Students learn or progress at their own paces. Each needs different amounts of support, at different points in a school career and at different times of the school year. Some need very little help to stay on track, while others are facing serious challenges in learning, in their behavior, or at home, and need significant interventions. It would…

Finland has, as of late, become an inspiration for American school reform. There is no denying that we have much to learn from the Finnish system and it rightly deserves its global accolades. However, over the course of the following pages, I would like to suggest that it is also lucrative to look north of the 49th parallel and consider the…

To address concerns about low graduation rates and a lack of workforce readiness, states and districts have been experimenting with different models of high school reform. One of the most popular models has been the Early College High School (ECHS) model, small schools that blur the line between high school and college. Since 2002, over 200 ECHSs…

This "Fifth-Year Report" from the Evaluation of the Comprehensive School Reform Program Implementation and Outcomes (ECSRIO) is the final report on the outcomes of the federally funded Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program. It presents findings about the relationship between participation in the U.S. Department of Education's…

This report summarizes program evaluation results from Austin Independent School District's 2007-2008 high school Student Advisory/Family Advocacy Program.

"First Things First" is a reform model intended to transform elementary, middle, and high schools serving significant proportions of economically disadvantaged students. Its three main components are: (1) "small learning communities" of students and teachers; (2) a family and student advocate system that pairs staff members and…

The Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) Program was established as a demonstration program in 1998 and authorized as a full program in 2002 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It is one approach to help low-performing K-12 public schools meet state performance standards. CSR emphasizes two major concepts: mandating that school reform…

Schools have traditionally been accountable for management of educational programs, while students were held responsible for academic achievement and personal success. Recent reform and restructuring efforts have increased the responsibility of schools for student outcomes. Wisconsin has shifted responsibility for student outcomes to the…

The National High School Center released methods for improving low-performing high schools based on some of the most rigorous research currently available in the school reform arena. This research brief identifies lessons learned as well as key practices used to strengthen high schools and is based on evaluations of four widely used high school…

Outcomes of a restructuring program implemented in the Fluvanna County High School, Help Instructional Growth Happen, are reported in this paper. Program goals were to: (1) establish a cooperative steering committee; (2) develop a cooperative learning language; and (3) implement interdisciplinary teacher teams. Three areas were…

School restructuring continues to be a common approach to improving education. Despite restructuring's continued and growing support, there is little research to support its effectiveness. The theoretical contrast exposed in school restructuring is between bureaucratic and organic organizational forms. A study assessed the effect of restructuring…

The Accelerated Schools Approach is a whole-school reform being implemented in more than 1,000 U.S. elementary and middle schools. The program is characterized by a school structure that sets high expectations for students and teachers, a governance structure with broad teacher participation, and a "powerful learning" approach to…

This paper illustrates several collaborative program evaluation models and designs used in Newark, New Jersey, public schools since a state takeover in 1995. As part of its comprehensive design for school reform, the school district developed collaborations with community partners to provide direct services to schools. Each evaluation combined…

In low-performing public high schools in U.S. cities, high proportions of students drop out, students who stay in school typically do not succeed academically, and efforts to make substantial reforms often meet with little success. The Talent Development High School model is a comprehensive school reform initiative that has been developed to…

An assessment of the relative and absolute impact of various educational reform movements on student learning and an analysis of school superintendents' roles in such movements are the purposes of this study. Mailed surveys to 70 experienced New York school superintendents yielded a 78.6 percent response rate. The first phase focused on the…