This document is designed as a self-assessment tool for districts to gauge their progress in implementing college- and career-readiness standards. This tool was primarily designed to help central office leaders and staff assess implementation at a systems level. Each section provides a core set of leading questions, along with descriptions of what…

Relying on Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, this paper attempts to identify school-level factors that contribute to effective implementation of inclusive education. We also explored how government policy, with emphasis on individual education plans, school teams, Roma assistants and inter-sectorial committees, is implemented at the school level.…

California recently overhauled its K-12 public education finance system. Enacted in 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) replaced California's 40-year-old funding formula. The LCFF increases district officials' fiscal flexibility; provides more resources to districts serving larger proportions of low-income, English learner (EL), and…

Preparing all students for success requires a renewed emphasis on supporting high-quality teaching, on using data to inform decision-making, and on creating a culture of high expectations. To support the shift toward college and career readiness, more than 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).…

This guide is intended for school leaders who want to create partnerships with families and community members in their schools. There are many reasons to want to increase family and community engagement. First and foremost, family and community engagement helps students achieve. In addition, creating partnerships allows for the pooling of…

This interim progress report provides a look at Turnaround Arts schools in their first year, including: (1) a summary of the evaluation design and research questions; (2) a preliminary description of strategies used to introduce the arts in Turnaround Arts schools; and (3) a summary of school reform indicators and student achievement data at…

School leaders are increasingly called upon to pursue meaningful partnerships with families and community groups, yet many leaders are unprepared to meet the challenges of partnerships, to cross cultural boundaries, or to be accountable to the community. Alliances are needed among educators, families, and community groups that value relationship…

The Parent Involvement Program (PIP) was designed to promote the active and continuing participation of individual parents in the education of their children, as well as a partnership with the schools their children attend. An evaluation of PIP focused on its planning and implementation and determined the program's effectiveness in meeting its…

This study of the primary restraining and driving forces that influence Title VII bilingual education programs found the external environment, the local community, to be the main factor influencing institutionalization and self-renewal. The internal environment--the local school, and the local school's organization or central office, school board,…

The program model presented in this handbook is directed to urban high schools in crisis. In 1982, Central High School in Providence, Rhode Island, was such a school. Thirty percent of the student body came from low-income families, violence erupted regularly, it was difficult to maintain discipline, academic achievement was consistently below…

This project came about after discussions with the general manager of the Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association and Jeanette Clarkin-Phillips (University of Waikato) about setting up a research partnership to support the teachers at Taitoko Kindergarten in Levin. The teachers were establishing an integrated community centre (the whanau…

This book describes how school systems across the nation are seeking new ways to involve parents while strengthening efforts already in place. The introduction describes the need for strengthening the school's ties to the community, in light of increasing numbers of children living in conditions that predispose them to being at risk, such as…

Based on interviews with eight administrators, teachers, parents, and community volunteers, this article reports the challenges and progress of two urban middle schools in developing comprehensive, permanent school, family, and community partnerships through the National Network of Partnership Schools. Partnership activities and their effects on…

Two bilingual education programs serving the Puerto Rican community of East Harlem in New York City were investigated to ascertain the degree and kinds of community participation in planning, implementation, and evaluation of bilingual programs. It was found that while there are formal structures in place for involving the community, such as a…

Discusses the measurement of customer satisfaction with public school districts based on collaborative efforts generated by the Florida Schoolyear 2000 Initiative. Describes implementing customer satisfaction surveys in Florida, explains the testing of the surveys with businesses and parents, and discusses trends in performance improvement. (LRW)