A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Resource VI
School Reform Networks and Associations ⁽³⁾

School Reform Networks

This guide to some of the nation's most successful school-reform networks includes each organization's mission and scope as well as contact information. These networks focus on whole-school reform and can provide schoolwide planning teams and other school staff with useful information and research-based strategies. The list is not meant to be all-inclusive.

Accelerated Schools Project
This project offers a comprehensive approach to improve learning for children in at-risk situations. Accelerated schools are designed to bring all students into the educational mainstream in elementary school by providing the kinds of rich, challenging learning activities that usually have been reserved for gifted and talented students and to build on these gains at subsequent levels of schooling.

American Association of School Administrators Quality Network
Launched in 1991, the AASA Quality Network offers tools, resources, and support for school leaders involved in systemic reform and continual improvement of their districts, buildings, and classrooms.

American Federation of Teachers—Educational Research and Dissemination Program
The AFT's Educational Research & Dissemination (ER&D) Program is a research-based professional development program. It gives K-12 teachers and paraprofessionals access to research on teaching and learning in a form that is useful to them. The ER&D Program is based on a training-of-trainers model. In a training-of-trainers model, individuals participate in activities that prepare them to train others, who, in turn, train still others in a pyramiding effect.

Annenberg Institute for School Reform
The AISR at Brown University promotes and advocates the serious redesign of American schooling. Its fundamental goal is to assist in creating and sustaining excellent schools that—in collaboration with their communities—help all students reach high levels of learning. Believing that all students can and must be successful, the Institute is committed to developing and supporting reform strategies that intentionally include schools serving urban, minority, and low-income youth.

Association for Effective Schools Inc.
The association is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to helping schools and practitioners (K-12) build capacity to improve their educational system. It supports the More Effective Schools* (MES) process in districts by providing professional learning opportunities, research based resources, services, and networks. It also campaigns to increase the knowledge, understanding and practices of effective schools among all educators. (*The More Effective Schools process is validated by the U.S. Department of Education for improving achievement and sustaining results. The process is based on Effective Schools Research and the work of Ron Edmonds and Lawrence Lezotte.)

Center for Leadership in School Reform
The Center for Leadership in School Reform (CLSR) is a nonprofit corporation with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. CLSR's mission is to encourage and support the transformation of the existing system of rules, roles, and relationships that govern the way time, people, space, knowledge, and technology are used in schools. CLSR is grounded in the belief that restructuring is necessary so that schools are organized around students and the work students are expected to do, and so that families and communities provide children the support necessary to ensure student success.

Center for Research on the Context of Teaching
Analyzes how teaching and learning are shaped by their organizational, institutional, and social-cultural contexts, including school resources and policies, high school departments, subject cultures, and local professional communities. Also under study is the connection between teacher learning communities and education reforms. Center research integrates quantitative and qualitative methods: interviews; observations; site-based surveys; and analysis of national survey data.

Coalition of Essential Schools
The coalition is a network of high schools working to redesign their overall structure, curriculum, and assessment procedures to improve student learning and achievement. The reform effort is guided by nine "Common Principles" that grew out of A Study of High Schools, a five-year research project sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the National Association of Independent Schools. The nine principles urge network schools to set clear and simple goals for the intellectual skills all students must master; reduce the teacher-student ratio; personalize teaching and curriculum; award diplomas based on students' demonstration of their knowledge and skills; create an atmosphere of trust and respect within the school community; and bring about these changes with no more than a 10 percent budget increase.

College Board—Equity 2000 Program
EQUITY 2000 is a research-based, field-developed districtwide K-12 reform initiative. The goal of the program is to close the college-going and success rate gap between minority and non-minority, advantaged and disadvantaged students, through a series of efforts, including the elimination of student tracking policies. By having districts set a 100 percent enrollment goal in algebra I or higher for all ninth graders and a 100 percent enrollment goal in geometry or higher for all tenth graders, EQUITY 2000 aims to end the process by which at-risk students are "tracked" into watered-down courses that define their future before they can define it for themselves.

Core Knowledge Foundation
Founded by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., the author of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, the Core Knowledge Foundation enables schools to achieve greater excellence and fairness by helping children establish strong, early foundations of knowledge. The foundation conducts research on curricula, offers model content guidelines, and develops resources based on those content guidelines, including the books in the Core Knowledge Resource Series. It also works with a growing network of schools by providing training, model lessons, guides to resources, and networking opportunities, including an annual national conference.

Cross City Campaign
School reform leaders from Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Seattle, all deeply involved in systematic reforms, created the Cross-City Campaign to support their local work. Other cities continue to join the campaign. The collective mission is dramatic improvement of public education so that all urban young people are well prepared for post-secondary education, work, and citizenship. The Cross City Campaign advocates policies and practices that support a radical transformation of schools with their communities and a complete rethinking of the role of school districts.

