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This report examines a Massachusetts pilot program for quarterly benchmark exams in middle-school mathematics, finding that program schools do not show greater gains in student achievement after a year. But that finding might reflect limited data rather than ineffective benchmark assessments. Benchmark assessments are used in many districts throughout the nation to raise student, school, and district achievement and to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This report details a study using a quasi-experimental design to examine whether schools using quarterly benchmark exams in middle-school mathematics under a Massachusetts pilot program show greater gains in student achievement than schools not in the program. The following are appended: (1) Methodology; (2) Construction of the Study Database; (3) Identification of Comparison Schools; (4) Interrupted Time Series Analysis; and (5) Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Grade 8 Mathematics (May 2004). (Contains 2 boxes, 2 figures, 18 figures, and 23 notes.) [This report was prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) by Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands administered by Education Development Center, Inc.]

While most urban school districts face rapid turnover in leadership and limited results, Boston has won national attention for its stability and success. The purpose of the study is to inform the leadership transition that will occur as Payzant's superintendency comes to a close in June 2006. This study examines Boston's accomplishments and challenges and provides lessons for other large urban school districts. The following are appended: (1) The Case Study Team; (2) Methods: How the Study Was Conducted; (3) Facts and Figures: Boston Public Schools at a Glance; (4) Timeline of Major Events in BPS: 1992?2005; (5) English Language Arts and Mathematics Achievement in Grades 4, 8, and 11: 1998?2005; and (6) MCAS Performance by Race/Ethnicity - Grades 4, 7 & 8, and 10.

This report is based on a three-year study of the design of New York's Regional Network Strategy and its subsequent implementation activities, including the development of statewide professional development for members of the network involved in the state's strategy. The study is based on the idea that internal coherence--alignment and shared understanding of school improvement processes/approaches within and across levels of the multi-tiered educational system--will lead to a more effective school support system. An effective school support system is one that improves the capacity of districts and schools to effectively implement research-based strategies and supports in schools and classrooms. The report contains four sections following an executive summary, introduction, study overview and theory of action, and methodology and data collection. Section I, New York's Regional Network Strategy for School Improvement, contains: Overview; Key Features of the Regional Network Strategy; History and Background of the Regional Network Strategy; and Opportunities and Challenges. Section II, Implementation of the Regional Network Strategy, contains: NYSED (New York State Education Department) Regional Professional Development Initiative; and Participation, Next Steps and Impact. Section III, Cross Group Analysis, contains: Assessing Internal Coherence; Purpose(s), Rationales, and Assumptions; Strategies and Approaches to School Improvement; Roles and Responsibilities, including How Groups Interact with Each Other; and Leadership Interactions. Section IV contains policy recommendations. Appendices A-E provide: Study Questions and Protocols; Data Collection Activities, Dates, and Participants; Regional Network Partner Summary Reports; Listing of NYSED Policy Documents; and NYSED Regional Professional Development Initiative and Supplemental Materials. (Contains 3 figures and 6 tables.) [This publication was produced by The Education Alliance at Brown University.]

A recent study by The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), Principals in the Public: Engaging Community Support (2000) found that communication, marketing, public affairs and public relations and engagement activities are now given more time and importance than ever before. According to the study, public support builds excellent schools. With a focus on communicating the principal?s complex role to the community, The National Association of Elementary School Principals, in conjunction with The Education Alliance at Brown University engaged principals from the Buffalo (NY) School District and Regional District #17 in Connecticut, in the development of an agenda for enhancing the public?s image of schools and of principals as effective leaders. This brief details those action strategies designed to impact public perceptions regarding the role of principals and their schools.

