Linguistic, ethnic, and economic diversity is a major factor influencing how school reform ought to be accomplished at local, state, and government levels. This book examines the issue of successful school reform in diverse communities. It is the first to synthesize research on educational research on educational reform pertaining to racially and linguistically diverse students. It examines what is needed at the teacher, school, district, state, and federal levels for educational reform to be successful in multicultural, multilingual settings. Conclusions are based on a careful review of hundreds of recent quantitative and qualitative studies relating to educational reform in diverse communities. The authors conceptualize education as an interconnected and interdependent policy system and discuss the key policy, relational, political, and resource linkages that assist in achieving sustainable improvement in schools serving at-risk students.

Linguistic, ethnic, and economic diversity is a major factor influencing how school reform ought to be accomplished at local, state, and government levels. This book examines the issue of successful school reform in diverse communities. It is the first to synthesize research on educational research on educational reform pertaining to racially and linguistically diverse students. It examines what is needed at the teacher, school, district, state, and federal levels for educational reform to be successful in multicultural, multilingual settings. Conclusions are based on a careful review of hundreds of recent quantitative and qualitative studies relating to educational reform in diverse communities. The authors conceptualize education as an interconnected and interdependent policy system and discuss the key policy, relational, political, and resource linkages that assist in achieving sustainable improvement in schools serving at-risk students.

This book exposes the complexity of single-sex schooling, and sheds new light on how gender operates in policy and practice in education. The essays collected in this volume cover a wide range of institutions, including K-12 and higher education, (US) public and private schools, and schools in the US and beyond. Detailing the educational experiences of both young men and women, this collection examines how schooling shapes - and is shaped by - the social construction of gender in history and in contemporary society.

In an effort to improve student achievement, thousands of US schools have adopted school reform models devised externally by universities and other organizations. Such models have been successful in improving individual schools or groups of schools, but what happens when educational reform attempts to extend from one school to many?
Through qualitative data from several studies, this book explores what happens when school reform 'goes to scale'. Topics covered include:
*why and how schools are adopting reforms
*the influence of the local context and wider constraints on the implementation of reform
*teachers and principals as change agents in schools
*the evolution of reform design teams
*the implementation, sustainability and expiration of reform, and its impact on educational change
Each chapter concludes with guidelines for policy and practice.
This book will be of interest to educational leaders and staff developers, educational researchers and policy makers, in the US and internationally.

What is the relationship of gender to the micropolitics of school reform? The timely research question is explored in this book which will open the 'black box' of secondary school reform.
Teachers are asked to play an increasingly active role in school reform. Datnow reveals the everyday struggles that happen between different factions of teachers with different definitions of what school means for students. The focus of this struggle may not be on education but the underlying issues such as gender. The author shows gender politics can be used by teachers to head off reform and, using three case study schools, explains the condition sunder which factionalism occurs.

This book exposes the complexity of single-sex schooling, and sheds new light on how gender operates in policy and practice in education. The essays collected in this volume cover a wide range of institutions, including K-12 and higher education, (US) public and private schools, and schools in the US and beyond. Detailing the educational experiences of both young men and women, this collection examines how schooling shapes - and is shaped by - the social construction of gender in history and in contemporary society.

Building on both cutting-edge research and professional learning practice, Amanda Datnow and Vicki Park explore how professional collaboration can support deeper learning for students and teachers alike. While many schools and systems support teacher collaboration, they often fall short of their intended goals of improving teaching and learning. This book provides concrete guidance for creating the conditions for collaboration in which teachers are moved toward-rather than repelled-by joint work. The authors explore how collaborative settings can provide a space for working through the inevitable challenges that accompany the changing nature of teaching in the age of accountability and show the motivation, inspiration, and energy that teachers personally--and collectively--gain from collaborating to improve student learning. Ultimately, they show how teacher empowerment towards working together builds equitable and excellent learning environments.

Building on both cutting-edge research and professional learning practice, Amanda Datnow and Vicki Park explore how professional collaboration can support deeper learning for students and teachers alike. While many schools and systems support teacher collaboration, they often fall short of their intended goals of improving teaching and learning. This book provides concrete guidance for creating the conditions for collaboration in which teachers are moved toward-rather than repelled-by joint work. The authors explore how collaborative settings can provide a space for working through the inevitable challenges that accompany the changing nature of teaching in the age of accountability and show the motivation, inspiration, and energy that teachers personally--and collectively--gain from collaborating to improve student learning. Ultimately, they show how teacher empowerment towards working together builds equitable and excellent learning environments.

In an effort to improve student achievement, thousands of US schools have adopted school reform models devised externally by universities and other organizations. Such models have been successful in improving individual schools or groups of schools, but what happens when educational reform attempts to extend from one school to many?
Through qualitative data from several studies, this book explores what happens when school reform 'goes to scale'. Topics covered include:
*why and how schools are adopting reforms
*the influence of the local context and wider constraints on the implementation of reform
*teachers and principals as change agents in schools
*the evolution of reform design teams
*the implementation, sustainability and expiration of reform, and its impact on educational change
Each chapter concludes with guidelines for policy and practice.
This book will be of interest to educational leaders and staff developers, educational researchers and policy makers, in the US and internationally.

