Genuine effective school improvement requires leaders and teachers to be part of a broad-based, creative change system that focuses on generating improved teacher practices for enhancing student learning. This guide provides a step-by-step, systemic approach.

Through specific examples, qualitative research, and portraiture, the author illustrates how and why some schools are able to achieve significant, sustainable change while others cannot.

Prospective college students and their parents have been relying on Loren Pope's expertise since 1995, when he published the first edition of this indispensable guide. This new edition profiles 41 colleges—all of which outdo the Ivies and research universities in producing performers, not only among A students but also among those who get Bs and Cs. Contents include: Evaluations of each school's program and "personality" Candid assessments by students, professors, and deans Information on the progress of graduates This new edition not only revisits schools listed in previous volumes to give readers a comprehensive assessment, it also addresses such issues as homeschooling, learning disabilities, and single-sex education.

In this insightful look at the human side of school reform, Robert Evans examines the difficult hurdles to implementing innovation and explains how the best-intAnded efforts can be stalled by the resistance of educators who too often feel burdened and conflicted by the change process.The Human Side of School Change provides practical advice on problem solving, communication, and staff motivation. It argues for more realistic expectations about the pace of reform and the performance of leaders. And it presents a way of approaching all school improvement—a conceptual framework for understanding change as a process, educators as people, and leadership as a craft. By concentrating on the realities of life in schools and the common personal barriers to change, Evans illuminates the key sources of resistance to school reform. Grounding his work in a thorough understanding of human behavior and organizational functioning, he provides a new model of leadership along with practical management strategies for building a framework of cooperation, not conflict, between the leaders of change and the people they depAnd upon to implement it.

It is the thesis of this provocative book that the deteriorating state of America's public school system is actually a reflection of the problems in our culture and society. In "Waiting For A Miracle," James P. Comer M.D., Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University Child Study Center and the author of Maggie's American Dream, and co-author of Raising Black Children, outlines the cause of these afflictions and presents an inspiring paradigm for a new way of thinking and acting with regard to children and family.At the root of the problem, he states, is a social failure to make a commitment to families, and to community and child development.Using many examples from his personal experience of growing up poor, and from more than thirty years of community involvement, Comer argues that schools can be the most important instrument of change in a society. He spells out how private, public and non-profit sectors can collaborate to enable children, families, and communities to survive and thrive.

Guide for becoming a leader in making changes in the educational field.

“It is now time to break down the ideology of exceptionalism in the United States and other Anglo-American nations if we are to develop reforms that will truly inspire our teachers to improve learning for all our students—especially those who struggle the most. In that essential quest, Pasi Sahlberg is undoubtedly one of the very best teachers of all.” —From the Foreword by Andy Hargreaves, Lynch School of Education, Boston College Finnish Lessons is a first-hand, comprehensive account of how Finland built a world-class education system during the past three decades. The author traces the evolution of education policies in Finland and highlights how they differ from the United States and other industrialized countries. He shows how rather than relying on competition, choice, and external testing of students, education reforms in Finland focus on professionalizing teachers’ work, developing instructional leadership in schools, and enhancing trust in teachers and schools. This book details the complexity of educational change and encourages educators and policymakers to develop effective solutions for their own districts and schools.