When school systems began to desegregate after Brown v. Board of Education, 80 Per cent of the school population was white and 20 per cent was minority. By 1996, the number of minority students had risen to approximately 35 per cent of the student population, and today it stands at nearly 40 per cent and growing. These students continue to achieve well below white students in most subject areas and at virtually all grade levels (Williams, 1996).Test score results, schooling expenditure rates, dropout statistics, and related data indicate that many minority students are at risk of academic failure. Though quality teaching for diverse student populations depends on many factors, there are too few qualified teachers for diverse student populations and too few teachers with specific training in culturally responsive pedagogies.The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University (LAB) has prepared this review with the understanding that, while there may be much knowledge in practice about minority teacher recruitment, retention, and development, there is still a need to gather and synthesize promising research in order to enable education practitioners and policymakers to identify the most effective programs and practices that encourage more minorities to choose teaching as a career, develop expertise as teachers, and remain in the profession. In addition, it is intended to provide researchers with provocative questions for further investigation. This report represents the third annual synthesis of research in a series of five proposed to the Institute of Education Sciences at the United States Department of Education. It is intended for a broad audience, including educators, policymakers, and researchers at the national, state, and local levels. Therefore, this review examines studies within a number of research traditions and with a variety of perspectives studies that do not frequently appear in the same bibliography. This approach embodies the belief expressed throughout a great deal of the research (e.g., Milem, in press; and McAllister & Irvine, 2002) that diversity of viewpoints will generate increased knowledge and creative ideas for further research. This knowledge and creativity will subsequently enhance student and teacher learning and enrich the national discourse on the significance of diversity in American public life.

This report is intended to provide background information that will help reading specialists, education technology specialists, classroom teachers, and special education teachers work together to understand, evaluate, and implement effective uses of technology within K-6 reading programs. It brings together the research-based guidelines for teaching children to read from the National Reading Panel report (NRP, 2000) with information about the potential uses of multimedia digital technology to enhance reading instruction. It provides background about effective reading instruction and potential uses of technology, and summarizes the currently available research evidence on ways in which technology can successfully enhance reading instruction in the elementary grades. While currently limited, the available research does point to many exciting possibilities for technology to enhance reading instruction (as summarized in appendix A) and suggests that there is great potential ready to be explored by schools, technology developers, and researchers.

This study was geared foremost to the needs and interests of district leaders and seeks to help them understand RSO/district relationships and make informed decisions about collaborating with external organizations. Its findings can also be of use to other key leaders of school reform such as school board members and other elected and appointed officials, funders, union representatives, and civic and business leaders. All of these stakeholders play a critical role in reform and develop widely varying types of relationships with RSO's, sometimes as part of the superintendent's relationship and sometimes independently. (Author)

This collection of essays is the latest contribution to the body of cross-site knowledge on the Annenberg Challenge. The intent of this publication is to further advance the understanding and practice of educators and policy leaders about what it takes to achieve and sustain large-scale reform, all the more urgent in light of new state and federal mandates.(Author)

This is a workshop designed to help high school change teams increase their understanding of personalized learning and learn ways to adapt existing practices to improve student engagement. The series draws from six years of assisting schools that have been struggling to find ways for their diverse students to meet uniform expectations. It is also based on two earlier studies that form the foundation of the series: (1) a shadowing study of student engagement in seven high schools, "Making Learning Personal: Educational Practices That Work", and (2) a description of five high schools undertaking reform at different levels of organization, "Dynamics of Change in High School Teaching: A Study of Innovation in Five Vermont Professional Development Schools", both published by the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory of the Education Alliance at Brown University. (AMT)

This workshop stresses the importance of advisories to the learning process. It stresses that relationships and the personalization of learning are fundamentals to the learning process both in and out of school. It suggests that advisory groups, even in large schools, create the conditions for improving student achievement and behavior and enrich the lives of students and teachers through personalization of the learning experience. Research demonstrates that personalization of the learning environment--enabling students to know well, and be known well by, at least one adult in their school--leads to improved student outcomes in school. (AMT)

Reform efforts involving school finance have focused on the state's role in equalizing expenditures across all districts within a state. Despite these efforts, little attention has been given to differing expenditures among school within districts. In analyzing differences in spending across schools and students in Cincinnati, Seattle, and Houston, the School Communities That Work task force found that traditional "staff-based" budgeting practices, a nearly universal policy among districts, had created substantial inequities among schools in each district. The three districts studied had recently adopted student-based budgeting policies. Findings show that this new policy has the potential for improving equity among schools and categories of students. It also provides a foundation for serious conversation about where district dollars are spent and the reasons for these spending patterns, allowing district leaders to be more strategic in their investments and to measure progress against those investments. The study methods and results are presented in briefing-chart form and as a PowerPoint presentation on the Web. This material provides policymakers, researchers, and interested citizens with an overview of these complex budgeting issues and with a practical way to share the evidence gathered from districts that have implemented student-based budgeting. (RT)

