This fourth edition of the "ES Review" brings together, in one setting, some of the best work from 2009-10. It features: (1) Teacher Quality (Teachers at Work: Improving Teacher Quality Through School Design (Elena Silva); Understanding Teachers Contracts (Andrew J. Rotherham); How Teachers Unions Lost the Media (Richard Whitmire and…

This book summarizes the major research findings that show how to substantially increase student achievement. This book draws on a number of investigators who have statistically synthesized many studies. A new education method showing superior results in 90% of the studies concerning it has more credibility than a method that shows results in only…

The State of Florida Department of Education provides pre-and-post-graduation data for public high school graduates throughout Florida. These data were used for the present report to produce data sets for all M-DCPS regular high schools and charter high schools graduating students in 2008 and 2009. Summary data for the district are also provided.…

This book is a roadmap for developing collaborative strategies that integrate the knowledge, ideas, expertise, resources, networks, and systems of the nonprofit, private, public, and religious sectors in the transformation of elementary and secondary schools. While most books on school reform focus on micro issues such as curricula,…

Since the passage of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB), the evidence that it is working has continued to grow. Because of this law, teachers and parents are getting the information and help they need to help every child reach his or her best in school--and as a result, student achievement is rising across America. While…

Discourse about high poverty schooling generally revolves around three points of view. In the first, equity of school resources is considered to be the key ingredient in school improvement. In the second, no matter the school resources, there are successful high poverty schools, so therefore policy should focus on their example and not use poverty…

Evander Childs High School and Morris High School are two of the largest and most challenged secondary schools in the Bronx. Despite decades of political handwringing, many attempts at school reform, an array of corporate and community partner programs, and efforts to recruit highly qualified faculties for the long term, many of the students in…

Private foundations are attempting to move away from educational reform approaches based on model development. The limits of the "Johnny Appleseed" (sowing seed and moving on) mode of grantmaking are coming clear. Persistence--a willingness to commit resources to an issue or institution for 5 to 10 years--will need to be an operating…

Charter schools may provide part of the answer to increased demand for restructuring and school accountability/autonomy. This handbook describes in detail the organization and operation of charter schools. Chapters define charter schools, describe their appeal and the approval process, present a model charter-school structure, discuss innovative…

If fundamental change in education is to be lasting and effective, it must be a systemic transformation that pervades all aspects of the organization. The New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC) mission requires rapid, comprehensive change. The Community Learning Centers program described in this document features systemic change with…

A persistent dilemma of school leadership is whether principals should concentrate efforts on building cohesion and good working relationships among staff or on specific curriculum aimed toward specific learning outcomes for students. Interviews with three principals who worked through both strengthening collegiality and improving curriculum show…

High schools today face problems of culturally diverse student populations, diversity of student learning styles, and a growing public perception that high schools do not adequately prepare their graduates for either work or college. This paper offers an extensive review of literature on block scheduling as well as a handbook for gaining support…

This report presents general criteria for authentic pedagogy, instructional activities rooted in a primary concern for high standards of intellectual quality, as well as more specific standards that can be used to judge the quality of assessment tasks, classroom lessons, and student performance. Examples are given of tasks, lessons, and student…

Parents, teachers, and government officials agree that America's schools must be reformed. However, new research suggests that most reforms will not work without closer attention to one critical resource--time. This document presents findings of a study conducted by the Rand Institute on Education and Training, which found that any reform takes…

Efforts in the United States to provide a higher quality education for everyone regardless of race, class, and gender have had, at best, a very modest effect. This paper suggests that the effect of a change strategy depends on the discourse (how things are talked about when teachers solve problems, plan their work, create policy, and explain…