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School reform

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Community-Engaged Audit For Reform: One District’S Approach To Address Equity Issues, Kelly Brown Mar 2022

Community-Engaged Audit For Reform: One District’S Approach To Address Equity Issues, Kelly Brown

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

The traditional equity audit itself is going through a reform process. The process began with Skrla (2004, 2009) reimagining the traditional audit with a focus on equity. However, researchers support the notion of using audits to disrupt and dismantle oppressive practices and systems (Khalifa et al., 2016) and involving the community to ultimately have power through the audit process (Green, 2017). Translating theory into practice can be more difficult when school leaders cannot rely on their personal training and experience to solve the problem. The purpose of this case study is to analyze how one urban school district implemented a …


Fighting For Justice In Education: How Schools Can Lead The Change Towards A More Equitable World, Tara Kirton Oct 2021

Fighting For Justice In Education: How Schools Can Lead The Change Towards A More Equitable World, Tara Kirton

Occasional Paper Series

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew. This one is no different” (Roy, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous implications for every aspect of life. School, work, celebrations and everyday social interactions have all felt the repercussions of the pandemic. While the shutdown called for an immediate pivot from our everyday ways of being, it has also provided opportunities for stillness and deep reflection. This moment of pause has provided an opportunity to think, speak and act differently. As a parent my hope is that educators will lead the change.


Where Is The Target? An Examination Of The Conceptions Of Student Engagement Within A School Community, Gary Andersen, Linda E. Feldstein Ed. D. Jun 2021

Where Is The Target? An Examination Of The Conceptions Of Student Engagement Within A School Community, Gary Andersen, Linda E. Feldstein Ed. D.

Educational Considerations

In 2017, the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) launched an ambitious school redesign project. High Plains High School (pseudonym) was among the schools selected for redesign, and as part of their plan, High Plains High School (HPHS) faculty and staff administered a survey to students. Survey results indicated approximately 38% of students felt “disengaged” at school. HPHS administrators found these results worthy of study, in an attempt to understand how students, faculty, and families were conceptualizing school engagement. Results indicate that each constituency tended toward differing concepts of what it means to be engaged in the classroom. Implications include …


The Role Of The Principal In School Reform, Michael Fullan Jan 2018

The Role Of The Principal In School Reform, Michael Fullan

Occasional Paper Series

Fullan examines the principal's role in school improvement and reform. He describes where principals are and what they do and don't do in relation to change. He then talks about the complexity of leadership and offers guidelines for how principals might lead change more effectively.


Professional Development And Educational Policy: A Comparison Of Two Fields In Education, Linda E. Martin, Sherry Kragler, Denise Frazier Jun 2017

Professional Development And Educational Policy: A Comparison Of Two Fields In Education, Linda E. Martin, Sherry Kragler, Denise Frazier

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The purpose of this paper is to compare two fields of research related to school reform: professional development and educational policy. A content analysis of the literature in both fields revealed two areas where they align (i.e., a focus on teachers’ professional development and the idea that change takes time) as well as two areas where there are differences (i.e., theoretical grounding of each field and planning for teachers’ learning). Considerations for successful school reform are suggested.


Trust Formation When Youth And Adults Partner To Lead School Reform: A Case Study Of Supportive Structures And Challenges, Catharine Biddle Jun 2017

Trust Formation When Youth And Adults Partner To Lead School Reform: A Case Study Of Supportive Structures And Challenges, Catharine Biddle

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

This study examines the beliefs and practices that support and undermine trust formation in school leadership efforts that invite students into discussions of continuous improvement. Through a case study of a youth-adult partnership initiative, the study finds that trust between youth and adults was supported by having a shared, accessible language for discussing teaching and learning, opportunities for strengths-based dialogue around school practices, and regular opportunities to meet. However, there was also a perception gap between youth and adults around how well group members fulfilled their roles in the actual data collection process, causing conflict and undermining the long-term stability …


Across Classrooms: School Quality Reviews As A Progressive Educational Policy, Doug Knecht, Nancy Gannon, Carolyn Yaffe Sep 2016

Across Classrooms: School Quality Reviews As A Progressive Educational Policy, Doug Knecht, Nancy Gannon, Carolyn Yaffe

Occasional Paper Series

Knecht, Gannon, and Yaffe, former New York Department of Education administrators, describe their work adding a quality review process to the accountability system for city schools. Positing that the quality review is itself a progressive process, they argue that it can help schools to focus more on the lived experiences of their students and less on high stakes moments.