That there is a divide between research and practice is a common lament across policy-oriented disciplines, and education is no exception. Rhetoric abounds about the role research plays (or does not play) in the improvement of schools and classrooms, and policy makers push solutions that are rooted in assumptions about the way that research should influence practice. Yet few people have studied the relationship between research and practice empirically. This book presents findings from a series of interlocking case studies of nationally visible R&D projects, with a unique focus on how researchers and practitioners actually worked together, and the policy, social, and institutional processes that either enabled or hindered their work. The book investigates the dynamics of cross-institutional collaboration and the relationship between tool design, teacher learning, and the implementation of research-based approaches. It also explores conditions for learning in schools and the role of evidence in district decision making. By investigating the roles played by research and practice in these ten educational improvement efforts, the book illuminates lessons for those who seek to do this kind of work in the future. It concludes by suggesting implications for designers, funders, school and district leaders, and universities.

Like medical practitioners, educators share the moral obligation to "first, do no harm." But as this provocative volume shows, education policies do not always live up to this ideal, especially policies intended to help our most vulnerable students. When School Policies Backfire draws our attention to education policies designed to help disadvantaged students that instead had the perverse effect of harming them by exacerbating the very problems they were intended to solve. The rigorous case studies that make up the book are contributed by a diverse group of scholars with different methodological approaches. The cases address important areas of education reform, from literacy and technology programs to school closings, school choice, and accountability policies. Each case shows how and why a particular program backfired. Taken together, they present a wide-ranging critique of the kinds of policies that compose the cornerstones of current education reform efforts. Many books have examined policies that fall short of achieving their goals, or that result in unintended consequences. But few have documented the effects of policies whose failures have been so spectacular. When School Policies Backfire is a sobering reminder of the responsibility that policy makers and researchers bear for the well-being of our most vulnerable students.

Like medical practitioners, educators share the moral obligation to "first, do no harm." But as this provocative volume shows, education policies do not always live up to this ideal, especially policies intended to help our most vulnerable students. When School Policies Backfire draws our attention to education policies designed to help disadvantaged students that instead had the perverse effect of harming them by exacerbating the very problems they were intended to solve. The rigorous case studies that make up the book are contributed by a diverse group of scholars with different methodological approaches. The cases address important areas of education reform, from literacy and technology programs to school closings, school choice, and accountability policies. Each case shows how and why a particular program backfired. Taken together, they present a wide-ranging critique of the kinds of policies that compose the cornerstones of current education reform efforts. Many books have examined policies that fall short of achieving their goals, or that result in unintended consequences. But few have documented the effects of policies whose failures have been so spectacular. When School Policies Backfire is a sobering reminder of the responsibility that policy makers and researchers bear for the well-being of our most vulnerable students.

That there is a divide between research and practice is a common lament across policy-oriented disciplines, and education is no exception. Rhetoric abounds about the role research plays (or does not play) in the improvement of schools and classrooms, and policy makers push solutions that are rooted in assumptions about the way that research should influence practice. Yet few people have studied the relationship between research and practice empirically. This book presents findings from a series of interlocking case studies of nationally visible R&D projects, with a unique focus on how researchers and practitioners actually worked together, and the policy, social, and institutional processes that either enabled or hindered their work. The book investigates the dynamics of cross-institutional collaboration and the relationship between tool design, teacher learning, and the implementation of research-based approaches. It also explores conditions for learning in schools and the role of evidence in district decision making. By investigating the roles played by research and practice in these ten educational improvement efforts, the book illuminates lessons for those who seek to do this kind of work in the future. It concludes by suggesting implications for designers, funders, school and district leaders, and universities.

"Leadership Lessons From Comprehensive School Reform addresses a topic that has received far too little attention in the comprehensive school reform movement: the role of school and district leaders in the reform process. This volume shows how much we?ve learned about how leaders shape comprehensive reform and how the reform process must shape leadership."
Robert Slavin, Co-Director
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk
Johns Hopkins University

"This volume provides the most thorough, balanced, and informative source available on comprehensive school reform. In addition to insights regarding implementation of many of the most prominent CSR models, the book is a primer on ?distributed leadership,? providing perspectives on the interplay of principals, teacher leaders, central office administrators and model developers engaged in school and district reform."
James Lytle, Superintendent
Trenton, New Jersey Public Schools

"This book offers well-grounded insights about the leadership practices of educators involved in the implementation of Comprehensive School Reform models. Leaders and leadership scholars will find it a rewarding read. I recommend it highly."
Kenneth Leithwood
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Ontario, Canada

Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) is proving to be one of the most promising avenues for improving student achievement. The authors have found that leadership is frequently acknowledged to be a prime factor in the successful implementation of comprehensive school reform. Murphy and Datnow have gathered together a group of CSR insiders and researchers to examine the issue of leadership in CSR for the first time.

Contributors and CSR models include:

• Expeditionary Learning Schools
• Modern Red Schoolhouse
• Co-Nect
• Success for All
• New American Schools
• Chicago Annenberg Challenge
• Bay Area School Reform Collaborative
• Accelerated Schools
• Coalition of Essential Schools
• Comer School Development Process