing student learning through school and classroom intervention have become increasingly important. Yet, as David Hopkins argues in his book, many of the educational initiatives recently developed under the umbrella of school improvement are inadequate or unhelpful. Simply blaming teachers and delegating financial responsibility, he maintains, has little positive impact on classroom practice. This is the bleak context within which school improvement has to operate today. School Improvement for Real offers a genuine alternative: a strategy for educational change that focuses on student achievement by modifying classroom practice and adapting the management arrangements within the school to support teaching and learning. It outlines an approach to school improvement that has a medium term, systemic orientation, providing both principles and suggestions for better practice. The author's experience in the field of school improvement ensures that the text is informed by a practical wisdom that is so often lacking from the more typical managerial texts on improvement and effectiveness.

Supporting School Improvement

Supporting School Improvement PDF Author: Gordon Cawelti
Publisher: Editorial Projects in Education
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
This ERS report, which spotlights research on successful school districts, provides districts with a road map to reach their destination of improved student achievement. Supporting School Improvement: Lessons from Districts Successfully Meeting the Challenge, presents the findings of four studies highlighting school districts--most high poverty and at risk--that have achieved academic progress. As the authors attest, "school districts can have a profound and positive impact on school improvement efforts." For improvement efforts to work, district-level leadership and support are critical, according to the report. The four studies focus on the key characteristics of successful district-level programs. The districts profiled in the report prove student success is indeed an achievable goal. In the wake of NCLB, this is a much-needed piece of good news for many districts that may be found to be ""low-performing.

Leadership for School Improvement

Leadership for School Improvement PDF Author: Cherie B. Gaines
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1641136049
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
As the inaugural issue in the Leadership for School Improvement (LSI) Special Interest Group (SIG) Book Series, this volume serves as a reflection on the foundations of the field of school improvement. Contents include connections between school improvement and the agency of principals, districts, universities, and policy. This volume will be placed in the school improvement literature with examinations of evolution, trends, policies, and future foci in the field of school improvement. This book is rich in research and literature about school improvement, school effectiveness, and school reform policy and implementation and thus holds significance for educational practitioners, scholars, and policy makers at all levels.

Handbook of School Improvement

Handbook of School Improvement PDF Author: Jo Blase
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1452230765
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Learn how successful principals make a difference in their school’s performance! Based on a ground-breaking study and numerous firsthand accounts, this illuminating book captures unique perspectives from 20 outstanding principals, representing a wide range of urban and rural schools. This resource includes: The nine personal characteristics that help principals lead high-performing schools Practical strategies for balancing both administrative responsibilities and instructional leadership Guidance on using a systems-development approach to support excellence at every level Discussion of the use of research and data for school improvement Tips and suggestions from effective principals, along with recommended resources for further learning

Collaborative School Improvement

Collaborative School Improvement PDF Author: Trent E. Kaufman
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1612502628
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
How can districts bring instructional improvement to scale within and across schools? The authors of Collaborative School Improvement argue that districts can play a powerful part in helping schools build the capacity to engage in inquiry-based reform—but that this effort requires a shift in districts’ traditional role as a professional development provider. Drawing on case studies from three districts, the authors identify eight key practices for effective school-district collaboration. By helping districts teach—and model—an inquiry-based process, Collaborative School Improvement promises to offer powerful new support for scaling up data-driven instructional reform."

Learning to Improve

Learning to Improve PDF Author: Anthony S. Bryk
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 161250793X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
As a field, education has largely failed to learn from experience. Time after time, promising education reforms fall short of their goals and are abandoned as other promising ideas take their place. In Learning to Improve, the authors argue for a new approach. Rather than “implementing fast and learning slow,” they believe educators should adopt a more rigorous approach to improvement that allows the field to “learn fast to implement well.” Using ideas borrowed from improvement science, the authors show how a process of disciplined inquiry can be combined with the use of networks to identify, adapt, and successfully scale up promising interventions in education. Organized around six core principles, the book shows how “networked improvement communities” can bring together researchers and practitioners to accelerate learning in key areas of education. Examples include efforts to address the high rates of failure among students in community college remedial math courses and strategies for improving feedback to novice teachers. Learning to Improve offers a new paradigm for research and development in education that promises to be a powerful driver of improvement for the nation’s schools and colleges.

Continuous School Improvement

Continuous School Improvement PDF Author: Mark A. Smylie
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1452272220
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
"A hallmark volume by one of the nation′s most accomplished school improvement scholars. This is the most thoroughly researched, well-crafted, and useful volume on continuous improvement available. Smylie does for ′continuous improvement′ what Fullan did for change." —Joseph Murphy, Professor Vanderbilt University Discover what it takes to create lasting, positive change for your school, your teachers, and your students! Focusing on school change that improves teaching and learning, this guide for principals integrates evolutionary change theory with the research on continuous improvement. Mark A. Smylie begins with a succinct overview of organizational change that provides readers with the foundation they need to embark on a school change initiative. Interviews with educators involved with organizational change provide insightful examples and first-person responses to the challenges inherent in school change. Continuous School Improvement also addresses the major implementation problems that leaders face, such as: Building trust Creating a culture of mutual responsibility Building support Setting goals Responding to teachers′ stress in the face of change

Design-Based School Improvement

Design-Based School Improvement PDF Author: Rick Mintrop
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1612509045
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
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.