The Central Office Review for Results and Equity (CORRE) is designed to help school district leaders improve support to schools by participating in a five-step analysis of the work of the central office. It enables a district to examine the impact, effectiveness, and coherence of operations across departments, units, and levels, and to help central-office staff members act in concert with the larger system's overall strategies, goals, and outcomes. The review process relies on commitments from the CORRE team, made up of representatives from the district and School Communities That Work (SCtW) members and consultants. Tools developed by SCtW and the Annenberg Institute will also support the work. The five steps of the analysis involve: (1) preparation; (2) developing shared understanding of the district and identifying priorities; (3) deepening the understanding of the priority issue(s); (4) compiling and analyzing data on the priority issue(s); and (5) developing action steps. The major activities, primary goal, and supporting documents/tools are described for each step in this paper. After the action steps have been determined, SCtW will continue to work with the district. The work may involve varying levels and frequency of feedback and consultation on the implementation of the action steps. (RT)

This paper describes the vision and goals of the School Communities That Work task force. This group envisions a new kind of school district: the local education support system. It marshals all of a city's resources to provide schools, students, and teachers with needed support and timely interventions; ensures that schools have the power and resources to make good decisions; and makes decisions and holds people throughout the system accountable with indicators of school and district performance and practices. The task force identified two approaches to forming effective partnerships in education, including assessing and aligning partner services to promote both results and equity, and considering all partners' current activities and future plans from a youth engagement and development perspective. Although these approaches are common to effective partnerships, they need strong, consistent leadership to sustain them. They also must begin with the desired results in mind, build civic capacity, distribute accountability among partners, make good use of data, be honest about partners' individual needs and resources, seek out and listen to students, form meaningful relationships with parents, and pool resources. Continuation of the system is achieved when partners reach out to new members and develop long-term structural and institutional supports. (RT)

The primary organizational structure for a city's schools is the district. Its critics, however, consider that dysfunction was designed into school districts structure by virtue of their history. District structure was built on the notions that intelligence was innate, that the "scientific management" model produced optimal results, and that schools should be separated from politics. Many district reform efforts have not worked. This paper offers a reform solution that achieves both positive educational results and equity in a "local educational support system" or "smart district." Such systems provide all schools in the "school community" support for results at scale, ensure equity, and emphasize community responsibility. Essential functions include providing schools, students, and teachers with needed support and timely interventions; ensuring that schools have the power and resources to make good decisions; and making decisions and holding people throughout the system accountable by using indicators of school and district performance and practices. Each of these functions must work in concert--none is sufficient on its own to ensure results and equity. Strong leadership and political will are needed to overcome resistance to change; brainpower is needed to design steps intelligently; and skills and constructive relationships are needed to implement such a system effectively. (Contains 28 references.) (RT)

This paper describes the vital role that human-resources management plays as a contributing factor to excellent schools and student learning. Nationwide, it is the norm for human-resources practices to be mismanaged in ways that create inequities in the quality of teaching and school leadership. Examples include hiring constrained by limits imposed by traditional practice, compensation and career advancement that are determined automatically, and staffing decisions governed by seniority rights and entrenched rules. The School Communities That Work task force researched companies and organizations that reshaped themselves to become "good" and "great" organizations. Findings allowed the task force to formulate a framework for examining and improving human-resources systems in education. Three principal elements include creating a positive and motivational organizational context, getting the best possible people into roles suitable for them and for the organization, and getting the most out of each and every person. Possible positive changes in district policy and new agreements with professional unions include creating pay scales differentiated by field of qualification, alternatives to seniority and additional years of education as criteria for moving up the pay scale, and incentive-based pay tied to learning gains for students. (RT)

This report was written with the public, not professional educators in mind, and sought to tell a story without jargon. It discusses the challenges of changing public schools and the setbacks that must be faced. (Author)

