School improvement, like motherhood, has many advocates. Everyone is for it, without having to campaign actively on its behalf. And just as the 100% of people who have had mothers think they know how mothering could be done better, so the (nearly) 100% of people who have been pupils in schools, or have even taught in or managed them, think they know how schools can be im proved. More precisely, they are sure that schools ought to be improved. The trouble is that they propose a staggering, conflicting range of methods of improving the schools, from ;'back to the woodshed" to teacher merit pay, a stiffer curriculum, a stronger tax base, reorganization, a more humane climate, "teacher-proof" innovations, community involvement-the list is nearly end less. Furthermore, the issues are not merely technical, but normative and po litical. The term improvement is itself problematic. One person's version of improvement is another's version of wastefulness or even of worsening the schools. Furthermore, the versions that win out in any particular school are not Improvement sometimes turns out to be merely a necessarily technically "best. " code word for the directives that administrators have successfully put into place, or for the agreements that teachers have lobbied into being. How much do we really know about school improvement? The available research literature is quite substantial, but not as helpful as it might be.

Real Learning Happens as You Work! Implement performance support to increase and accelerate employee performance. “It is a book that will become dog-eared from use as it is both a narrative and a reference. Valuable now, and over time; it is worth every cent of the $30 cover price. It is easy to read, and easy to fillet for the right information just when you need it. The book comes at a really important juncture in the trajectory of corporate learning and highlights the importance of learning in the workflow. It is the right book, at the right time, in the right way.” —Nigel Paine, MD NigelPaine.com Ltd “Innovative Performance Support significantly moves the learning revolution to the next level. It is the workplace, and the work itself, where performance support will make its mark, and Gottfredson and Mosher are the trailblazers.” —Marc J. Rosenberg, Marc Rosenberg and Associates Research shows that 80 percent of learning in the workplace occurs on the job, rather than in formal training sessions. Innovative Performance Support offers you a concise and comprehensive overview of performance support (PS) practices—ongoing, job-specific resources that ensure employees perform effectively on the job. From free, open-source applications like blogs and wikis to sophisticated new system software, this guide will help you implement the right PS strategy for your team. Innovative Performance Support: Saves the investment in formal training and increases productivity Reduces the learning time required to achieve successful performance Supplements or replaces existing training programs Cuts down on the use of help desks and other traditional in-house support functions Conrad A. Gottfredson and Bob Mosher break down the hows and whys of applying PS solutions to replace the patchwork of existing training programs that you might be using now. They show how leading firms deploy PS solutions to reduce costs, retain talent, and increase productivity and efficiency.

This book offers a first stand-alone practical guide to how to realise transformative potential at scale.

A framework for overcoming the six types of innovation killers Everybody wants innovation—or do they? Creative People Must Be Stopped shows how individuals and organizations sabotage their own best intentions to encourage "outside the box" thinking. It shows that the antidote to this self-defeating behavior is to identify which of the six major types of constraints are hindering innovation: individual, group, organizational, industry-wide, societal, or technological. Once innovators and other leaders understand exactly which constraints are working against them and how to overcome them, they can create conditions that foster innovation instead of stopping it in its tracks. The author's model of constraints on innovation integrates insights from the vast literature on innovation with his own observations of hundreds of organizations. The book is filled with assessments, tools, and real-world examples. The author's research has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Guardian and San Jose Mercury News, as well as on Fox News and on NPR's Marketplace Includes illustrative examples from leading organizations Offers a practical guide for bringing new ideas to fruition even within a previously rigid organizational culture This book gives people in organizations the conceptual framework and practical information they need to innovate successfully.