’This important work identifies the critical elements of sustainability—the necessary goal of systemic reform—which requires a long-term commitment to change for the benefit of students.’
—Lois Adams-Rogers, Deputy Executive Director
Council of Chief State School Officers
Implement a comprehensive, whole-school reform program that lasts!
The recent emphasis on educational reform has led to many books on initiating school improvement, but relatively few on how to sustain reform efforts so that improvements have a lasting impact.
Changing for Good offers a detailed examination of current schoolwide reform efforts and identifies strategies for introducing, managing, and sustaining successful school renewal programs. Based on a four-year study of 74 schools, the book provides a model for generating the necessary district support, schoolwide leadership, teacher commitment, and performance outcomes to cultivate improvement that lasts. Applicable at the state, district, and school level, this model helps readers:
- Align reform efforts with educational standards and accountability guidelines
- Create a research-based improvement plan
- Support change by developing a shared vision
- Promote distributed leadership
- Celebrate gains to encourage cooperation
The most beneficial school improvements are the ones that endure. With this exceptional resource, educational administrators and leaders can create a school environment that embraces meaningful change, sustains positive reform, and ensures successful learning outcomes.
Innehållsförteckning
List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
Comprehensive School Reform
Purpose and Focus of the Book
Researching Reform Sustainability in Schools
Organization of the Book
1. Sustaining Change in Schools
Two Decades of Reform Policies
Sustaining Reform
Organizational Capacity and Sustaining Change in Schools
Toward a Model of Sustainability
2. Setting the Stage for School Reform
School Reform and State Infrastructure
Opportunity for Improvement Through Comprehensive School Reform
Discussion of the State Context for School Reform
3. Supporting Change in Schools
Waterton County
Burkett County
District Support for Sustaining Change in Other Schools
Discussion of District Support for Sustaining Reform
4. Promoting Distributed Leadership
Leadership for Change
Distributed Leadership in Tipton Middle School
Developing Distributed Leadership in Greely Elementary School
Principal Leadership for Reform
Reform Facilitation
Negotiation of Tasks and Responsibilities
Preparing to Sustain School Reform
Leadership and the Challenge of Change in Other Schools
Discussion of Distributed Leadership and Sustaining Reform
5. Gaining Teacher Commitment
Control of Teachers Versus Workplace Autonomy
Forestview Middle School
Littleton Middle School
Teacher Commitment to Reform
Teacher Commitment in Other Schools
Lack of Teacher Commitment to Reform in Other Schools
Discussion of Teacher Commitment and Sustaining Reform
6. Celebrating Gains
Comprehensive School Reform and School Performance
Tangible Resources and Supplies
Contributions to School Culture
Spillover Effects From the Grant Experience
Discussion of the Effects of Reform and Sustainability
7. Changing for Good
Sustaining Comprehensive School Reform
Sustainability With Funding
Commitment to Sustainability Without Funding
Sustained Momentum for Improvement and Innovation
No Sustainability
Discussion of Patterns of Reform Sustainability
8. Reforming Reform
Patterns of Sustainability
A Model for Sustaining Change
What Happened to CSR?
Recommendations for Educators
Resource: Methodology
Design of the Study
Research Questions
Selection of Schools
Data Collection Methods
Reliability and Verification
Data Analysis
Ethical Considerations
References
Index
Om författaren
Melissa Evans-Andris is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. Her interests include the sociology of education, work and occupations, and qualitative research methodologies particularly as they relate to schools and teaching. Her research focuses on school reform, sustainability of school improvement, and teacher quality. She authored a book in 1996 entitled An Apple for the Teacher: Computers and Work in Elementary Schools. Most recently she directed two research efforts, including a federal study entitled “Comprehensive School Reform, Educational Dynamics, and Achievement in Kentucky Middle Schools” and a state project entitled “A Research Study of the Kentucky Teacher Internship Program Pilot Project” that tracked the experiences of new teacher-interns during their first three years on the job. She is active in local and statewide discussion forums related to improvement in Kentucky schools. She received her Ph D in sociology at Indiana University in 1991.
Fler e-böcker från samma författare (r) / Redaktör
146 564 E-böcker i denna kategori
