Building on an expanded concept of mutual adaptation, this chapter explores a distinctive and successful aspect of International Baccalaureate's effort to scale up, as they moved to expand their programs and support services in Title I schools. Based on a three-year, mixed-methods study, it offers a case where we see not only local adaptations…

How do schools maintain momentum with change and enter new cycles of growth when they are attempting to do things differently? This article draws on a two-year evaluation of the "Positive Behaviour for Learning School-Wide" initiative to identify key factors that enabled schools to engage in a long-term and iterative change process.…

The Authors@UF program series emerged to showcase the scholarship and creativity of faculty, creating an intellectual forum within the academic library, and providing informal, extra-curriculum, academic engagement between students and faculty outside the classroom. This article identifies steps to launch an author program, and considerations in…

Communities of practice as organisations of learning have developed different forms as: task-based, practice-based or knowledge based communities (Barab et al., 2004). The paper presents a case study of a successful community of practice developed under the umbrella of Council of Europe Pestalozzi programme for teacher development. The programme…

The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program has the potential to be the largest school voucher program in the country. Though the authorizing legislation capped enrollment in the program at 7,500 for its first year (the 2011-12 school year), that cap was increased to 15,000 for this year, and will be removed for all subsequent years. With careful…

This paper describes the redesign of a faculty development program at a large public university that transitioned from weekly face-to-face meetings to a version that reduced seat time by half. Focus is on course development activities in which individual faculty began designing and developing their online courses. Survey data was collected and…

Given the current economic constraints facing the country, school districts in the U.S. have been pushed to develop annual budgets through a new lens and to accept the reality that budget adoption is a complex, political process. Whether a school district is rich or poor, growing or declining in enrollment, serving a specialized population or…

Pay for performance is not a new idea, and reformers should not ignore the dismal record of merit pay over the past century. Initially adopted with a flourish of expectations during several waves of popularity in the past, every plan eventually fell into disuse. These plans proved to be unexpectedly costly and cumbersome to run. They often…

Although the need for project objectives is obvious, their value and role are much broader than most think. In this article, we explore the need for higher levels of objectives, along with tips and techniques to develop them properly. More important, we examine the benefits of objectives from many perspectives. In today's competitive environment,…

This study uses a mixed methods approach to examine a new type of curriculum configuration that supports students' transitions to college: career technical programs of study (POS). Interview and survey data were collected from a college and its feeder high schools in each of three well-established ("mature") sites in geographically…

The research reported in this paper examined a set of innovative high school programs on community college campuses. Specifically, a full-time dual enrollment program and 4 middle college high schools were studied. The authors used in-depth interviews and observational data to investigate the structure, processes, and perceptions of effectiveness…

Quality is fast becoming a policy priority in states and localities around the country. As a result, formal and informal networks of youth organizations are seeking and developing strategies to help them assess and improve performance. This report takes a close look at efforts underway in three networks and provides a preliminary framework for…

This volume presents a completed example of the organizational development process for a fictitious program entitled "The Ridge," and is designed to assist the user in gaining greater understanding of the utility of an organizational development model. The materials are presented in a four-phase sequence, addressing the following topics:…

This qualitative longitudinal investigation examined why a home visiting program was not more effective. Findings indicated that home visits had a consistent structure and that home visitors emphasized their social support role, placing little emphasis on changing parenting behavior. It was suggested that the program's flawed theory of change,…

Effective strategies for developing early childhood centers in public schools are discussed in this paper, which draws from a research-based literature search and intensive case studies of six Northwest sites. The sites represent a range of rural, suburban, and urban programs; large and small schools; and a variety of program features. The sites…