Drawing on three decades of practical investigations, this book establishes new understandings about the importance of learning through work, outlining its purposes, contributions, conceptions and the curriculum, pedagogical and personal practices that shape its effectiveness. Against views proposing it as being informal and leading to concrete…

"Scaling Up School and Community Partnerships: The Community Schools Strategy" builds on both practice and research to describe the what, why, and how of system-wide expansion of community schools. The guide is written for a wide audience and for communities at different points in planning for, implementing, and sustaining a community…

The Strengths-Based Approach is a way of seeing the world as positive and focuses on building upon strengths rather than on fixing deficits. This updated monograph details the approach and includes activities and a participant guide to move the Strengths-Based Approach to career development into practice. It is for anyone interested in approaching…

In "System Wise," Adam Parrott-Sheffer, Carmen Williams, David Rease, Jr., and Kathryn Parker Boudett provide a blueprint to scale up the Data Wise process for continuous improvement, extending it from classrooms and schools to broader educational contexts. The System Wise approach highlights the adaptability of the Data Wise protocols,…

Charter school authorizing is a powerful strategy for making excellent public schools and educational opportunities available to all students and communities, especially those who are historically under-resourced. Done well, authorizing increases student achievement by expanding the supply of quality public schools. Because authorizing is a…

This tool is designed for individuals who want to formatively assess a research-practice partnership (RPP) in collaboration with its members. It provides guidance on how to set and monitor progress on quarterly RPP goals aligned to five critical dimensions that researchers and practitioners must address to build and sustain an effective RPP. This…

Leadership is a mindset, not a position. Rely on this resource as you nurture your leadership skills and grow as a lifelong learner. Ideal for book studies, "Leadership at Every Level" shares real-world examples and research-based strategies for strengthening leadership capacity at the classroom, school, and district levels. You'll learn…

This toolkit informs school leaders about the authorizing challenges they may confront, illustrates opportunities and options for school leaders to navigate the authorizing process, and shares useful frameworks for considering the benefits and trade-offs of these options. The toolkit contains the following sections: (1) Strategies &…

State education agencies (SEAs) are working to deliver equitable education opportunities to every student, and that can require a hard look at how the agency is managing capacity, coherence, and equity in pursuit of this work. To build capacity, SEAs are taking stock not only of how they are allocating existing resources but also examining how…

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Jobs for the Future (JFF) released "Leadership Competencies for Learner-Centered, Personalized Education," a resource that serves as a first step in identifying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions leaders must master in order to build and sustain learner-centered, personalized…

Last fall, researchers at Bellwether Education Partners began research on how standard authorizing practices could discourage or disadvantage charter schools with nontraditional models, such as dual language immersion, Montessori, and competency-based education models. Throughout the course of their research, the authors spoke to dozens of school…

Over half of all teacher-powered schools have designated administrators, and the role is very different from what a traditional principal does at most K-12 schools. This guide is designed to address the unique opportunities and challenges in being a teacher-powered administrator. The guide draws on the expertise and experience of eight…

It's imperative that our nation's schools not only welcome diversity in the classroom, but also teach students how to navigate an increasingly racially, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse society and global economy. "The Principal's Guide to Building Culturally Responsive Schools" presents recommendations for four leadership…

Consensus is growing that high-quality early education is a critical support to all subsequent learning. In early childhood education quality is generally considered holistically in terms of the physical environment, programmatic structure (e.g., length of the school day), curriculum and instruction, and the nature of interactions between teachers…

In this book the authors explain how to build, and over time improve, the elements of an observation system that equips all observers to identify and develop effective teaching. It is based on the collective knowledge of key partners in the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project--which carried out one of the largest-ever studies of classroom…