The New Orleans Reformed Public School System: National Model?, Raynard Sanders Jul 2016

The New Orleans Reformed Public School System: National Model?, Raynard Sanders

Occasional Paper Series

The author describes what happened to the New Orleans Public Schools after Hurricane Katrina.


Accountability And The Contemporary Intellectual, Greg Dimitriadis, Marc Lamont Hill Jul 2016

Accountability And The Contemporary Intellectual, Greg Dimitriadis, Marc Lamont Hill

Occasional Paper Series

Analyzes the language and values that have framed the accountability movement.


How History Shows The Damage Done By Corporate Influence On Education. A Book Review Of Schooling Corporate Citizens: How Accountability Reform Has Damaged Civic Education And Undermined Democracy, Clio Stearns Nov 2015

How History Shows The Damage Done By Corporate Influence On Education. A Book Review Of Schooling Corporate Citizens: How Accountability Reform Has Damaged Civic Education And Undermined Democracy, Clio Stearns

Democracy and Education

Evans’s book addressed the history of accountability-based reform against the thesis that corporate interests have played an extensive, insidious rule in directing the nature of educational policy. This review lauds Evans’s careful history and documentation, as well as his sharp critique of the dangerous implications of corporate involvement for social studies education. The review questions Evans’s open-mindedness in relation to the Common Core State Standards.


School Reform In Canada And Florida: A Study Of Contrast, Catherine S. Boehme Sep 2014

School Reform In Canada And Florida: A Study Of Contrast, Catherine S. Boehme

New England Journal of Public Policy

Alberta and Florida have instituted school reform initiatives over the past fifteen years in an effort to improve the quality of their schools. Alberta has focused on systemic improvement by engaging the community in educational needs assessment, raising the high standards of teacher preparation, and improving effective instructional practices through professional development. Florida’s efforts have concentrated on holding students, teachers, schools, and districts accountable for high-stakes testing results by increasing the number and rigor of required assessments and increasing the negative consequences for low achievement scores. The 2012 PISA scores reveal that Alberta’s students are maintaining their high rankings relative …


Shifts In Conversation: How Culturally Responsive School Climates Are Changing The Way Educators Think About Meeting The Challenges Of Diversity, Krista Root May 2014

Shifts In Conversation: How Culturally Responsive School Climates Are Changing The Way Educators Think About Meeting The Challenges Of Diversity, Krista Root

The William & Mary Educational Review

Increasingly diverse student populations and accountability demands are two of the most critical and defining challenges for K-12 public schools in the 21st century. Meeting the needs of culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse (CLED) students is not a contemporary issue. Educational institutions have recognized, to varying degrees, the inequities in education for this population as far back as the Civil Rights Era (Gorski, 1999). In recent years, however, the rapid growth of minority and immigrant populations in public schools in combination with accountability-era transparency has intensified the pressure on schools to eradicate educational disparities for diverse student populations. This paper …


Leadership, A Question Of Power And Vision, Douglas Biklen May 2013

Leadership, A Question Of Power And Vision, Douglas Biklen

International Journal of Leadership and Change

Leadership! Books have been written about it, yet we still seem to want more accounts of it. In large part, the desire for ever more examples and models of leadership derives, I think, from the fact that leadership occurs in context, and particular contexts seem to call for particular kinds of leadership qualities. In this brief paper, I will discuss leadership for school improvement and two core principles that can help explicate it: power and insight.


Educating For A Critical Democracy: Civic Participation Reimagined In The Council Of Youth Research, Nicole Mirra, Ernest D. Morrell, Ebony Cain, D'Artagnan Scorza, Arlene Ford Mar 2013

Educating For A Critical Democracy: Civic Participation Reimagined In The Council Of Youth Research, Nicole Mirra, Ernest D. Morrell, Ebony Cain, D'Artagnan Scorza, Arlene Ford

Democracy and Education

This article explores civic learning, civic participation, and the development of civic agency within the Council of Youth Research (the Council), a program that engages high school students in youth participatory action research projects that challenge school inequalities and mobilize others in pursuit of educational justice. We critique the neoliberal view of democracy that dominates in the existing research, policy, and practice around urban school reform and civic education and instead turn to evidence from social movements and critical social theory as a foundation for a reimagined, more robust vision of critical democracy. Through our analysis of the activities that …


