To assist system administrators as they pursue their own teacher leadership initiatives, this profile from Leading Educators and the Aspen Institute details the steps Denver Public Schools (DPS) took to design and implement its Differentiated Roles pilot. Specifically, it examines the initiative's opportunities and challenges within the context of…

What fundamental ideas from higher performing schools underlie a coherent approach to educational improvement? First, only a system-wide approach to improving teaching and learning can make it possible for students to receive good teaching, year after year, across different subjects. Given the difficulty of the task, isolated and uncoordinated…

A "blueprint" is a guide designed to improve large-scale implementations of a specific systems or organizational approach, like School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). This blueprint is intended to make the conceptual theory, organizational models, and practices of SWPBS more accessible for those involved in enhancing how schools,…

Ongoing, strategic family-school partnering (FSP) is an essential component of every educational community. FSP is a multi-dimensional process in which schools, families, and communities engage in shared actions to ensure a child's academic, social, and emotional success. With this text, the authors intend to offer a practical guide that…

First introduced in 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has evolved over time, emphasizing education reform priorities that mirror the changing national education policy conversation. The most recent iteration of ESEA, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), was enacted in 2001. It emphasized improving outcomes for…

As part of its work to advance the multiple pathways approach to high school education, the James Irvine Foundation engaged the Bridgespan Group to develop a framework for assessing the nature and needs of the fields in which nonprofits operate. These agents of change often struggle to understand how to focus their field-building investments and…

Summarizes the successful reengineering of business processes to take full advantage of new functionality in a vendor system upgrade at Western Iowa Tech Community College. Suggests that to truly benefit from implementing new systems or major system upgrades, an institution must streamline processes, eliminate duplication of effort, and examine…

Describes development of an "enrollment management organization," an approach to establishing optimum enrollment at a college or university. The approach integrates assessment, planning, and budgeting on an institution-wide basis to determine and achieve enrollment goals. Presents the step-by-step process to move toward such a system. (EV)

Discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to needs assessment is followed by a description of the five phases of the flexible composite needs assessment approach, START (Systematic Technique for Assessing Resources and Training/Development) for developing training programs within various types of organizations. (EAO)

Often times, there is a lack of preparation provided for the new superintendent by universities and professional associations. Meanwhile, new school superintendents are so focused on campaigning that little time is spent on what it takes to succeed in the position. In this book the author lays the foundation with a systematic mindset, a strategic…

The author suggests that the systems approach used in industrial management can help in the planning of special centers for handicaped students in regular schools. Special centers are considered in terms of their growth, benefits, and as a system development. (SB)

This discussion of the legal aspects of acquiring a computer system emphasizes the buyer's rights. Guidelines are provided for drafting a contract specific to the individual buyer's needs and modifying the vendor's standard form contract. (EM)

The Family to Family Initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation has encouraged states to reconceptualize, redesign, and reconstruct their foster care systems. By 1996, the Foundation had selected and funded five states and six counties in two other states to develop family-centered, neighborhood-based family foster care systems within one or more…

This brief presents the assumptions underlying the approach taken by the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, Teachers College, Columbia University, in creating a nonviolent school. It also provides specific program components that schools can implement. The approach is based on the recognition that violence is a function…

Recounts the history of a project which brought instructional systems development to the training schools of the U.S. armed forces. Included are the problems faced, the choices made, the focus chosen, the difficulties encountered, the product that resulted, and the outcomes of the project. (Author/CHC)