Can four-day school weeks help districts save money? How do districts overcome the barriers of moving to a four-day week? What is the effect of a four-day week on students, staff and the community? This paper enumerates the benefits for students and teachers of four-day school weeks. Recommendations for implementation of a four-day week are also…

After providing technical assistance to the federal Smaller Learning Community Program grantees, the authors developed five lessons for successful programs: 1) A strong vision of improved instruction needs to drive high school reorganization; 2) A strong vision of improved instruction focuses on strengthening the instructional core; 3)…

The state of public education in the first decade of the 21st century is at a crossroads. Unlike the challenges that have confronted public education in the past, public schools are faced with the possibility of becoming obsolete. With the rapid advances in technology, increased school choice via charter schools, home schooling, and virtual…

This case study describes how Porterville Unified School District (PUSD), a rural school district in California's Central Valley, began to fulfill its vision to transform high school and career education through the implementation of Linked Learning. Linked Learning is a state-wide initiative for redesigning large comprehensive high schools into…

A historical case study from a 6-8 middle school in the coal region of Northeastern Pennsylvania was conducted to examine the extent of teacher collaboration before and after the implementation of the teaming concept as well as the construction of a new middle school. The study was triangulated through the use of multiple data points including…

Reform, diversity of society, and an array of standards and guidelines challenge leaders to provide successful learning for teachers and students. The Professional Learning Community (PLC) concept offers a viable approach to address those challenges. Research indicates that schools need to function as learning communities where teachers and…

"Beyond Tracking" responds to the a sobering assessment of American high schools by delineating and promoting an innovative and well-defined notion of multiple pathways. The book's authors clearly distinguish their use of the term "multiple pathways" from any updated version of the tracking system that marked so many American high schools during…

Faced with a shortage of suitably qualified teachers in many subject areas, the United Kingdom Government has set up a number of initiatives to explore ways of supporting students' learning in classes taught by underqualified subject specialists and classes with no specialist teacher. One such initiative has been the Key Stage 3 (11-14 age range)…