Fully integrate your school's support community and watch achievement levels and morale soar! Many principals feel they lack the personnel necessary to raise student achievement to mandated levels. Yet, as school leaders seek to improve educational outcomes, one of the most underutilized groups remains student support professionals-the counselors, social workers, and nurses already on site. Karen Seashore Louis and Molly F. Gordon offer a practical approach to creating a fully integrated student support community that contributes to increasing achievement levels. Incorporating research and practical strategies into a broader paradigm of leadership, they offer directives for implementing reform initiatives and rigorously assessing their effectiveness. Bridging theory and practice, this book provides: An examination of emerging models linking student support programs and academic achievement Guidelines and resources for overcoming barriers to reform Exercises and suggestions to help start the change process Case studies of principals who have successfully integrated their student support services An expanded comprehensive support model (CSP) that considers the multi-professional nature of student support activities Reorganizing existing resources is the most efficient path to school reform. Rather than limiting the counselor or social worker's role, use it to form a comprehensive support program to help improve school achievement!
Fully integrate your school's support community and watch achievement levels and morale soar! Many principals feel they lack the personnel necessary to raise student achievement to mandated levels. Yet, as school leaders seek to improve educational outcomes, one of the most underutilized groups remains student support professionals-the counselors, social workers, and nurses already on site. Karen Seashore Louis and Molly F. Gordon offer a practical approach to creating a fully integrated student support community that contributes to increasing achievement levels. Incorporating research and practical strategies into a broader paradigm of leadership, they offer directives for implementing reform initiatives and rigorously assessing their effectiveness. Bridging theory and practice, this book provides: An examination of emerging models linking student support programs and academic achievement Guidelines and resources for overcoming barriers to reform Exercises and suggestions to help start the change process Case studies of principals who have successfully integrated their student support services An expanded comprehensive support model (CSP) that considers the multi-professional nature of student support activities Reorganizing existing resources is the most efficient path to school reform. Rather than limiting the counselor or social worker's role, use it to form a comprehensive support program to help improve school achievement!
Avoid "analysis paralysis" and just get started! Now that most states have adopted the new Common Core State Standards, the next major challenge is to simplify and implement them by 2014. That is why it is important to begin this work now. Joe Crawford, Milken Award-winning educator and author of Using Power Standards to Build an Aligned Curriculum, shares his proven process for building a viable local curriculum based on the CCSS. Readers will find: A system for creating local standards from the CCSS Methods for connecting the common, formative assessments to quarterly instructional objectives Ways to scaffold learning expectations Examples taken from districts where CCSS is currently implemented Included are helpful charts and graphs plus access to Internet-based software for mapping the CCSS to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Schools cannot continue to do what they have always done and expect a different result. This book explains how to facilitate learning for all students while taking advantage of the new culture, technology, and norms of today's learning environment.
The School Counselor's Guide to Handling Tough Adolescent Problems
This book will help school counsellors respond more effectively to the challenging sexual issues of adolescence and to better understand the crucial role that such issues play in shaping teenagers' lives. Drawing on their years of experience in roles as varied as parent, teacher, coach, counsellor and administrator, the authors help translate knowledge into effective counselling intervention.
Changing whole education systems for the better as measured by student achievement requires coordinated leadership at school, community, county, and government levels. Based on the author's work with Canadian, UK, and U.S. districts and large systems, this resource lays out a comprehensive action plan for achieving whole-system reform. The book examines: - Successful reform initiatives in the U.S. and abroad - Actions and conditions that have insured traction and sustainability - Ways to avoid common errors of action, funding, and policy - New reforms at the national level that can impact learning right now
How to Engage Your Stakeholders in Reimagining School
Suzie Boss is an established expert speaker, writer and author on school change and reform. In this book she explores how leadership can engage the whole school and outside community to work together to build learning. Studies from the frontlines of school change provide inspiration and ideas you can adopt or adapt for your context. Discussion prompts are included to promote and provoke conversations-both inside and outside school-with everyone who has a stake in student success (including students themselves). Working together, through collaborative inquiry and hard conversations, you will arrive at your best answers for how schools should adapt for your context and your children. The four-part framework, based on insights from those at the leading edge of change, will help readers navigate the journey ahead: (1) The Why: To help a community reimagine school, effective leaders must first build common understanding about why change is necessary. (2) The How: Moving from vision to reality requires practical considerations. For example, stakeholders with diverse backgrounds bring a wealth of experiences and perspectives to shape the future of education. To collaborate effectively, however, they need to speak the same language. (3) The What-ifs: Only on paper do plans unfold without any push-back or detours. Leaders who maintain momentum and overcome resistance to "what ifs" and "yeah buts" share their troubleshooting strategies in this section, preparing readers to anticipate challenges and be more effective change managers. (4) The Future Story: School leaders who are taking courageous steps to reinvent education understand the power of story. A superintendent who regularly tweets out examples of powerful student learning or a principal who blogs about school-business partnerships helps to build public understanding of 21st century learning. Keeping change efforts from backsliding requires ongoing communication, effective storytelling, and optimism about the future. This book will walk readers through these four critical stages, helping communities mobilize around the shifts that students deserve. Compelling examples from schools on the leading edge of change will inspire readers to embark on the challenging work ahead. The book is intended to be a practical action guide, taking readers from talking about the future of learning to realizing their community's vision.
`The authors clearly explain the "why" or alternative assessment and support this with lots of "how-to" information throughout the book. It is hard to imagine a teacher or administrator who wouldn't gain valuable new skills for reading this book - Victor Nolet, Author, Accessing the General Curriculum (Corwin Press 2000) The authors of this book are determined to put the phrase "all students can learn" at the top of every school's list of principals, and show how, via alternate assessments, this motto can become a measurable reality. This book offers a big picture of high expectations, assessment, and accountability for students with significant disabilities. The authors guide the reader through the process of alternate assessment from beginning to end, based on their understanding of and beliefs about best practices as they currently stand. Several chapters include examples of worksheets and forms that have worked for some teachers, and in some settings, as well as the authors' best insights into how they can be used to help disabled students. Combining real-life stories and examples with hard data, including federal and state laws, requirements and guidelines, and state status reports, the authors make alternate assessment come alive for readers. This book is for general and special educators at all levels, parents of students with disabilities, advocates, education policy leaders and others concerned about the inclusion of ALL students in educational reform efforts.
Factors that influence a teacher's decision whether or not to use computer technology as an instructional tool are explored in this book. Based on her own research, Melissa Evans-Andris discusses the ways teachers use computers; identifies administrative behaviours that support or inhibit the use of computers in schools; and recommends specific strategies for implementing educational computer use.
