Superintendents across the country have shared their frustration with planning initiatives that consume valuable chunks of time and energy without yielding a viable tool to drive improvement and accountability. In this article, the authors provide an example that reflects the actual experience of a school district whose identity they are shielding…

The author, who has retired as Scarsdale elementary principal, was asked by the superintendent Michael McGill if he was interested in leading Scarsdale's green initiative. Early on in Scarsdale, they referred to their work as the "green initiative." After agreeing to lead the initiative, he set out to learn more about greening at K-12…

The idea behind public charter schools was to develop flexible models of public schools and to incubate innovative ideas that then could be shared with the district's public schools. Today, almost 20 years since the first public charter school opened its doors in Minnesota, one still does not see consistent, productive collaboration and shared…

Once changes or innovations reach the tipping point, they spread throughout an organization and become entrenched as part of the culture, becoming "just the way we do things around here." These authors see the tipping point at play with systemic improvement in two urban school districts with which they have worked. Here, they describe…

Central Falls is, by far, the poorest community in Rhode Island. More than 40 percent of the children under 18 live in poverty, and 40 percent of that group live in severe poverty. At Central Falls High School, low-income Latino students have fallen behind their white counterparts, with shockingly low graduation, poor literacy, and low…

This article discusses how school districts in California collaborate with higher education to boost college readiness and access. In Long Beach, educators from all three major institutions of learning--elementary, middle and high schools, the local university and the community college--worked together to align standards and expectations across…

Business and education partnerships can be cornerstones of major school improvement efforts and meaningful corporate philanthropy. They also can be frustrating and wasteful if not planned and managed carefully. Partnerships, with their objectives, agreements, memorandums of understanding and budgets, may look like well-planned and carefully…

Describes harmonious, eight-step budget-cutting process used by Quincy (Massachusetts) Public Schools. (PKP)

Describes the use of data on student achievement to create more effective professional development programs for teachers. Profiles the Pella Community School District, Pella, Iowa, and the Glendale Union High School District, Glendale, Arizona. Includes questions and answers on initial targets and first steps in planning professional development…

In the ongoing debate of the efficacy of top-down versus bottom-up strategies to improve school districts, top-down is clearly losing. Many district leaders are reluctant to champion improvement for fear of being labeled with the epithet "top-down leader," the unkindest cut of all. In this article, the author presents the change…

The pressure is on. For the first time in the nation's history, schools are being required to produce measurable evidence that all students are learning, and they are being asked to do so amidst fiscal crises at the state and local levels. While several legitimate criticisms have been made about No Child Left Behind and its unfunded mandates, few…

Rural school districts across the country have seen a serious loss of employment opportunities for families in their communities. Even when jobs exist, they are often low-level service jobs that do not provide wages that encourage young people to grow roots. When good jobs are available, often those jobs are outsourced to other low-wage areas,…

Merger battles in rural communities often have more to do with sports, school colors, traditional rivalries, and socioeconomic differences than student transportation difficulties. Cooperation most commonly exists in special education, vocational education, and purchasing. Stretching resources among districts can boost interscholastic athletics…

A well-conceived and concisely written plan can become an important vehicle to meet challenges and gain citizens' confidence in a school system. Effective strategic planning requires community involvement, husbanding of resources, and a clear sense of timing. (TE)