The primary purpose of this study is to learn from the experiences of schools across the U.S. that are engaged in a largely process-oriented reform strategy. Schools vary in their capacity for productive self-reflection. The authors examine the process of self-assessment that many schools engaged in during this time of widespread public attention to the equlaity of schools. The schools examined in these cases reveal a complex interaction between the nature of the self-reflective activity the schools were engaged in (in this case, a National Education Association school review process entitled KEYS to Success in Schools), the contexts that shape the school, and the readiness on the part of school staff to engage in systematic reflection around issues that affect teaching and learning. The act of self-reflection in schools may not provide, by itself, a source of new ideas, alternative models, and a sense of what might be possible for the school to accomplish. Some external agent can often provide the impetus for (or constrain) the actions of school staffs in examining their programs and capacity for renewal. The acts and outcomes of self-reflection are inevitably guided and/or constrained by various contexts (including the school's history, culture, structure, and supports and pressures provided from communities, districts, and states).

Renew your teaching and your passion with this updated bestseller! When the teaching life gets tough, reflective practice reenergizes you—counteracting the effects of professional isolation and instilling a sense of meaning, renewal, and empowerment that benefits you, your colleagues, and your students. This bestselling book offers research-based ideas and strategies for using reflective practice individually, with others, and even schoolwide. Features of the newest edition include: Updated strategies for engaging adults and students and using reflective practices to create equitable outcomes New examples of reflective practice in action A new chapter on the core leadership practices for growing reflective practice A new companion website with resources and reflection protocols

Learning to inquire together, to generate knowledge and action simultaneously-that's action research. This book provides practical guidance for conducting schoolwide action research to improve student learning. Emily Calhoun, a co-author of the ASCD book, The Self-Renewing School provides detailed instructions for conducting schoolwide action research. School staff should begin with a broad assessment of the health of the school or with the perception of a problem in one area, such as students' achievement in mathematics. Staff should obtain input from parents, community members, and students as the school begins the 5-step cycle of action research: *First, seek agreement with others in your school community on what to study. *Second, collect and share information about students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes. *Third, search your own experiences and examine educational research for strategies and programs that will improve your students' math understanding. *Fourth, collaborate to improve curriculum and instruction in math. *Fifth, collect data on results, study effects, and begin the cycle all over again. Calhoun provides background information on the origins of action research, examples of data-collection forms and results of data analysis, and answers to commonly asked questions. Note: This product listing is for the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the book.

The process of understanding a text from the narrator s point of view is crucial for the tasks of interpreting and translating the Bible. If the translator s understanding of a narrative from the narrator s point of view is erroneous, then the whole process of translating the message into another language may also fall into error. This poses Bible translators a difficult challenge: How can we understand the narrator s point of view of the biblical stories which are culturally, geographically, and historically remote from our own? Understanding a text from the narrator s point of view must precede the translation process. In this work Hankore presents an argument for the intended utterance of Genesis 28:10 35:15 before proposing in brief how to translate it. By following this process, Hankore shows that a correct understanding of the concept of the ancient Israelite vow in the framework of a social institution is fundamental to reading and translating Genesis 28:10 35:15, and goes on to show how this same votive framework assist an explanation of the relevance of Genesis 34 to the Jacob story.

Written for heads and teachers but also containing useful pointers for inspectors, this forward-thinking book examines exactly what the relationship between inspection and self-evaluation means for schools.

Pt. 1. Theoretical and practical perspectives -- pt. 2. Building support for data-based decisions -- pt. 3. Data-based applications.

"What can educational leaders do to create schools that are purposeful, moral, and successful? This book outlines a practical framework to replace dependence on top-down state and federal regulations with locally guided initiatives to address local goals. Building on Glickman's classic, Renewing America's Schools, this resource is for anyone involved with school change in today's complex times"--

School improvement has become a dominant feature of educational reform in many countries. The pressure upon schools to improve performance has resulted in a wide-range of improvement programmes and initiatives which can provide both inspiration and advice to everyone involved in school improvement. This book draws together the most effective school improvement projects from around the world in one comprehensive text, including detailed comparative analysis of a wide variety of initiatives. Drawing on examples from the UK, the USA, Canada, South Africa and Australia this book gives both an international snapshot and a coherent synthesis of initiatives that have given achievable results.

Be an agent of positive, enduring change with these specific strategies gleaned from the MicroSociety® program and apply them to your school improvement efforts.

This third book in the Information Age book series, International Research on School Leadership, focuses on the changing nature of instructional leadership in the 21st century. Our goal is to examine instructional leadership from multiple educational and international perspectives. Unlike many leadership books that focus on conceptualizations and personal narratives, the seven chapters provide empirical evidence of how instructional leadership is evolving in the 21st century. From the effective schools research of the 1980s to today’s relentless calls for improved student performance, attention has focused on the instructional leadership roles and responsibilities of school principals, headteachers, and educational system leaders. The emphasis on student performance has gone global as evidenced by highly-publicized international studies, such as the Trends in International Math and Science Studies (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), comparing student achievement in different countries. These developments have had substantial effects on school leaders, especially building-level principals and headteachers. Rather than being the only ones overseeing school improvement aimed at increasing student learning, many school administrators are distributing leadership responsibilities to other administrators and teachers on their campuses. To fully understand instructional leadership in the 21st century, the book examines three important dimensions of instructional leadership: (1) the current context for turning around low-performing schools, increasing teacher effectiveness, and providing equitable outcomes for all students, (2) international perspectives of instructional leadership development, particularly the value of teacher coaching and leadership development for aspiring and practicing school leaders in a developing country, and (3) the obstacles instructional leaders confront as they deal with fiscal constraints, political pressure, diverse student populations, and high-stakes standards-based reforms.