This report describes ongoing efforts of the Maine Department of Education to encourage high school improvement through state-level actions. Three intertwined strategies have added value to the individual schools' improvement efforts, including: (1) the drafting of a statewide reform framework called Promising Futures; (2) the creation of a new and unorthodox institutional formation, called the Center for Inquiry in Secondary Education; and (3) the success at substantially adapting the federal Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program by intertwining it with Promising Futures and restricting it to high schools. The success of these strategies has depended upon their personalized implementation by autonomous, credible, culturally savvy, devoted, and suitably experienced education leaders. Maine's appropriation and customization of federal guidelines allowed it to create a coherent, targeted, and distinct program, thus permitting the state to begin changing one of the most intransigent segments of the public education enterprise, the high school. The attempt at improvement in this state is promising because it is attuned to both local dispositions and contemporary understanding regarding organizational change and improvement. The authors hope that readers will consider the viability of the ideas presented in this report for state education agency action and consequent high school improvement elsewhere. (Contains 46 references.) (RT)

This report, the second annual report of the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) system's current 5-year contract, shows the progress laboratories have made in meeting regional challenges and establishing national leadership in critical areas. The report also illustrates who the labs are using research and development to gain knowledge about how to stimulate learning, improve educational systems, and change policies and practices for the better. Following an introduction, the report opens with "Meeting Regional challengesStories from the RELs," which outlines some of the initiatives of the RELs. The focus of their work ranges from designing professional development strategies to aligning classroom instruction with state standards and assessments, to investigating such specific concerns as interstate teacher certification, compensation, and pension portability. The RELs do more than address education reform in their own geographic regions. Each REL focuses on a national leadership area in which the laboratory synthesizes knowledge and findings from major research and development activities. A section on "National Leadership Areas" describes the activities and accomplishments of each of the 10 RELs in its particular area. In addition, all 10 laboratories collaborate in a network that serves as a national resource for educators. A final section describes the REL data collection efforts aimed at capturing knowledge about progress toward turning low-performing schools into high performers. (SLD)

High schools in the United States face tremendous challenges involving changes in cultural and economic forces and necessities. They need to transform themselves into places of learning where knowledge is relevant to students' needs and aspirations. Because many traditional high school structures are large, compartmentalized, and impersonal, they commonly contribute to student alienation and academic failure. The resulting disengagement can lead to students' withdrawing from learning, eventually dropping out, and entering society unprepared to continue their education or to work. Educational improvements can be made by connecting students' needs to existing structures and requirements that allow them to interact broadly with the adult world. The needs and talents of students can be represented in six dimensions: voice, belonging, choice, freedom, imagination, and success. Student engagement increases in schools that provide equity, community, opportunity, responsibility, challenge, and expectations. Meaningful student relationships revolve around recognition, acceptance, trust, respect, purpose, and confirmation. Reducing school size has been shown to affect academic achievement positively. Personalizing learning for high school students increases their engagement and allows high schools to be more flexible in adapting to today's societal changes. (Contains 43 references.) (RT)

Vermont's Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1997 (Act 60) has attracted attention because of its funding and quality components, and the highly publicized responses to its implementation. A key feature is its "recapture" provision in which property-wealthy towns contribute to a state educational fund that helps support education in poorer communities. A multiple case study done to examine ramifications of this act shows that: (1) educators believe that its quality components are effective in improving educational quality despite ambiguous and inconclusive student achievement test results; (2) defects of the funding mechanism are emerging involving inflation adjustment, financial strain from changing enrollments, and the state's ability to cover funding shortfalls; (3) school district resistance to changes are financial, political, and cultural; (4) all towns are struggling with escalating education costs; and (5) Vermont towns are maintaining their individuality and uniqueness despite fears of homogenization. At this time, the future remains uncertain and prompts unanswered questions concerning issues of sustainability, adequacy of funding, political influences, and expanding the culture of local control to encompass the entire state. Appendices contain data on demographics for FY 1997, various financial summaries for FY 99 through FY 2001, and a graph of changes in effective tax rate versus per-pupil cost. (Contains 13 references.) (RT)

This report examines responsiveness of the federally-supported Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) to English language learners (ELLs), highlighting the role of state education agencies (SEAs). By analyzing references to relevant terms (e.g., limited English proficiency, English as a Second Language, Spanish-speaking students, bilingual education, and Title VII) in seven states' CSRD applications and requests for proposals, researchers examined whether those states remedied three CSRD oversights (whether states recognized and moved to remedy unnecessary dichotomization between school reform and the movement to make schools ELL responsive; whether SEAs ever reversed the pattern of first designing a reform and then adapting it to ELLs; and whether SEAs overtly addressed the reality that ELLs fare as poorly in school as any identifiable population). Results indicate that an opportunity to remedy CSRD oversights regarding ELLs was largely missed when states did not consider them explicitly as they formulated CSRD strategies. SEAs were ELL responsive in CSRD planning only through general instructions to include all students. Two appendixes contain references to ELLs and/or programs serving ELLs in various states' CSRD applications and references to ELLs and/or programs that serve ELLs in federal CSRD guidelines to states. (Contains 28 references.) (SM)

