Small Schools, Big Ideas
Small Schools, Big Ideas

Author: Mara Benitez

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2009-11-16

Total Pages: 437

ISBN-13: 0470615532

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Small Schools, Big Ideas shows how the principle-based and equity-focused model from the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) can be used to redesign existing schools and create new schools that prepare students for this century's challenges and opportunities. Filled with inspirational stories and illustrative examples from schools that have successfully implemented CES principles and practices, Small Schools, Big Ideas offers information and inspiration needed to: Transform schools in order to achieve equitable outcomes for all students Understand various school design options Establish school vision, mission, and goals to raise educational expectations and results Develop transformational leadership Cultivate a professional learning community Implement student-centered teaching, learning, and curricula Build productive relationships with families and communities Establish strategies for sustainability These recommendations and proven strategies can help educators transform their schools to become truly equitable, personalized, and academically challenging.

High Schools on a Human Scale
High Schools on a Human Scale

Author: Tom Toch

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2003-05-15

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 080703245X

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The basic blueprint of American high schools hasn't changed in a century, and we are paying a heavy price. Anonymous, enormous, and resistant to change, huge American high schools are incapable of educating all children to high levels today, as dropout rates and remedial courses in college make increasingly clear. High Schools on a Human Scale shows the huge power of small schools, perhaps the nation's fastest- growing reform idea. Tom Toch takes us inside four very different small schools around the country-from an entrepreneur's high-tech charter school in San Diego to a school formed out the of the breakup of a huge public high school in Manhattan. All are small enough so that every student is known well by adults, and the results are remarkable. Together they show the proven virtues of small schools-safety, community, and high achievement. This book is sponsored in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's $40 million effort to support small schools nationwide.

Small Steps, Big Changes
Small Steps, Big Changes

Author: Chris Confer

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-10-10

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 1003840590

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During the past two decades, Chris Confer and Marco Ramirez have worked to deepen and improve mathematics instruction at schools around the country. Wherever they go, they find the raw ingredients for success already present: The potential for positive change lies within each school. Abundance is present in the form of capable children, teachers, coaches, and principals. Potential energy -- what can be -- transforms into kinetic energywhat will beonly when a force is accurately applied to move a school in the right direction. In' Small Steps, Big Changes: Eight Essential Practices for Transforming Schools Through Mathematics, the authors identify eight tested principles that transform what can be an overwhelming process into a set of comprehensible and concrete steps. Each phase of the change process is brought to life through the stories and perspectives of teachers, coaches, and principalsstories that will strike familiar chords for every educator. When teachers make sense of math, students learn to make sense of math, and that can profoundly change the entire culture of a school. In one vivid illustration, the authors tell the story of Pueblo Gardens Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, where Marco, as principal, and Chris, as instructional coach, worked alongside a group of dedicated teachers. A few years into the change process, Pueblo Gardens -- a school with 96 percent of its students at the poverty level and a high percentage of English language learners -- had 94 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards in third-grade mathematics. Over time, other grades achieved similarly high scores. And once the test scores rose, they were sustained at high levels.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain
Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain

Author: Zaretta Hammond

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2014-11-13

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1483308022

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A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection

What School Could Be
What School Could Be

Author: Ted Dintersmith

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-04-10

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 069118061X

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An inspiring account of teachers in ordinary circumstances doing extraordinary things, showing us how to transform education What School Could Be offers an inspiring vision of what our teachers and students can accomplish if trusted with the challenge of developing the skills and ways of thinking needed to thrive in a world of dizzying technological change. Innovation expert Ted Dintersmith took an unprecedented trip across America, visiting all fifty states in a single school year. He originally set out to raise awareness about the urgent need to reimagine education to prepare students for a world marked by innovation--but America's teachers one-upped him. All across the country, he met teachers in ordinary settings doing extraordinary things, creating innovative classrooms where children learn deeply and joyously as they gain purpose, agency, essential skillsets and mindsets, and real knowledge. Together, these new ways of teaching and learning offer a vision of what school could be—and a model for transforming schools throughout the United States and beyond. Better yet, teachers and parents don't have to wait for the revolution to come from above. They can readily implement small changes that can make a big difference. America's clock is ticking. Our archaic model of education trains our kids for a world that no longer exists, and accelerating advances in technology are eliminating millions of jobs. But the trailblazing of many American educators gives us reasons for hope. Capturing bold ideas from teachers and classrooms across America, What School Could Be provides a realistic and profoundly optimistic roadmap for creating cultures of innovation and real learning in all our schools.