Beating The Odds, Michael F. Addonizio, C. Philip Kearney Jan 2012

Beating The Odds, Michael F. Addonizio, C. Philip Kearney

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


One World Is Enough, Mark Seaman Jul 2011

One World Is Enough, Mark Seaman

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

When Sting wrote and sang these lyrics more than twenty years ago, he was trying to illustrate the absurdity of dividing our planet into arbitrary designations (e.g., “Third World country”) based on conditions such as location, status, and culture. Today, educators continue to make similar, broad assumptions about populations based on, among other things, cultural background, language, and religion. These assumptions often inappropriately affect educational policy-making decisions at the national, state, and local levels. Educators today must continually deal with issues such as racism, language barriers, political influences, and cultural inclusion. This must be done in schools whose populations are …


A Connection Between Moral Imperative And Women’S Leadership?, Sarah W. Nelson, Patricia L. Guerra, B. Genise Henry Feb 2011

A Connection Between Moral Imperative And Women’S Leadership?, Sarah W. Nelson, Patricia L. Guerra, B. Genise Henry

Administrative Issues Journal

This paper describes a qualitative study of two school districts’ efforts to support school leaders in developing the knowledge and skills to analyze, understand, and transform system inequities. The results suggest that, despite being armed with knowledge and skills, leaders may be reluctant to act even when doing so is within the scope of their authority. This work draws from Fullan’s (2003) concept of moral imperative and examines the connection between moral imperative and women’s ways of leading. The findings have implications for educational leadership programs that seek to prepare school leaders capable of challenging and changing inequitable systems.


Fundamental Issues In L2 Classroom Assessment Practices, Esmael Hamidi Apr 2010

Fundamental Issues In L2 Classroom Assessment Practices, Esmael Hamidi

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The purpose of this paper is to provide L2 teachers with a succinct, conceptual framework of implementing the assessment forms to facilitate the relevant practical issues in L2 classrooms while focusing the current theories and views of assessment issues in L2 classrooms. I begin with giving a good rinse-out to assessment by distinguishing it from testing and evaluation. Then, following a brief account of the pedagogical history of assessment with a major focus on its ‘authentic’ aspect as the current concern to the educators of the field, I will discuss four criteria regarding the quality of assessment. The paper will …


Introduction: Classroom Life In The Age Of Accountability, Gail M. Boldt, Paula M. Salvio, Peter Taubman Mar 2009

Introduction: Classroom Life In The Age Of Accountability, Gail M. Boldt, Paula M. Salvio, Peter Taubman

Occasional Paper Series

"For this Occasional Paper, we invited teachers to respond to the ways in which proliferation of standards and testing combined with their own loss of professional control is altering the landscape of American education....Our goal is to raise questions about whether and how educators are balancing the demands of high stakes testing, scripted curricula, and a focus on performance outcomes with the emotional complexity of classroom life."--The editors


Evaluation, Supervision, And Staff Development Under Mandated Reform: The Perceptions And Practices Of Rural Middle School Principals, Charlotte King Eady, Sally J. Zepeda Mar 2007

Evaluation, Supervision, And Staff Development Under Mandated Reform: The Perceptions And Practices Of Rural Middle School Principals, Charlotte King Eady, Sally J. Zepeda

The Rural Educator

The perspectives of three rural middle school principals as they implement Georgia’s A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000 were investigated in this study. A case study approach was used, employing both within case and cross case analyses. Three interviews were conducted with each of the three participants, resulting in a total of nine interviews. Five perspectives emerged from the data: (1) Evaluation of teacher effectiveness can be indicated only by the results of standardized tests, (2) Supervision consists of classroom visits and observations, (3) Ruralness affects how staff development is delivered, (4) Lack of funding limits the effectiveness of …


High School Career Academies, Nan L. Maxwell, Victor Rubin Jan 2001

High School Career Academies, Nan L. Maxwell, Victor Rubin

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Better High Schools: What Would Create Them?, Theodore R. Sizer Jun 1994

Better High Schools: What Would Create Them?, Theodore R. Sizer

New England Journal of Public Policy

The American desire to improve education has set off a flurry of activity to reform schools. In such a climate of restructuring, Sizer explores what better secondary schools might "look like" if indeed they existed. His consideration of the improved high school is based on five particular conditions — all of which support teachers and students in their engagement with the serious stuff of learning and all of which must exist in one form or another for schools to be effective. The conditions are cast as questions. Sizer locates the responsibility for school reform broadly, from the heart of a …