Challenges in Public Schools

At any time, public schools labor under great economic, political, and social pressures that make it difficult to create large-scale, whole school change. But current top-down mandates require that schools close achievement gaps while teaching more problem solving, inquiry, and research skills with fewer resources. Failure to meet test-based standards can produce consequences such as school closure or staff replacement.

Focus of the Book

With this real-world challenge to education foremost, this book presents pertinent research and instructive case studies of two good high schools. It advocates a proven strategy of small-scale, incremental change small wins which increases the likelihood that schools will improve despite a climate of do more with less.

Content Overview

Chapters describe the current societal context; the history of major change projects since the 1970s; the organizational and social characteristics of schools and classrooms; human factors that encourage and support improvement; the effects of technology; forces affecting teachers and principals; commonplace components of and vehicles for change; and practical levers and footings for change that can have a high positive payoff.