Purpose: This article attempts to build a better understanding of the leadership necessary to create socially just schools for English language learners (ELLs) by addressing these questions: In what ways do principals create asset-based, collaborative, and inclusive learning opportunities and services for ELLs? What do varying approaches of these…

Literature on school reform has emphasized the need for principals to expand beyond their traditionally administrative role and become instructional leaders. This article examines the relationship between the practice of site-based instructional leadership and the professional development that teachers received in the context of a district-wide…

In this multi-method case study, the authors explore the success of school reform in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), whose school reform combines a portfolio strategy and a managed instruction approach. Portfolio strategy is a term used to describe an approach that decentralizes resources and decision-making to school sites--increasingly in…

This article focuses on how the Success for All Foundation (SFAF)--the nonprofit intermediary organization that promotes Success for All--works with educators in schools to increase capacity for learning and instruction. Success for All is a comprehensive school reform model that primarily centers on early literacy intervention. Building on…

Describes case studies of three elementary schools' instructional practices for English-language learners. Finds deficient English-language learner programs in two schools, but an innovative instructional program in one of the schools wherein English-language learners are integrated into multiage classrooms taught by English as a Second Language…

This report describes Michigan's school restructuring efforts under the No Child Left Behind Act, and includes findings from case studies of nine schools in four school districts: Detroit Public Schools, Flint Community Schools, Harrison Community Schools, and Willow Run Community Schools. Key findings from the report include: (1) more Michigan…

Over the last 10 to 15 years, a variety of efforts to transform American high schools have gained both public and private support. Significant among these are initiatives to implement Small Learning Communities (SLCs), part of a larger school reform and restructuring effort designed to address a variety of goals, including "downsizing large…

This book is part of a series of case studies that demonstrate better ways to educate Ohio's students. The case study is part of the Transforming Learning Communities (TLC) Project, designed to support significant school-reform efforts among Ohio's elementary, middle, and high schools. This report describes the implementation of an innovative…

This study examines the systems of technical assistance and support that Northwest Region states implemented during 2005-2006 for schools in need of improvement. By highlighting key characteristics and differences among state systems, the intent is to stimulate an analysis of what states can do and what issues they might address to move schools…

Background/Context: This study builds upon research on teacher professional communities and high school restructuring reforms. It employs a conceptual framework that draws upon theories of "community of practice" and "community of learners." Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study analyzes how teachers' professional inquiry…

Analyzed professional development spending at a recently restructured urban high school using information from budget and planning documents and interviews with school and district personnel. Data show that teachers in this school received $9,711 professional development resources on average with 98% of the spending on teacher time and training.…

This report examines the impact of three restructuring strategies--interdisciplinary teaming, school-within-a-school organization, and flexible scheduling---on professional interactions between teachers. The ways in which collegiality and collaboration have been addressed in the education literature are discussed, and how collaboration is…

Schooling has long reflected a bureaucratized, assembly line organization. The National Governors' Association has advocated a systematic restructuring of schools to increase student learning. This paper has four goals: (1) to define school restructuring; (2) to suggest how principals, teachers, and students may forge new relationships; (3) to…

The authors describe how a university research center partners with intermediary organizations and high schools to use research methods to support particular goals. These researcher-practitioner partnerships establish goals, articulate effective strategies, and co-construct new approaches to address the challenges of school reform. The article…

Persuaded that quality teaching is the most important way to raise student achievement, the new leadership of the San Diego, California schools initiated a focused set of instructional reforms to "jolt" the system from bottom to top beginning in 1998. Interviews of educators at all levels of the system, district-wide surveys of…