Handbook of School Improvement

Capturing insights from 20 successful principals, this illuminating book presents real-world strategies that help school leaders refine their administrative skills and generate dramatic improvements in schoolwide achievement.

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The School Improvement Planning Handbook

To help principals and their school improvement committees develop and implement plans with a greater likelihood of success, the authors offer a step-by-step process for school improvement planning. They go on to pinpoint specific school improvement goals, including raising reading and mathematics achievement, building robust school cultures, addressing the needs of English language learners, improving instruction, and reducing absenteeism and dropouts.

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School Improvement Planning

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The Practice and Theory of School Improvement

ANDY HARGREAVES Department of Teacher Education, Curriculum and Instruction Lynch School of Education, Boston College, MA, U.S.A. ANN LIEBERMAN Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, CA, U.S.A. MICHAEL FULLAN Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada DAVID HOPKINS Department for Education and Skills, London, U.K. This set of four volumes on Educational Change brings together evidence and insights on educational change issues from leading writers and researchers in the field from across the world. Many of these writers, whose chapters have been specially written for these books, have been investigating, helping initiate and implementing educational change, for most or all of their lengthy careers. Others are working on the cutting edge of theory and practice in educational change, taking the field in new or even more challenging directions. And some are more skeptical about the literature of educational change and the assumptions on which it rests. They help us to approach projects of understanding or initiating educational change more deeply, reflectively and realistically. Educational change and reform have rarely had so much prominence within public policy, in so many different places. Educational change is ubiquitous. It figures large in Presidential and Prime Ministerial speeches. It is at or near the top of many National policy agendas. Everywhere, educational change is not only a policy priority but also major public news. Yet action to bring about educational change usually exceeds people's understanding of how to do so effectively.

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Quality School Improvement Plan

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Creating the Conditions for School Improvement

This work is intended for senior and classroom teachers and others concerned with improving the quality of education in schools. Based on the approach of the Cambridge "Improving the Quality of Education for All" Project (IQEA), the handbook offes readings, activities and proformas.

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International Handbook of School Effectiveness and Improvement

This book reviews of the development, implementation and practice of the disciplines of school effectiveness and school improvement. Seven main topics are addressed: History of the school effectiveness movement over the last 25 years; Changes in accountability and standards; Leadership in school effectiveness; Changes in teacher education; Impact of Diverse Populations; Education Funding and its Impact; and Best Practice Case Studies. The contributors are active in school effectiveness research worldwide.

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Handbook on restructuring and substantial school improvement

As suggested by the title, the purpose of this Handbook on Restructuring and Substantial School Improvement is to provide principles for restructuring and substantially improving schools. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Center on Innovation & Improvement (CII) engaged leading experts on restructuring and school improvement to prepare modules for this handbook to assist states, districts, and schools in establishing policies, procedures, and support to successfully restructure schools. The Handbook is organized into three sections. The topic of the Handbook's modules - restructuring with a focus on the district as the impetus for dramatic improvement - is relatively new in the nation's education history. For this reason, the module authors were selected because they are highly experienced experts in their fields and can be counted on to judiciously weigh the less than definitive evidence and to state useful guiding principles.

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The SAGE Handbook of School Organization

The SAGE Handbook of School Organization provides a substantial review of the history, current status and future prospects of the field of school organization. Bringing together chapters exploring key issues, important debates and points of tension, the Handbook highlights school and system organisational structure, processes and dynamics coupled with insights into important theoretical foundations from diverse perspectives. This volume is designed to provide a much-needed, critically informed and coherent account of the field, against a backdrop of increasing complexity in which schooling as an institution and schools as organisations operate.

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The Routledge International Handbook of Educational Effectiveness and Improvement

The International Handbook of Educational Effectiveness and Improvement draws together leading academics and researchers in the field to reflect on the history, traditions and the most recent developments in this dynamic and influential field. This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of: the foundations of the field the evolution of educational effectiveness theory and methodology the links with other research disciplines the links between policy and practice. In conclusion, the handbook sets out a new agenda for future educational effectiveness research. This handbook is an essential resource for those interested in the effectiveness of educational systems, organisations and classrooms. It offers academics, researchers, students and policy-makers new insights into the latest thinking and evidence about educational effectiveness.

