The goal of this report is to inform schools, families and communities about the potential of personalized learning and empower them with ways to support the shift to student-centered learning. The authors define personalized learning and describe why it matters. They highlight examples of personalized learning in action to show how personalized…

This dissertation considers the effects of national rankings, specifically the 2010 National Research Council (NRC)'s Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs, on higher education institutions' behavior. National research studies of graduate education require significant resources and data, yet it is uncertain how universities make…

Throughout the Western world, there appears to be a consensus that schools have failed to prepare children for the challenges of the emerging information age. Many high schools that start out as innovative or "break-the-mold" lose their momentum and experience an "attrition of change." They end up becoming like any other…

Seventeen high schools, representing a broad cross-section of American communities, were selected to be part of a network of schools receiving help in reconceptualizing their existing general education programs. The two-year project involved meetings of the network participants with each other and with experts to help the participants develop a…

Over the last 20 years, many districts and schools have begun to explore year-round education or a modified calendar in response to student under-achievement in low performing schools. Here, the authors detail their two-year study of Title I, year-round, or modified calendar schools that switched from a traditional to a modified schedule in order…

This document combines a facilitator's manual designed to train candidates for Local School Councils (LSCs) and others who want to improve Chicago (Illinois) schools with fact sheets, worksheets, checklists, and case studies (in English and Spanish) to be used by participants in the leadership training program. The following goals are outlined in…

This book analyzes how community-based organizations in low income urban neighborhoods can promote reform of their local public schools. Chapter 1, "Reassessing the Declining Urban Neighborhood," discusses the sources of urban decline in terms of a structural relationship between "haves" and "have-nots." Chapter 2,…

In 1992, the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Education jointly developed the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) Career Academy model, which provides a framework for implementation of an innovative vocational education program designed to keep dropout-prone students in school. The program, which combines military…