This fourth book in the Marzano Academies series focuses on secondary school leadership for competency-based education. The beauty of the framework, however, is that any leader seeking guidance on innovative, equitable, and effective practices can use this book as a blueprint for positive change. This is your blueprint for how you, as a secondary…

A case study was implemented in one rural district as it transitioned to a trauma-informed environment. A theoretical framework based on the literature framed the data collection around the seven themes of awareness, positive culture, intentional instruction, restorative practice, self-care, mental health support services, and professional…

To scale up and sustain the use of evidence-based practices, it is imperative that state education agencies systematically implement professional development that represents best practice. By delivering quality professional development to local districts, it is more likely that transition personnel will implement transition programs and practices…

Bridge21 is an innovative approach to learning for secondary education that was originally conceptualised as part of a social outreach intervention in the authors' third-level institution whereby participants attended workshops at a dedicated learning space on campus focusing on a particular model of technology-mediated group-based learning. This…

Educational reform in the United States is perpetually evolving. Much of the recent reforms have concentrated on high-stakes testing and assessment, but a parallel effort has been emerging in the field of vocational and career education. Prompted partly by federal legislation--most recently by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act…

The School Improvement Project of the Institute for the Development of Educational Activities, first instituted in 1980, offers high schools a method for selecting and implementing recommended changes from among the many proposed in recent reports on high school improvement. (JBM)

Teams can boost creativity, morale, and communication, but they can also unleash disharmony, create tension, and waste time. To maximize teaming benefits, administrators must share authority, cultivate teacher leadership, train all team members, use situational leadership, model effective team leader behaviors, provide incentives, support each…

Provides 10 guidelines to follow in implementing a competency-based curriculum. The guidelines include not imposing the program from above, matching measurement devices to instructional goals, stimulating student support of the program, and allowing for easy adjustment of competency measures. (IRT)

Examines data from four secondary schools struggling to develop and implement authentic learning and assessment over a three-year period. The schools did not succeed due to several interrelated factors: lack of foundational knowledge, the dominance of privacy and classroom autonomy norms, teacher time and student control issues, efficacy issues,…

For beginning principals, delegation is an important skill and an effective way to learn about staff members. After defining the school's strengths and weaknesses, a principal can set concise, realistic goals and communicate them to the school community. A general blueprint for action (including communication, assessment, planning, and…

Quality Implementation in Transition is a framework designed to guide transition specialists and administrators in the implementation of total quality management. The framework uses the tenets set forth by W. Edwards Deming and is intended to help professionals facilitate change within transition programs. (Author/JOW)

Restructuring programs and reallocating resources (to smaller classes, teacher planning, professional development, and tutors for struggling students) constitute a complex, large-scale change process. Steps include recognizing the need for change, evaluating strategies, and creating a new educational strategy for all organizational levels. (MLH)

Considers aspects of managing change as illustrated in 25 British secondary schools that have implemented antibullying policies for pupils. Despite staff ownership, problems arising from the subjectivity of policy interpretation and contextual pressures are likely to affect outcomes. Analysis of questionnaire and report data shows that policy…

In 1988, Illinois entered into a 5-year commitment, called the Illinois Alliance of Essential Schools (IAES), to implement the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) philosophy in several secondary schools. This paper presents findings of a study that examined how IAES schools defined the program's nine Common Principles and the implementation…

Describes the implementation in fourteen schools of an organizational development strategy aimed at maintaining or improving school effectiveness. Covers classification of the schools, their characteristics, the steps followed in implementing the development strategy, program outcomes, and the program's rationale. The program pays particular…