A number of studies have demonstrated the existence of "effective" schools in comparison to other "ineffective" models. To identify the contexts for success, a study examined "teacher instructional" and "school" variables to characterize the complex of factors that might be needed to achieve high levels of student success. The research involved six successful and six less-successful schools in Vermont, representing three distinct clusters of school/community demographics. Interviewed and observed were 52 K-4 teachers in the successful schools and 25 K-4 teachers in the less-successful schools. Other school and district personnel were also interviewed. Findings suggest a great diversity of practices was employed within and throughout the clusters and classroom sites--a variety of approaches to instruction existed. Findings indicated that throughout the six successful schools representing different demographic clusters, the following common factors are associated with high performance: opportunities and ample time are provided for students to read and discuss books in school; the K-4 teachers are knowledgeable and articulate about their work and they can be characterized by their high level of expertise; the commitment to literacy within the high-performing schools has remained strong over an 8-to-10-year period; and the school community is focused and working toward a shared vision. Includes a table and 5 figures. (Contains 11 references.) (NKA)

This paper describes the experiences of five high schools in Boston, Massachusetts, a district with a successful history of career pathways and academies that, in the last 3 years, has encouraged schools to restructure entirely into smaller learning communities. The schools work to benchmark curriculum to high standards, ensure effective instructional practice, implement multiple and ongoing assessments, create small learning communities, reduce student-teacher ratios, create respectful learning environments, and build partnerships with families, communities, businesses, and higher education. Data from interviews and document reviews at these schools indicate that a strong curricular leader is essential to developing a strong, effective learning community; tensions result from decisions regarding how to fully cluster students and teachers into small learning communities; it is difficult to maintain basic services for bilingual students; it is difficult to balance the desire of teachers for input into staffing decisions with the need to ensure that students have equal access to a range of pathways; and it is challenging to focus simultaneously on implementing new district initiatives directed at preparing students for high stakes tests and on restructuring schools into small learning communities using inquiry-based, contextual learning strategies. The research methodology is appended. (Contains 18 references.) (SM)

This issue brief considers how to involve English language learners in community-connected learning, a set of strategies to engage young people in learning experiences beyond the classroom. Such strategies include internships at work sites, and project-based learning in classrooms. In successful community-connected learning strategies, students come to understand how they might pursue and expand upon their own interests, and to observe and work alongside adult experiences in a variety of workplaces and occupations. Specifically, they advance their language skills by interacting with English-speaking adults in the workplace, experience being treated as adults, participate in learning as an active rather than passive process, earn wages while charting long-range career plans, and gain opportunities for valuable job experience and learn about academic options at post-secondary institutions. Other issues considered include the following: effective strategies for involving English language learners in internships and project-based learning and the best role of community supervisors and high schools. A check list of potential barriers to English language learners involvement in community-connected learning is matched with specific suggestions for addressing these barriers. Twenty additional resources are recommended. (KFT)

Research traced the flow of such events as faculty development, school district initiatives, state and federal policies, student experience, and systems changes in Montpelier (Vermont) High School over six years to identify patterns of activities that supported growing reform. To understand how community-based learning (CBL) for a few students laid the groundwork for what was to become personalized learning plans (PLPs) for all, students, teachers, and administrators were interviewed. The CBL effort began as faculty sought information on alternative programs to engage reluctant students and became a community vision that was validated by district policy in a strategic plan. The administration instituted a long-block schedule, and a mentoring program and CBL internship were established. CBL emerged in the form of a system-wide program for everyone. As paths of the activities converged, the CBL program expanded to include PLP. What makes the PLP program distinctive is its placement of the student's aspirations at the center of a quest: what is he or she doing here, and what is he or she learning and preparing himself or herself to do? The PLP conversation is sustained over the course of four years and dips into all aspects of the student's life. The four phases of the innovation at Montpelier were team and individual capacity building; shaping community vision; structural alignment and adaptation; and systemic resonance. (YLB)