The New Structure of School Improvement: Inquiring Schools and Achieving Students

by Joyce, Bruce R.; Calhoun, Emily; Hopkins, David

• ISBN13: 9780335202942
• ISBN10: 0335202942
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-01
• Publisher: Open Univ Pr

Summary

Self renewing schools where students and staff are involved in ongoing inquiry has long since been an ideal in education. However, this goal has not proved readily achievable. The authors of this book regard this as a challenge which can be confronted positively, believing that enough knowledge exists to develop a fresh structure of school improvement - and one which is likely to succeed. The book draws upon the considerable body of research on successful and unsuccessful school improvement programs to generate a practical strategy for school improvement that can be used by schools, school districts and local education authorities, and policymakers with a high probability of success. The heart of the strategy is an inquiry process centered on the continuous study of student learning and the creation and study of initiatives to enhance student achievement in academic, personal and social domains. The school as a workplace is altered dramatically with the inclusion of study time for teachers, continuous staff development and the organization of a governance structure which includes school staff, parents, community agencies, business partners and local district or education authority personnel. This timely and important book is vital reading for anyone with an interest in improving schools and the quality of education today.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Peter Mortimore
Mission and style	xiii
PART I CREATING THE SCHOOL AS A CENTER OF INQUIRY: SEARCHING FOR A NEW STRUCTURE
The quest is for a structure that can guide school improvement with a high probability that both staff and students will be in a rich state of growth.
Building the evolutionary school: looking for success in research and experience	5	(12)
From the analysis of successful and unsuccessful school improvement efforts, seven hypotheses are raised as the framework for a structure. To use them, one must test them. They invite schools into inquiry, not the adoption of formulas. The school is ever-evolutionary, never done or satisfied.
Centering the school on student learning: imagining the possibilities	17	(15)
How much and how quickly can student learning respond to well-designed school improvement efforts? And, incidentally, what support is there for the hypotheses in current research?
Studying evolving schools: watching the action	32	(19)
Two case studies depict schools developing initiatives and working their way toward an evolutionary state.
PART II ELABORATING THE HYPOTHESES: THE DETAILED WORK OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
We turn to the nuts and bolts. The structure is described in detail, with attendant support from research and practice.
Establishing the Responsible Parties: organizing the decisionmaking community	51	(9)
Time is established for the building of community, the study of the school and the knowledge base, and staff development. The structure begins with the transformation into an inquiry-oriented, democratic community of teachers, parents, community members, community agencies, business partners, and administrators from the school district.
Information, information, and information: the schoolwide action-research way of doing business	60	(23)
The study of the students, their progress, and the curriculum begins. Internal information is combined with the study of the knowledge base as the Responsible Parties generate initiatives, study implementation and effects, and generate more initiatives. The cooperative study of student learning is always central.
Connecting to the knowledge base: finding curricular and instructional options	83	(30)
A major component is the relationship with the knowledge base. We illustrate by reviewin research on instruction and through an extensive review of the literature on the acquisition of literacy.
Embedding staff development: living in a state of learning	113	(22)
Staff development generates the changes in curriculum and instruction that pull students into higher states of growth. The knowledge base is consulted for effective design of staff development. Inquiry is an essential component as new repertoire is acquired by staff and students.
PART III REFINING, RENOVATING, AND REDESIGNING: TAKING STEPS LARGE AND SMALL
School improvement is sometimes accomplished by many small improvements in the learning environment (refinements), sometimes by reconstructing entire curriculum areas (renovations), and sometimes by redesigning the whole plac.
Refining: thinking through sets of changes	135	(13)
A case study of a fine English elementary school where dozens of refinements have created a luminescent whole.
Renovating: changing a dimension of the learning environment	148	(8)
Another case study where the development of computer technology is the center of the renovation of the teaching/learning process.
Redesigning Pembroke School: unfolding an evolutionary state	156	(47)
In this case study a school is taken from a really ordinary state to an exemplary level. We follow the work of calm and ingenious school administrator who organizes the Responsible Parties and leads them to redesign the work of the school, where parents, local businesses, community members, and staff are all at school along with the children.
PART IV POLICYMAKING FOR SCHOOL RENEWAL: MAKING THE CONTEXT THROUGH NATIONAL, STATE, AND LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITY POLICY
National, state, and district policies create the context for school renewal and deserve careful scrutiny. Both external initiatives and efforts to support site-based efforts have foundered badly in the past. We review the policies and suggest serious inquiry into ways of improving them.
Supporting evolution: working at a distance from the school	203	(6)
States, nations, and even districts need to generate policies that acknowledge that they can only help - they can't control. But they can influence, both by supporting schools as they seek an evolutionary state and by supporting research and development to generate new curricular and instructional options. Above all, they need to conduct policy from an action-research perspective, rather than assuming that policymakers know best and can generate improvement by pressure and mandate. Unless schools achieve an evolutionary state, they will not improve either through their own efforts or by responding productively to external pressure or initiatives.
Reforming reform: renewing the local education authority	209	(15)
Local education authorities (school districts) exist to provide direct human support to schools. Yet school districts have been weakened by state and national policies and by their own policies, which have greatly reduced the curriculum and instruction personnel who are relied on for support. We suggest a reversal of these policies and a movement toward the same kind of evolutionary state that we believe will work for schools.
Coda: history and current context	224	(4)
Bibliography	228	(27)
Index	255