This is the first in a series of reports based on a research study, Developing Effective Professional Learning Communities in Catalyst Schools, conducted between February 2015 and June 2016. "Catalyst schools" were elementary- and secondary-level schools selected to participate in a pilot project intended to explore how best to support…

This report examines traditional calendar school Read to Achieve reading camps implemented in the summer of 2014. Teacher and student survey respondents reported positive reading camp experiences and reading camp was well attended. Based on data for 502 students, a small percentage (16.1%) reached reading proficiency by the end of camp. Gains in…

In fall of 2011 the University at Buffalo Libraries circulation department undertook Six Sigma training for the purpose of overhauling its student scheduling process. The department was able to mitigate significant staffing budgetary reductions and resource reallocations and to overcome the unique challenges of scheduling student labor for a…

Implementation of college- and career-readiness standards is some of the most important work currently underway in states to improve student achievement and public education overall. SREB examined the efforts of 14 states--including 11 SREB states--to support implementation of new college- and career-readiness standards. The goal of the research…

Implementation of college- and career-readiness standards is some of the most important work currently underway in states to improve public education and student achievement. This report provides a summary of findings from SREB's research into the efforts of 15 states--12 in the Southern Educational Research Board (SREB) region--to support…

In 2009, the federal government committed over $3 billion nationwide to help states and districts turn around their worst-performing schools. The U.S. Department of Education intended for the School Improvement Grants (SIGs) to spur dramatic change.This report looks at the results of a field study of the first-year implementation of those grants…

The National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) has a mission to build district and school capacity to implement intensive intervention that will improve reading, mathematics, and behavioral outcomes for students with disabilities in Grades K-12 who have severe and persistent learning and/or behavioral problems. The purpose of this document…

The purpose of this "Handbook" is to bolster the effective implementation of the intervention models and strategies outlined in the "2010 School Improvement Grant" (SIG) program--section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--in order to achieve the program's clear goal--rapid improvement of persistently…

Developing a block schedule and surviving its first year of implementation require an open mind, a flexible spirit, and commitment. Discusses the basics of block scheduling; curricular alignment, course development, and unit design; pacing guides for time management; instruction strategies and lesson designs; classroom management; advanced…

Findings of a study that identified time management strategies used by schools involved in restructuring to address the problem of time are presented in this paper, which is based on the assertion that school faculties need time to restructure while implementing new programs. Methodology involved a survey of 31 schools and 14 school districts that…

Choosing outcome-based education over a traditional time-based approach means that students will progress through a given set of outcomes at different rates. To prevent scheduling difficulties, schools could make the transition to flexible scheduling and performance contracts within a traditional curriculum. Then teachers could develop…

A study focused primarily on building-level leadership by observing how principals in 12 high schools (11 public and 1 Catholic) engaged in planning a structural change from a traditional schedule with 45-minute periods to the 90-minute periods of a block schedule. Using a concerns-based model of change, principals' behaviors and teachers'…

As of 1996, Chaparral High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, was in the fourth year of a radical restructuring effort. The school changed from a 6-period day, composed of 51-minute periods, to an alternating day schedule, composed of 3 102-minute periods per day. This report describes how the school developed and implemented the new schedule. Faculty…

An administrative team member/restructuring facilitator analyzes the failure of a block scheduling reform in a small, suburban district. The prevailing dynamics that obstructed success were fear of change, propagandizing of data, and a culture of complacency. These problems could have been avoided by training staff to work in longer periods,…

A staff-needs planning system was developed and tested in a Department of Social Services' Family and Children's Services Unit in a medium-sized county where caseworkers used no established strategy or planning method to facilitate accomplishment of all the job requirements. The goal of the study was to implement a planning system based on each…