Profiling Excellence in America's Schools

Profiling Excellence in America's Schools

Author: John E. Roueche

Publisher:

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13:

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Using as a sample the 154 secondary schools selected as the best in America in 1982 by the Department of Education's Secondary School Recognition Program, researchers examined the characteristics that made teachers, administrators, and school climates effective in the pursuit of educational excellence. The first chapter of this book interpreting the study's findings summarizes the problems and solutions cited in the many recent reports urging educational reform. The Model of Excellent Schools resulting from the current study is introduced and an overview of the findings is presented. Chapter 2 describes five characteristics of favorable learning environments that were found in the study's exploration of school climate. Chapter 3 elaborates on the seven attributes of effective administrators revealed by the study and compares them to the eight principles of sound leadership cited by Peters and Waterman. The fourth chapter identifies the 12 characteristics of effective teachers that were found by the study. The study's results as a whole are summarized in chapter 5, and the implications for school boards, administrators, and teachers are considered. Appendixes identify the schools in the study sample, list the principals and teachers participating in the study, describe the research methodology, and cite over 230 references. (PGD)


Reinventing America's Schools

Reinventing America's Schools

Author: David Osborne

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2017-09-05

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1632869918

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From David Osborne, the author of Reinventing Government--a biting analysis of the failure of America's public schools and a comprehensive plan for revitalizing American education. In Reinventing America's Schools, David Osborne, one of the world's foremost experts on public sector reform, offers a comprehensive analysis of the charter school movements and presents a theory that will do for American schools what his New York Times bestseller Reinventing Government did for public governance in 1992. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the city got an unexpected opportunity to recreate their school system from scratch. The state's Recovery School District (RSD), created to turn around failing schools, gradually transformed all of its New Orleans schools into charter schools, and the results are shaking the very foundations of American education. Test scores, school performance scores, graduation and dropout rates, ACT scores, college-going rates, and independent studies all tell the same story: the city's RSD schools have tripled their effectiveness in eight years. Now other cities are following suit, with state governments reinventing failing schools in Newark, Camden, Memphis, Denver, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Oakland. In this book, Osborne uses compelling stories from cities like New Orleans and lays out the history and possible future of public education. Ultimately, he uses his extensive research to argue that in today's world, we should treat every public school like a charter school and grant them autonomy, accountability, diversity of school designs, and parental choice.


America's Teachers

America's Teachers

Author: Susan P. Choy

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1994-06

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9780788106828

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This report draws on 6 major surveys conducted in 1987-88. Covers a wide variety of topics, ranging from the size and demographic characteristics of the teaching work force, teacher supply and demand, teacher education and qualifications, the use of resources in the school and classroom, teacher compensation, and teachers' opinions about various aspects of teaching and the teaching profession. Provides an easily understood, non-technical reference source. Nearly 200 figures and tables.


Learning to Improve

Learning to Improve

Author: Anthony S. Bryk

Publisher: Harvard Education Press

Published: 2015-03-01

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 161250793X

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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.


School Leadership

School Leadership

Author: Stuart Carl Smith

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13:

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Recognizing the importance of good leadership to the achievement of educational excellence, the second edition of this handbook synthesizes a large body of school leadership literature and explores the subject from three perspectives: the person, the structure, and the skills. Part I examines characteristics of today's educational leaders; effective leadership styles and qualities; administrator training, hiring, and induction methods; and the scarcity of female and black school leaders. Part II looks at the organizational supports underlying school leadership. This section examines the balance of authority between the central office and the school site, the team approach to management, the decision-making context, and the components of school climate. Part III highlights leadership abilities needed by today's school administrators. Besides knowing how to manage the school's instructional program and staff, administrators must be able to communicate in today's more open, sharing organization; build coalitions of community groups; make meetings more productive; and manage time, stress, and conflict more effectively. Concerned about integrating theory with practice, the book offers many practical suggestions for using the information presented. Accompanying each chapter are extensive bibliographical references that appear at the end of the volume. (MLH)


ERS Bulletin

ERS Bulletin

Author: Educational Research Service (Arlington, Va.)

Publisher:

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13:

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A Principal's Guide to Literacy Instruction

A Principal's Guide to Literacy Instruction

Author: Carol S. Beers

Publisher: Guilford Press

Published: 2009-11-20

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 160918033X

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This succinct, engaging book explains how busy elementary school principals can support effective literacy instruction in their schools. Chapters outline the fundamental components of a successful literacy program and describe specific practices that can instill a culture of literacy in a school. Strategies are provided for initiating a professional development program, understanding and using appropriate assessments with students, involving parents in literacy education, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of teachers’ instructional methods. Drawing from the authors' extensive experience as principals and teachers, the book’s numerous examples demonstrate what strong literacy leadership looks like in action. Helpful reproducibles are included.


The Productive High School

The Productive High School

Author: Joseph Murphy

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2001-02-20

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9780761977780

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Murphy and his colleagues discuss how reform based on empirical evidence and a robust set of theories can create productive high schools for all students. Focus is on core technologies of learning and teaching, organizational systems, and institutional linkages between schools and their environments. Using current research and case studies from successful schools, they show how to construct models of learning-driven school communities that encourage excellence. Key concepts cover: defining the learning imperative; developing humanized and intellectual relationships for learning; laying the groundwork for dynamic, adaptive change; and building linkages with home and family.