A Plan For Advancing Quality And Excellence By The Organization And Management Of Public Education

... "This Commission was charged by the Governor with reviewing the way elementary and secondary education is organized in the Commonwealth."; "Key points of the charge to the Commission cite the needs to: a. Prepare and recommend a comprehensive plan for school district organization, collaboration, cooperation and state assistance. ... b. Review the present status of school district organization and delivery of educational services in the Commonwealth with particular attention to the authority of the Board of Education to achieve improvement in school district organization ... c. Assure that the process of developing the plan includes extensive participation of citizens from communities of all sizes and locations in the Commonwealth in such a manner as to present to them a variety of alternatives to achieve satisfactory and economical educational programs and to elicit from them their preferences and ideas for possible new approaches to school districting. d. Recommend the necessary processes and resources for assuring the implementation of the provisions of the plan ... e. Give careful consideration to ways and means of bringing urban and suburban children and youth together for common education experiences."; sections include: What is a School District? // The Present Organizational Dilemma of School Districts // School District Consolidation // The Structure, Enrollment and Finance of Public Elementary and Secondary Education // Measures of School District Inequality // Fiscal Crisis in Local School Districts // How Many School Districts are "Too Small?" // Urban and Metropolitan Organizations // Occupational Education // Proliferation of Inadequate Programs // Vocational Offerings, Alternatives and the Student (Limited Choices for Girls, Admission to Regional Vocational-Technical School) // Management Problems in Small School Districts // Citizen Involvement and the Management of School Districts // The Changing Department of Education // Other Reports Related to the Commission's Work // The Commission's

In recent years, federal mandates in education have become the subject of increasing debate. Adam R. Nelson's The Elusive Ideal—a postwar history of federal involvement in the Boston public schools—provides lessons from the past that shed light on the continuing struggles of urban public schools today. This far-reaching analysis examines the persistent failure of educational policy at local, state, and federal levels to equalize educational opportunity for all. Exploring deep-seated tensions between the educational ideals of integration, inclusion, and academic achievement over time, Nelson considers the development and implementation of policies targeted at diverse groups of urban students, including policies related to racial desegregation, bilingual education, special education, school funding, and standardized testing. An ambitious study that spans more than thirty years and covers all facets of educational policy, from legal battles to tax strategies, The Elusive Ideal provides a model from which future inquiries will proceed. A probing and provocative work of urban history with deep relevance for urban public schools today, Nelson's book reveals why equal educational opportunity remains such an elusive ideal.

How can we systemically improve the quality of classroom instruction and the learning and achievement of students? In an era when isolated examples of excellence are not good enough, we need systems that support improvement and excellence for all. This book describes how systems can effectively engage in this complex, challenging, and crucial work. The authors explore three core competencies of high-performing school systems: (1) understanding what the work is—a deep understanding of the core business of facilitating learning, a vision of what that looks like, and an awareness of where the system is in relation to that vision; (2) knowing how to do the work—a theory of action for improving instruction, a focus on key strategies, and effective alignment of resources; and (3) building the individual and organizational “habits of mind” that foster continuous improvement. Each chapter includes examples that illustrate key concepts in action, questions to spur self-assessment in key areas of competence, and tools and resources for building capacity at different levels and stages of development.

• Aligns improvement efforts with two sets of standards, NELP and PSEL – no other books in the field do this. • To help ground the main points in this volume, each chapter features a case that presents a leader who is simultaneously leading a school while also learning about improvement science in their graduate class. • To help instructors use this book in their courses, each chapter includes teaching notes and an action inventory aligned to the case examples and chapters. • Uses Improvement Science as a method of continuous change and equity as a values framework—this book centers equity in every improvement effort • This book helps to reframe the conversation about how data can be used by leaders for improvement -- it emphasizes creating a data culture that allows for experimentation and learning from failure and does not limit emphasis on lagging accountability data. • This book is comprehensive with attention to foundational theory and research on continuous improvement, practical methods of continuous improvement, and the leadership of continuous improvement

The District of Columbia (DC) has struggled for decades to improve its public education system. In 2007 the DC government made a bold change in the way it governs public education with the goal of shaking up the system and bringing new energy to efforts to improve outcomes for students. The Public Education Reform Amendment Act (PERAA) shifted control of the city's public schools from an elected school board to the mayor, developed a new state department of education, created the position of chancellor, and made other significant management changes. A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools offers a framework for evaluating the effects of PERAA on DC's public schools. The book recommends an evaluation program that includes a systematic yearly public reporting of key data as well as in-depth studies of high-priority issues including: quality of teachers, principals, and other personnel; quality of classroom teaching and learning; capacity to serve vulnerable children and youth; promotion of family and community engagement; and quality and equity of operations, management, and facilities. As part of the evaluation program, the Mayor's Office should produce an annual report to the city on the status of the public schools, including an analysis of trends and all the underlying data. A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools suggests that D.C. engage local universities, philanthropic organizations, and other institutions to develop and sustain an infrastructure for ongoing research and evaluation of its public schools. Any effective evaluation program must be independent of school and city leaders and responsive to the needs of all stakeholders. Additionally, its research should meet the highest standards for technical quality.

As a field, education has largely failed to learn from experience. Time after time, promising education reforms fall short of their goals and are abandoned as other promising ideas take their place. In Learning to Improve, the authors argue for a new approach. Rather than “implementing fast and learning slow,” they believe educators should adopt a more rigorous approach to improvement that allows the field to “learn fast to implement well.” Using ideas borrowed from improvement science, the authors show how a process of disciplined inquiry can be combined with the use of networks to identify, adapt, and successfully scale up promising interventions in education. Organized around six core principles, the book shows how “networked improvement communities” can bring together researchers and practitioners to accelerate learning in key areas of education. Examples include efforts to address the high rates of failure among students in community college remedial math courses and strategies for improving feedback to novice teachers. Learning to Improve offers a new paradigm for research and development in education that promises to be a powerful driver of improvement for the nation’s schools and colleges.