Genuine effective school improvement requires leaders and teachers to be part of a broad-based, creative change system that focuses on generating improved teacher practices for enhancing student learning. This guide provides a step-by-step, systemic approach.
Through specific examples, qualitative research, and portraiture, the author illustrates how and why some schools are able to achieve significant, sustainable change while others cannot.
Prospective college students and their parents have been relying on Loren Pope's expertise since 1995, when he published the first edition of this indispensable guide. This new edition profiles 41 colleges—all of which outdo the Ivies and research universities in producing performers, not only among A students but also among those who get Bs and Cs. Contents include: Evaluations of each school's program and "personality" Candid assessments by students, professors, and deans Information on the progress of graduates This new edition not only revisits schools listed in previous volumes to give readers a comprehensive assessment, it also addresses such issues as homeschooling, learning disabilities, and single-sex education.
In this insightful look at the human side of school reform, Robert Evans examines the difficult hurdles to implementing innovation and explains how the best-intAnded efforts can be stalled by the resistance of educators who too often feel burdened and conflicted by the change process.The Human Side of School Change provides practical advice on problem solving, communication, and staff motivation. It argues for more realistic expectations about the pace of reform and the performance of leaders. And it presents a way of approaching all school improvement—a conceptual framework for understanding change as a process, educators as people, and leadership as a craft. By concentrating on the realities of life in schools and the common personal barriers to change, Evans illuminates the key sources of resistance to school reform. Grounding his work in a thorough understanding of human behavior and organizational functioning, he provides a new model of leadership along with practical management strategies for building a framework of cooperation, not conflict, between the leaders of change and the people they depAnd upon to implement it.
It is the thesis of this provocative book that the deteriorating state of America's public school system is actually a reflection of the problems in our culture and society. In "Waiting For A Miracle," James P. Comer M.D., Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University Child Study Center and the author of Maggie's American Dream, and co-author of Raising Black Children, outlines the cause of these afflictions and presents an inspiring paradigm for a new way of thinking and acting with regard to children and family.At the root of the problem, he states, is a social failure to make a commitment to families, and to community and child development.Using many examples from his personal experience of growing up poor, and from more than thirty years of community involvement, Comer argues that schools can be the most important instrument of change in a society. He spells out how private, public and non-profit sectors can collaborate to enable children, families, and communities to survive and thrive.
Recognising performance and accountability pressures on schools, Inspiring School Change shows how a commitment to the arts in education can meet core school agendas of pupil and parent engagement, attainment, improved teaching and inclusion. Schools are under pressure to develop their students’ creativity and to improve their cultural education. This book fills a gap by marshalling the arguments and evidence for a form of education in, through and with the arts that moves beyond individual projects to become central to teaching, learning and school reform. When the arts are taken seriously, schools become different - and better - places. Using research evidence to promote greater awareness of the capacity of the arts to promote educational change, this text captures four key themes that run through all of the chapters: • Inspiration - sharing experiences and the way they happened, documenting inspiring pedagogy by understanding the reason it was done, the factors and the people involved in making it work. • School change - the need for schools to better prepare young people for the lives they will live in the twenty-first century; to engage young people more effectively and so educate them better, and the recognition that in an unequal society schools can contribute to making things fairer. • Creative arts - demonstrates, through international research, how the arts can facilitate whole school learning, meet core agendas, such as attainment, inclusion and promote lifelong learning. • Transforming education - marshals the arguments and evidence for a form of education in, through and with the arts that moves beyond individual projects to become central to teaching, learning and school reform. Tackling the hot topics of parent and pupil engagement, standards and accountability in a fresh way, Inspiring School Change offers those engaged in the research and practice of improving teaching and learning with insight into the educational value and possibilities of arts-based teaching and an arts-rich curriculum
Actions to increase effectiveness of schools in a rapidly changing world Schools, in order to be nimble and stay relevant and impactful, need to abandon the rigid structures designed for less dynamic times. The NEW School Rules expands cutting-edge organizational design and modern management techniques into an operating system for empowering schools with the same agility and responsiveness so vital in the business world. 6 simple rules create a unified vision of responsiveness among educators Real life case studies illustrate responsive techniques implemented in a variety of educational demographics 15 experiments guide school and district leaders toward increased responsiveness in their faculty and staff
Establish a school change culture where desired outcomes are actually achieved Change in schools is hard, but often essential. Internal and external factors require careful analysis before jumping into any change. Are you prepared to work with colleagues with confidence and clarity through such shifts? In Shifting, educators and leadership experts Jeff Ikler, Kirsten Richert, and Margaret Zacchei empower educational change leaders to proactively and coherently navigate complex change in schools to achieve the desired outcomes. Using a three-part framework—Assess, Ready, Change—this book leads educators to examine a school’s imperatives and readiness for change, identity the tools and abilities required to manifest change, and take action by defining the roles and processes necessary to effectively implement both sweeping change and smaller day-to-day adjustments. Change leaders learn to · Shift the emphasis in the change process from procedure to the people implementing change · Move from an environment of "command and control" to one of leaders creating other leaders · Reframe change as an essential shift in school culture rather than a series of episodic events Rich with leadership insights, stories, podcasts, and hands-on activities, Shifting offers an integrated tapestry of wisdom and support for changemakers intent on meaningful collaboration in a positive, engaged workplace.
Ninety-five propositions for creating more relevant, more caring schools There is a growing desire to reexamine education and learning. Educators use the phrase "school 2.0" to think about what schools will look like in the future. Moving beyond a basic examination of using technology for classroom instruction, Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need is a larger discussion of how education, learning, and our physical school spaces can—and should—change because of the changing nature of our lives brought on by these technologies. Well known for their work in creating Science Leadership Academy (SLA), a technology-rich, collaborative, learner-centric school in Philadelphia, founding principal Chris Lehmann and former SLA teacher Zac Chase are uniquely qualified to write about changing how we educate. The best strategies, they contend, enable networked learning that allows research, creativity, communication, and collaboration to help prepare students to be functional citizens within a modern society. Their model includes discussions of the following key concepts: Technology must be ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible Classrooms must be learner-centric and use backwards design principles Good technology can be better than new technology Teachers must serve as mentors and bring real-world experiences to students Each section of Building School 2.0 presents a thesis designed to help educators and administrators to examine specific practices in their schools, and to then take their conclusions from theory to practice. Collectively, the theses represent a new vision of school, built off of the best of what has come before us, but with an eye toward a future we cannot fully imagine.