Street Data
Street Data

Author: Shane Safir

Publisher: Corwin

Published: 2021-02-12

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1071812661

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Radically reimagine our ways of being, learning, and doing Education can be transformed if we eradicate our fixation on big data like standardized test scores as the supreme measure of equity and learning. Instead of the focus being on "fixing" and "filling" academic gaps, we must envision and rebuild the system from the student up—with classrooms, schools and systems built around students’ brilliance, cultural wealth, and intellectual potential. Street data reminds us that what is measurable is not the same as what is valuable and that data can be humanizing, liberatory and healing. By breaking down street data fundamentals: what it is, how to gather it, and how it can complement other forms of data to guide a school or district’s equity journey, Safir and Dugan offer an actionable framework for school transformation. Written for educators and policymakers, this book · Offers fresh ideas and innovative tools to apply immediately · Provides an asset-based model to help educators look for what’s right in our students and communities instead of seeking what’s wrong · Explores a different application of data, from its capacity to help us diagnose root causes of inequity, to its potential to transform learning, and its power to reshape adult culture Now is the time to take an antiracist stance, interrogate our assumptions about knowledge, measurement, and what really matters when it comes to educating young people.

How to Innovate
How to Innovate

Author: Mary Moss Brown

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2014-04-04

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 0807755699

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As the authors state, “Without rethinking how, what, when, where, and why we are teaching, technology will merely be an expensive way of making the existing system faster and flashier.” In How to Innovate, Mary Moss Brown and Alisa Berger—founding co-principals of the NYC iSchool—apply their extensive on-the-ground experience to demonstrate a radically different approach to school transformation. They introduce a scalable model of how schools can and should redefine themselves to better meet the needs of 21st-century students. Using a framework built around four critical levers for school change—curriculum, culture, time, and human capital—the NYC iSchool model merges the teaching of big ideas and valuable skills with the realities of accountability, academic preparation, and adolescent development. The book includes more than 20 activities that will help educators begin the process of school transformation, whether they want to focus on a single program, one area of change, or engage in a full-scale whole school improvement effort. This accessible, practical, and inspiring resource is designed to be used over and over again, in any context, despite the constantly changing climates in which schools operate. Book Features: The why and the how to engage in the process of innovation and school transformation. A structure for rethinking practices as a habit that educators need to adopt, rather than a singular approach that will soon be outdated. Advice for using technology as a catalyst for change. Recommendations based on what worked in a complex urban school environment. A practical, interactive guide with templates and tools.

Creating Small Schools
Creating Small Schools

Author: Dan French

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2007-05-18

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1452294275

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"A terrific manual for small schools or conversion efforts. Provides a logical road map and tools, and shows educators how to lead groups and engage the community in the rebuilding effort." —Sue Showers, Educational Consultant Bigger is not necessarily better. While current research shows that comprehensive high schools remain the norm, effective small-scale high schools feature lower student-to-teacher ratios, longer instructional blocks, more parent involvement, and increased advisory and student support. The resulting instructional benefits include reduced dropout rates, increased attendance, higher student achievement, and fewer discipline problems. Based on the authors′ work at the nationally renowned Center for Collaborative Education, Creating Small Schools presents an A–to–Z guide for developing small school communities that personalize the educational experience for all students, helping them form lasting bonds with faculty and ultimately increasing their chances of going to college. Success for students and schools depends on small class size, unifying vision, autonomy, and accountability. This research-based guidebook offers school leaders: Ways to establish new schools or convert existing ones Step-by-step instructions for developing a small schools plan Lessons, case studies, practical tools, advice, and vignettes Guidance for forging partnerships with district administration and the community Discover how small schools can effectively reach and motivate underserved learners, and watch as achievement levels rise for all students.