The Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative (MBLC) is a demonstration project taking place in 47 schools across Washington to help decision makers understand what quality mastery-based (or competency-based) learning looks like, how long it takes to implement, and what resources are necessary. The schools receive funding, coaching, and professional…

The world needs great individual educational changemakers capable of identifying problems and creating bold, scalable solutions. But the world also needs Dream Teams--groups of talented administrators, teachers, staff, students, and community members who are passionate about making things better for kids, believe that school-based change is the…

Staff development is the key to middle school effectiveness, and this article lists characteristics of an effective staff development program, examples of activities and topics, and questions for program evaluation. (DCS)

Online learning is growing rapidly as states and districts are creating new online schools, and existing programs are adding new courses and students. The growth reflects the spreading understanding that online courses and programs can serve a wide variety of students and needs. These include: (1) Creating opportunities for small and rural school…

Defines, illustrates, and evaluates three approaches to home-school collaboration: School to Home Transmission, Interactive Learning; and Partnership for School Success. Discusses pitfalls to avoid. (DM)

Essential to the definition of an effective school is an operational definition of minimum academic mastery as the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and concepts that enable the student to be demonstrably successful in the next grade level in the same school or in any other school in the United States. An effective schools program, such as the one…

Examines why an elementary school, set up as a model school promoting learning effectiveness, was not working as predicted. Concentrates on staff assessments of principal's role. (JW)

The final report describes a Colorado project to evaluate the effectiveness of special education programming based on student outcomes and program quality indicators in 14 secondary schools. Major findings included: special education students, especially students with emotional/behavioral disabilities, had higher absence and out-of-school…

Teacher and administrator responses to the Connecticut School Interview, conducted as part of the Spencerport (New York) More Effective Schools/Teaching Project, indicate that there are a number of correlates which can be considered areas of strength, and that steady improvement has occurred in installing correlates in each building and in…

The GRIDS (Guidelines for Review and Internal Development in Schools) is a 5-stage model which has been used in 15 British local education authorities. This article describes the stages, identifies the model's benefits, offers an analysis of comments about the initial review stage, considers staff training, and shows the model's usefulness for…

This report presents research findings concerning house systems in four New York city high schools during the 1988-89 school year. Quantitative analyses compared small and large schools with both weak and strong house designs. Findings indicate that house systems with more complete designs had more positive effects on staff and students and…

This document presents an overview of the design and implementation stages of a Spencerport (New York) project, designed to improve the educational program and student learning in each building in the district. The first section describes the project's goal for each building, which is that (1) 95 (or greater) percent of all students should…

Although the topic of effective schools is a popular one among today's educators, researchers, and publishers, there still is no commonly agreed upon definition of an effective school. One definition given by Ronald Edmonds and Lawrence Lezotte is notably precise, measurable, attainable, and easy to determine. They defined an effective school as…

This is an advance planning guide aimed at helping Chicago Public School principals carry out a school action plan, Academy for Effective Schools, in the 1984-85 school year. It suggest ways that schools can build on the school goals and practices established in previous plans. The terminology of the planning cycle is similar to that used in the…

Broad-based effective schools research suggests a school excellence model attributing student achievement to principal leadership, a positive school climate, the primacy of basic skills, high teacher expectations, an assessment and monitoring system, and the integration and coordination of the real and ideal curriculum and student assessment. (DCS)