Purpose: The purpose of this article is to outline how far the empirical evidence supports the centrality of leadership in the process of improving underperforming schools. Design/methodology/approach: This article draws on evidence from a contemporary, selected, review of the literature. Findings: The findings show that leadership is the critical…

Contemporary educational reforms emphasise school autonomy, performance-based management, and accountability as necessary policies for attaining improvement goals. Despite their widespread adoption, the configuration and enactment of these policies are discretionary and contingent, deeply influenced by the interaction of local contexts,…

For more than two decades, federal law has required states to identify schools failing to provide students with a high-quality education and has led to substantial debate about how best to do so. Appropriately identifying the lowest performing schools matters because it allows state and local education agencies to target limited resources for…

This is the appendices for the full report, "Identifying the Nation's Lowest Performing Schools: Shifts Following the Passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)." This study examines state identification of schools for the most intensive support to see how changes in federal laws and regulations played out nationally and at the…

This dissertation aims to find a correlation between collective teacher efficacy (CTE) and student achievement. Through a quantitative study, the researcher collected data from teachers in high- performing, low socioeconomic elementary schools, specifically those identified as Title I Distinguished Schools in a state in the southeastern region of…

Research on school improvement has accumulated an extensive list of factors that facilitate turnarounds at underperforming schools. Given that contextual or resource constraints may limit the possibilities of putting all of these factors in place, an important question is what is necessary and sufficient to turn a school around. We use a…

The Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15CC) supported the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) in developing an evidence-based menu of more rigorous interventions (MRI) for the state's Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools identified as CSI, including the bottom 5 percent of Title…

Despite the implementation of reform policies and accountability measures on the federal, state, and local levels, the problem of struggling schools and students has lingered in the United States public education system. New York State has recently revised how struggling schools are identified and how they are held accountable for improving…

The problem addressed in this study was that students in upper elementary at four Title I elementary schools did not meet district achievement standards in science for four consecutive years, which could impede their educational and employment futures. Little is known how teachers in these elementary grades taught science content to improve…

School turnaround in the United Stated has been a focus dating back to the mid 1960s with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act aimed to ensure that children have equal access to excellent educational opportunities. This qualitative study targeted seven Turnaround Principals of…

Effective teachers are developed through preparation programs, but, more importantly, through continuing professional learning relevant to the students that they teach. To continue to grow, teachers need a supportive environment that allows them to develop their instructional skills through specific, actionable feedback. In fall 2019, the National…

Learner diversity should be understood beyond the aspects of race, culture and gender. Learner-centred practices have been highly acclaimed as practical tools to meet learner needs in diverse classrooms. The purpose of this research is to determine whether mathematics teachers can employ assessment to monitor and encourage learner diversity in…

Designing for and implementing deeper learning across classrooms and schools that serve communities disadvantaged by the U.S. educational system is challenging. This paper illuminates this challenge by asking the question: What would designers of interventions at the classroom, school, and district levels have to take into consideration when they…

The current study examined teacher classroom responses to the Classroom Strategies Coaching (CSC) Model in 14 high-poverty elementary schools. Coaches used observational data to identify practice needs, goals, and monitor progress regarding instructional and behavioral management strategies. The sample included 53 teachers that received the CSC…

Prior to the 2012-13 school year, New York and many other states underwent changes to their accountability systems as a result of applying for and being granted waivers from the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. A key component of these new accountability systems, under what is known as ESEA Flexibility or NCLB Waivers, was the…