This paper provides a table that contains a summary of resources available that support the National High School Center's "Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework". This framework is based on eight common elements of systemic school reform and provides a structure for understanding, aligning, and prioritizing…

This report describes how California is providing direct intervention to improve structures and processes in districts, which is intended over time to improve curriculum, instruction, and student achievement at the school level. For districts subject to federal Corrective Action under NCLB, California's approach is "top down" in that…

For principals leading site-based structuring and improvement efforts, strategic planning is an important tool. Strategic planning melds short-term and long-term planning models and considers outside variables and school resources. Teaching staff, community members, district office personnel, and consultants all have essential roles in strategic…

The reform bandwagon has brought about a glut of legislation under the term "education reform." Efforts to define this term have been unsatisfactory. A study by Flanigan et al. attempted to define the term education reform, but it discovered that each state had developed its own definition and program. This finding was a result of a survey sent to…

Educators and policymakers in New Mexico are aware that far too many at-risk children do poorly in school, drop out, or perform poorly even if they graduate. In July 1990, the Rockefeller Foundation provided funds for a pilot "New Mexico Academy for School Leaders." The academy brought together 34 elementary school principals, teachers,…

This document was developed by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) to improve schools is to balance a prescriptive content approach and a context-driven process approach. "Success in Sight" is based on the "science" of improvement--it provides clear, specific, research-based guidance for what to do in schools. But it also…

This study outlines the redesign of an elementary school, including the cost of the redesign. The school had been placed in the lowest category of the district's accountability system. Redesign meant a new principal, staff, schedule, philosophy, and curriculum. Direct Instruction was selected as the whole-school reform for literacy and math…

Today's high schools are woefully out of step with the demands of the 21st century workplace. Their structure, once suited for creating skilled laborers and trades people for America's industrial economy of the early 1900s, now engenders an unacceptably high student dropout rate, wide student achievement gaps, inadequate preparation for the work…

Notwithstanding its many problems, Canada's education system enjoys an enviable level of equality of opportunity and still manages to perform as well as systems in England and the United States. But Canadian education has been weakened by its adoption of progressivism, or child-centered education, an educational system that is "harmful,…

This document presents five case studies of Ohio schools in order to discuss ongoing systemic reform in Ohio. Papers include: (1) "Steele Middle School: 'The Best Education for the Best Is the Best Education for All'" (Jane Butler Kahle, Kathryn Scantlebury, Arta Damnjanovic, and Mary Kay Kelly); (2) "Urban Middle School: 'How Much…

Surveyed and interviewed Title I elementary teachers regarding their assessment practices in the first and fourth years of restructuring efforts. Schools in their fourth year of restructuring had significantly higher mean ratings on alternative assessment items than did schools in their first year. Differences were significant for portfolios and…

After investigating alternatives, a Missouri high school adopted the eight-block flexible scheduling model. Instead of meeting 45-60 minutes every day, classes now meet 94 minutes every other day. Staff and students are enthusiastic. Longer instructional periods allow teachers to develop key concepts and use diverse learning activities and permit…

Unlike the effective teaching research, which attempted to identify generic teaching skills, current research focuses on relationships between teaching and learning in specific subjects. Attempts to change school structure have rarely led to reliable changes in either teaching practice or student learning. When geared to students' conceptual…

Eight high schools in three California school districts are on multitrack year-round schedules. Interviews with personnel from these schools and from two districts considering a year-round schedule highlight the effect of year-round schedules on student learning, management issues, extracurricular activities, and school culture. (MLF)

Delaware's early experience with the RE:Learning project affirms the necessity of simultaneous top-down and bottom-up reform efforts. Other critical ingredients include awareness of the critical need for change and strong incentives for bucking the status quo. Resistant teacher and administrator mindsets must also be transformed. (MLH)