Learning organizations (LOs) serve as an important tool for continuous school improvement. School leaders can shift a school culture from top-down control to a learning-centered environment in which all staff share collective responsibility for improvement. This demands a collaborative culture, ongoing reflection on data to challenge existing…

Teacher leaders play a significant role in school and system improvement. Teacher leaders who maintain teaching responsibilities while taking on leadership responsibilities outside the classroom require professional learning. A school district worked with university faculty and professional learning facilitators to develop a design-based…

The Partnership for Pre-K Improvement (PPI) was launched in 2016 as a project with a vision to develop and sustain high-quality, equitable Pre-K programs that produce improved and more-equitable kindergarten readiness and greater academic success for children through the early elementary grades. The multiyear, multistate (Oregon, Tennessee, and…

"It's Not Rocket Science - A Guide to the School Improvement Cycle: With Examples From New Zealand and Australian Schools" presents an easy-to-read, practical guide to effectively leading school improvement. It walks leaders through each step of 'The School Improvement Cycle' developed by Bendikson and Meyer, providing case studies,…

U.S. policy makers continue to struggle with identifying inclusive strategies that effectively support the needs of individual family child care (FCC) providers, who tend to have low quality rating improvement systems (QRIS) scores. To ensure program quality, there is a need to identify supportive strategies and evidence-based practices that build…

Improving employee engagement has proven elusive in too many schools and districts in our nation, persistently contributing to high staff turnover in buildings and limited employee ownership in the mission, vision, and values of a school's strategic plan. The most common approach to the improvement of educational systems has been the adoption of…

Campus improvement has been associated with isolated processes completed by leadership in an effort to meet the demands of both district priorities and reform efforts. Often the product of isolated leader design of campus improvement planning is a document full of objectives and strategies that are created at the beginning of the school year and…

School districts across the nation are employing coaching for teachers as a means to improve teacher quality and increase student achievement. Looking specifically at instructional coaching as an intervention for teacher support, this study considers the literacy growth data of coached teachers compared to the literacy growth data of uncoached…

Agreement between stakeholders in a school change initiative can positively impact its success (Branson, 2008; Donnell & Gettinger, 2015); however, agreement has been largely unexplored within the context of a change initiative and its stakeholders. The current study analyzed the agreement between three key stakeholders in a change initiative:…

Instructional video is a common staple for delivering content in online courses. However, if the included videos are not properly created, many students will skip the video and its content. Improving instructional video has been the topic of many research projects, and we can learn from these studies how to create effective and engaging…

To provide a contrast to the work on school improvement and innovation in Singapore, this chapter explores the possibilities and challenges for educational innovation in New York City. In doing so, the chapter draws from research on individual and organizational learning to document the evolution of two organizations that have worked to launch…

Drawing from Bourdieusian constructs of habitus, field, and capital, and teacher identities' studies, this paper investigated how Tanzanian language teachers who attended the Fulbright exchange program in the United States negotiated their professional identities after returning to their country. Data obtained through semi-structured surveys,…

Facilities are a critical component of an agricultural education program. Yet, there has been limited research done on agricultural educators' perceptions of facilities, especially since the facilities and resources of every agricultural education program can be highly variable. The purpose of this study was to understand the participants'…

Lesson study has received significant attention as a model of professional development among mathematics teachers. Evidence highlights its effectiveness in improving pedagogical practices and student learning, however, less is known about the predispositions which may encourage teachers' participation in Lesson Study or the impact of participation…

Filled with classroom-tested, practical guidance, this book addresses common questions faced in every school by those seeking to improve reading. It offers a clear, evidence-informed approach that maximises the chances of all children becoming capable, confident readers. (1) Explore how to lay the foundations for reading development; (2) Learn…