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Second International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration

The first International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration (Leithwood et al.) was published in 1996 and quickly became something of a best seller for reference works within education. Such success, we suggest, was at least partly due to the unprecedented global waves of concern for improving schools launched in the mid 1980's, combined with a widespread belief in leadership as the single most powerful contribution to such improvement. The roots of this belief can be found in evidence produced by the early "effective schools" research, although there is a "romance" with leadership! as an explanation for success in many non-school enterprises, as well. During the two-year period during which this current handbook was being written, activity in the realms of school leadership, school improvement, and leadership development gained further momentum. The English government created its new National College of School Leadership, and several Asian nations announced new initiatives in leadership selection, preparation, and development.

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School Improvement for Real

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.

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Effective Leadership for School Improvement

In a complex and multi-layered world, the conventional idea of great leadership being the result of the efforts of a single individual is rapidly becoming redundant. This book takes up the challenge of finding an alternative method of leadership in educational contexts, and looks at how this can help achieve sustained improvement in schools. The authors acknowledge that there are no simple solutions to school improvement. They argue that the effective leaders of the future will be those who are able to share responsibility, build positive relationships and offer stakeholders - teachers, parents and students - an opportunity to work together to improve their schools. The book is based around four key areas of concern: the changing context of leadership, leadership and school improvement, building leadership capacity, and future direction and implications. In each section, the authors discuss current theories and issues, and put forward alternative ideas and perspectives. This important book will make valuable reading for headteachers, principles, deputies and other senior teachers, particularly those undertaking leadership qualifications and training. It will also be of interest to postgraduate students and school governors.

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School Improvement Through Performance Feedback

Internationally there is an increasing trend to publish and feed back information to schools and teachers on their functioning. School improvement is often the central goal, though accountability and the promotion of parental/student school choice also play an important role.Practical initiatives and research in this field have often failed to recognize the full complexity of improving schools through school performance feedback. Relevant questions are, for example, to what extent: the information fed back to schools is valued and understood by them; the school performance feedback enables appropriate diagnosis and remediation to take place in schools; the use of the feedback generates conflicts and tensions for teachers and administrators; the features of the implementation process and school organization influence the utilization of school performance feedback systems; schools do actually improve as a result of performance feedback; and the feedback systems have unintended effects. This book fills the gap by including: a thorough conceptualization of school feedback as a performance enhancing mechanism, and the prerequisites for utilizing this information in schools; a typology of school performance indicators; a review of the research on the impact of feeding back performance information to individuals and to organizations; evidence on the process, problems and impact of school performance feedback from an international variety of contexts (Australia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA); and reflections on these experiences within the theoretical framework, leading to recommended strategies for school improvement through performance feedback.

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The Routledge International Handbook of Teacher and School Development

The International Handbook of Teacher and School Development brings together a collection of research and evidence-based authoritative writings which focus on international teacher and school development. Drawing on research from eighteen countries across seven continents, the forty chapters are grouped into ten themes which represent key aspects of teacher and school development: Issues of Professionalism and Performativity What Being an Effective Teacher Really Means Reason and Emotion in Teaching Schools in Different Circumstances Student Voices in a Global Context Professional Learning and Development Innovative Pedagogies School Effectiveness and Improvement Successful Schools, Successful Leader Professional Communities: their practices, problems & possibilities Each theme expertly adds to the existing knowledge base about teacher and school development internationally. They are individually important in shaping and understanding an appreciation of the underlying conditions which influence teachers and schools, both positively and negatively, and the possibilities for their further development. This essential handbook will be of interest to teacher educators, researchers in the field of teacher education and policy makers.

