The Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative (MBLC) is a demonstration project taking place in 47 schools across Washington to help decision makers understand what quality mastery-based (or competency-based) learning looks like, how long it takes to implement, and what resources are necessary. The schools receive funding, coaching, and professional…

This study highlights how principal leadership of goal-directed practices impacts outcomes. Over 2 years, three academics partnered with three principals and a small "project team" comprising one or more teachers, and one or more middle or senior leaders. In this report, the authors reflect on some of the key changes that occurred from…

This personal narrative describes the efforts of a teacher education institution to understand and introduce teacher leadership into the preparation of teachers. The author provides the history and context of the institution as well as the structures and processes the institution used to achieve these goals. The article concludes with lessons…

This research reports upon the impact of two concurrent processes of Special Measures and academisation applied to a primary school in the north of England as a result of an unsatisfactory inspection by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). The aim of the study is to describe how the process of being placed in special measures, coupled…

This chapter describes how professional and continuing higher education units can develop and sustain successful partnerships with academic departments in order to deliver educational programs effectively to students.

This paper argues that the dynamic model of educational effectiveness can be used to establish stronger links between educational effectiveness research (EER) and school improvement. It provides research evidence to support the validity of the model. Thus, the importance of using the dynamic model to establish an evidence-based and theory-driven…

"Cutting Through the Hype: The Essential Guide to School Reform" is a revised, expanded, and updated version of the classic work by Jane L. David and Larry Cuban. It offers balanced analyses of 23 currently popular school reform strategies, from teacher performance pay and putting mayors in charge to turnaround schools and data-driven instruction.…

Schools to Watch (STW) is an initiative of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform that identifies high performing middle grades schools based on 37 criteria. Initiated in 2003, California's program, Schools to Watch--Taking Center Stage (STW-TCS), has designated 36 schools. This report describes STW nationally and in California,…

The National High School Center's "Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework" provides a cohesive high school improvement framework comprised of eight elements and related indicators of effectiveness. These indicators of effectiveness allow states, districts, and schools to identify strengths and weaknesses of their current…

This paper uses time series data from a widely used assessment to identify colleges and universities that demonstrate positive trends on a range of educational effectiveness measures, describe observed patterns of improvement, and examine informants' accounts of factors that contributed to the improvements. This study informs broad questions about…

In 2004, Kuss Middle School became the first school declared "Chronically Underperforming" by the state of Massachusetts. But by 2010, Kuss had transformed itself into a model for schools around the country seeking a comprehensive turnaround strategy. Kuss is using increased learning time as the primary catalyst to accelerate learning,…

The state's Race to the Top (RTT) application requires changes to the state's evaluation/accountability system. It requires a teacher effectiveness measure, district effectiveness measure, leader effectiveness measure. Regarding the teacher effectiveness measure, RTT requires linking the data of individual students to individual teachers as part…

This article outlines the progress and impact of professional learning communities within, between and across schools, as part of the implementation of whole system reform in Wales. It describes the way in which professional learning communities are being developed to support improvement and change across the education system in Wales. The article…

This article outlines progress made towards education transformation in Wales. It explores the way in which tri-level reform is guiding system level change in Wales and looks at the implementation of the School Effectiveness Framework, which is at the heart of the reform process. It describes the way in which professional learning communities are…

Walk into any school in America and you will see adults who care deeply about their students and are doing the best they can every day to help students learn. But you will also see a high degree of variability among classrooms--much higher than in most other industrialized countries. Today we are asking schools to do something they have never done…