Schools are learning organisations. They continuously strive to do better for the children and young people in their charge. In doing so, they try new things, seek to learn from those experiences, and work to adopt and embed the practices that work best. Implementation is a key aspect of what schools do to improve, and yet it is a domain of school…

Early childhood is a crucial stage in a child's life, and aspects of the environment in the physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and health and safety domains all play important roles in shaping children's development during these early years. Having a valid and reliable measure of the quality of these aspects of children's care settings is…

Now that federal and state initiatives require school districts to provide job-embedded professional development, the next step is making it happen. This book helps districts define, develop, and implement a systematic inquiry-based process with a laser-like focus on both adult and student learning. This book's inquiry model challenges educators…

This manual was written for the Wisconsin Program for the Renewal and Improvement of Secondary Education (WRISE) to help schools develop their own capability for systematically improving their educative processes from year to year, using existing resources. The program, which has been tested and found effective, indicates general procedures,…

This tool was created in order to help young people and adults develop a common language for talking about how to improve schools. The tool provides educators, young people, administrators, policy makers, parents, community members and other stake holders with a common lens for reflecting on their schools and for planning change. It can also be…

The Whole-Faculty Study Group (WFSG) System is a student-centered, teacher-driven process for facilitating major staff development and schoolwide change. When applied properly, it has produced extraordinary results for thousands of educators and students in schools and school districts across the country. The Whole-Faculty Study Groups Fieldbook…

This guide to improving middle school guidance programs is based on two premises: (1) that the primary goal of the guidance program is to help students find meaning in their lives, and by this means, find relevancy in what schools have to offer them; and (2) that this sense of relevancy is accompanied by higher motivation to learn, and as a…

Outlined are the following 11 successful programs, projects, and activities functioning in Hawaii's intermediate schools: Alternative Learning Center (Waipahu and Pearl City Highlands); Career Awareness Exploring through Basic Practical Arts; Career Education Guidance (Kailua); Creating a Positive School Climate; Learning through the Arts;…

"Modeling Mathematics Teaching Excellence" is a professional development process designed to enable mathematics departments to conduct an assessment of how well their program is meeting the needs of their early adolescent students. It is a modified edition of the Mathematics Assessment Process for the Middle Grades (MAP), a year-long…