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The International Handbook of School Effectiveness Research

What constitutes quality schooling? What are the implications for educational practice and administration? The text looks at these questions and examines international research evidence and reform initiatives with particular emphasis on North America, UK, Australasia and the Third World. It offers a synopsis of the Third World School Effects Research (SER). The authors claim that the challenges now facing educational leaders is to find a balance between SER and the other school movements and to ask more demanding questions of our educational systems.

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International Handbook of Educational Evaluation

Thomas Kellaghan Educational Research Centre, St. Patrick's College, Dublin, Ireland Daniel L. Stufflebeam The Evaluation Center, Western Michigan University, Ml, USA Lori A. Wingate The Evaluation Center, Western Michigan University, Ml, USA Educational evaluation encompasses a wide array of activities, including student assessment, measurement, testing, program evaluation, school personnel evalua tion, school accreditation, and curriculum evaluation. It occurs at all levels of education systems, from the individual student evaluations carried out by class room teachers, to evaluations of schools and districts, to district-wide program evaluations, to national assessments, to cross-national comparisons of student achievement. As in any area of scholarship and practice, the field is constantly evolving, as a result of advances in theory, methodology, and technology; increasing globalization; emerging needs and pressures; and cross-fertilization from other disciplines. The beginning of a new century would seem an appropriate time to provide a portrait of the current state of the theory and practice of educational evaluation across the globe. It is the purpose of this handbook to attempt to do this, to sketch the international landscape of educational evaluation - its conceptual izations, practice, methodology, and background, and the functions it serves. The book's 43 chapters, grouped in 10 sections, provide detailed accounts of major components of the educational evaluation enterprise. Together, they provide a panoramic view of an evolving field.

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Handbook for Conducting School Climate Improvement Projects

This book discusses practical ways to improve a school's climate by increasing both productivity and satisfaction concurrently. Chapter 1, "Defining School Climate," identifies the overarching goals of school climate improvement, the basic human needs that school climate must address, the factors that make up a school's climate and determine its quality, and the elements to a school's operation that contribute to positive climate. Chapter 2 outlines an eight-step process for implementing school improvement, while chapters 3 through 7 discuss each of these eight steps in detail: (1) appointing a school improvement management team or steering committee; (2) collecting baseline data; (3) raising the awareness level of faculty, students, and parents; (4) assessing the school climate; (5) identifying improvement priorities and developing action plans; (6) organizing task forces to accomplish the tasks identified in the action plans; (7) coordinating the work of the task forces; and (8) evaluating the overall effects of the climate improvement effort. The final chapter, "Why Do It?," provides anecdotal testimony as to the success of climate improvement projects in various schools. Appended are the following instruments: an instrument for rating school climate; the CFK, Ltd., School Climate Profile; two "mini-audits" designed to assist school officials in identifying climate improvement priorities and assessing the process and material determinants of a school; and a brainstorming and prioritizing activity instruction sheet. (TE)

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The Architecture of School Improvement

Sound bites of wisdom for successful school improvement This is no ordinary how-to manual. Researcher Joseph Murphy infuses experiences and humor into oft-debated methods of school improvement. School leaders, teachers, and improvement-minded audiences will find a collection of daily reflections that motivate, amuse, and inspire. This book presents more than 70 short, digestible lessons on what works, what doesn’t, and what matters most in the world of high-stakes testing and accountability, such as: Prevention trumps remediation Context always matters School improvement is about layering small gains

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Connecting Teacher Leadership and School Improvement

Increase student learning by developing teacher leaders! This is the first book to synthesize theoretical, empirical, and practice-based literature in order to provide a comprehensive look at what is known about teacher leadership and what works to support it. The first part of the book explores the core concepts of teacher leadership, while the second part shows readers how to establish the context in their school or district to cultivate and support teacher leaders. A vital tool for school improvement, this volume covers such important topics as: The principal’s critical role in supporting teacher leadership Cultivating teacher leadership through professional development Overcoming organizational barriers that hinder teacher leadership How teacher leadership can help advance school improvement efforts

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