Overview

Bringing School Reform to Scale looks in detail at five school districts that have been honored in recent years by The Broad Foundation, whose annual award is granted “each year to the urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among poor and minority students.” Heather Zavadsky examines five Broad Prize winners—Long Beach Unified School District, Garden Grove Unified School District, Norfolk Public Schools, Boston Public Schools, and Aldine Independent School District. As she notes, “the successes highlighted in this book do not represent one-year positive performance blips in these districts, and this book does not provide a list of ‘best practice’ silver bullets that sound effective but cannot be applied outside a unique context. Rather, the book describes the paths these districts have taken over years of intentional, sustained, patient focus on improving teaching and learning that fully aligns instructional practices across all organizational levels of a school system—something that can be done in any district given the right knowledge and tools.”After a generation of efforts to reverse the historic exclusion of minorities from their campuses, U.S. colleges and universities are facing a frontal attack on the programs, policies, and commitments born of these efforts. Chilling Admissions documents and examines their struggle to foresee the consequences of abandoning affirmative action in admissions and financial aid, and to devise viable alternatives for promoting and preserving campus diversity. The essays in this volume represent the work of the leading scholars of affirmative action in higher education, and place the current crisis on campus in its larger context of historical discrimination and the legal battle for educational equity.

Full Product Details

9781934742402

Table of Contents

Reviews

Bringing School Reform to Scale highlights the practices in five districts that won the prestigious Broad Prize and shows how important fundamentals of good practices (including rigorous standards, aligned curriculum, and smart investments in human capital) can lead to great schools and successful districts. Mark Schneider, vice president, American Institutes for Research; former commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics The media are good at spotlighting random school successes, education reforms that subsequently seem to evaporate. Why is it so difficult to sustain and spread productive change from school system to school system? The answers to these questions are crucial, and Bringing School Reform to Scale is a powerful contribution to an accumulation of knowledge regarding these issues. James W. Guthrie, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, Vanderbilt University This book offers an unusually detailed look inside some of our best run school districts. Heather Zavadsky offers honest assessments, highlighting not only the inspiring successes, but also the many daunting challenges that remain. Very enlightening! Ronald F. Ferguson, faculty cochair and director of the Achievement Gap Initiative, Harvard University The analysis of the five high-performing districts points to practices, beliefs, systems, and structures that have led to dramatic turnarounds. The compilation of this work provides a road map toward scalable reform. William R. Hite, superintendent, Prince George s County Public Schools, Maryland

The analysis of the five high-performing districts points to practices, beliefs, systems, and structures that have led to dramatic turnarounds. The compilation of this work provides a road map toward scalable reform. William R. Hite, superintendent, Prince George s County Public Schools, Maryland

Author Information

Heather Zavadsky is director of research and implementation for Educate Texas, a unique public-private alliance dedicated to significantly improving the postsecondary readiness of low income students in Texas. She has more than twenty years of experience in education research and practice, with a particular emphasis on urban education, district data and accountability systems, teacher quality, systemic district and school reform, and special education. Before coming to Educate Texas, Dr. Zavadsky was the Director of Policy at The University of Texas System Institute for Public School Initiatives. From 2002 to 2006, she managed The Broad Prize for Urban Education for the National Center for Education Accountability, where she led the national data collection and analysis, designed and led a rigorous site visit review process for the finalists, presented the final data to the jury, and showcased the finalist and winning districts through a national symposium, articles, and presentations. She also conducted research for the Charles A. Dana Center and led the charter renewal process for The University of Texas at Austin's University Charter School. Additionally, she taught for six years as a special education teacher and worked extensively with students with autism. Dr. Zavadsky is the author of Building School Reform to Scale: Five Exemplary Urban Districts (Harvard Education Press, 2009), as well as numerous papers and articles in scholarly journals. She holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education, a master's degree in special education, a master's degree in education administration, and a PhD in educational administration with a specialization in educational policy and planning.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available