Developmental Studies Center
DSC is a nonprofit organization that conducts research and develops school-based programs that foster children's intellectual, ethical and social development. Its mission is to deepen children's commitment to being kind, helpful, responsible, and respectful of others—qualities that are essential to leading humane and productive lives in a democratic society. The center's work has taken many forms, including research into how children learn and develop; programs such as the Child Development Project, a comprehensive long-term collaboration with elementary schools; materials including books, curriculum resources and videos; and professional development services.

Education Commission of the States
The Education Commission of the States (ECS) is a non-profit, nationwide organization of territories formed in 1965 to help governors, state legislators, state education officials and others develop policies to improve the quality of education. The ECS mission is to help leaders develop and carry out policies to improve student learning at all levels. For over 30 years, ECS has reached out to thousands of people in literally every state, role group, and major education organization, bringing together people with diverse perspectives to work with and learn from one another.

Effective Schools Products Ltd.
This is a consulting, training, and publishing firm dedicated to advancing successful learning for all children based on effective schools research and practices.

The Efficacy Institute Inc.
The Efficacy Institute, a not-for-profit training and consulting firm, has become a voice in the national dialogue over school reform. Its work is dedicated to the belief that intelligence can be developed. It is not something fixed at birth or by socio-economic or cultural factors. The Institute provide tools—a set of concrete approaches and strategies—to educators, parents, students and members of community-based organizations, to help all children develop into productive citizens for the 21st century. The objective of all Institute services is to get measurable improvement in student achievement.

Foxfire Fund Inc.
Foxfire works teacher-to-teacher to disseminate an active, academically sound, learner-centered approach to education. Through courses offered by the 20 national Foxfire teacher networks, it encourages and equips teachers to use this approach in their classrooms. Foxfire provides initial intensive training, coupled with follow-up support in the form of meetings and services offered locally and nationally.

The Galef Institute
The Galef Institute collaborates with teachers and administrators in the creation, testing, and implementation of interdisciplinary teaching and learning strategies that help children develop positive attitudes toward learning, school, and themselves. Primary focus has been on extensive field-testing and refinement of Different Ways of Knowing, a school-revitalization initiative that offers an integrated plan of three to five years of professional development, coaching, and team building, with a model curriculum for primary and elementary grades. The initiative has been successful in reaching a culturally and linguistically diverse student population. It assists in the thematic integration of social studies with literary, visual, media, and performing arts, math, and science; and promotes the active involvement of children in their learning.

HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills)
The HOTS program is an award-winning thinking development program for Title I and learning-disabled students in grades 4-8. This research-based, 18-year-old program generally doubles and triples reading comprehension gains as compared to other approaches, while simultaneously substantially increasing grade point average, writing, IQ, novel problem solving, and metacognition. The program is highly creative, and combines the use of Mac or Windows computers with drama and Socratic dialogue. HOTS is a complete system with software, curriculum, training, and support. HOTS research was validated by the National Diffusion Network, and a number of HOTS sites have won national designation for having an exemplary Title I program.

Impact II
Impact II is a teachers' network that identifies and connects innovative teachers who exemplify professionalism and creativity within public school systems. It has established a confederation of sites that have adopted its grants and networking model to support local teachers. Impact II's areas of focus are curriculum, leadership, policy, and technology.

League of Professional Schools
Operated by the Program for School Improvement at the University of Georgia's College of Education, the League forms networks of schools committed to addressing instructional and curricular issues in improving student learning through shared governance and action research. Democracy is its guiding principle for educating all students well. Governed by its member schools, the League facilitates schools' efforts by sponsoring quarterly meetings featuring successful practices of member schools, publishing a newsletter, providing schools with research on successful educational practices, and providing each school with on-site visits from league practitioners or staff members.

League of Schools Reaching Out
In 1990, the Institute for Responsive Education established the League of Schools Reaching Out, an international network of 90 schools invested in community-wide school reform initiatives. The League is committed to promoting the social and intellectual success of all students through family-school-community collaboration. Schools in the League are not only concerned with outreach to parents and community members, but are also committed to rethinking what takes place both within the classroom and in the community at large.

National Alliance for Restructuring Education
A program of the National Center on Education and the Economy, the alliance works with a partnership of states and large city school districts and organizations to totally restructure schools, school districts, and state education policy around high standards for student performance. From its inception, the alliance has believed that entire systems must change to routinely give birth to and nurture excellent schools.

National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development
Housed at Phi Delta Kappa International, the center is primarily a training organization for trainers and facilitators and school and district teams. The center has designed a professional development training program used in the effective-schools process. The center has carried out demonstration projects and reports its findings from applied research and practice in research letters and occasional papers.

National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching
This membership organization is intended to connect individuals and organizations working to build learner-centered schools. It offers publications, conferences, workshops, and technical assistance. Linda Darling-Hammond, Gary Griffin, and Ann Lieberman are the codirectors. Write or call for membership information and a publications list.

National Center on Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities
This research center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services collects and evaluates information on how state assessments and national standards affect students with disabilities and studies how alternative testing accommodations and adaptations can be made for these students. The center also works to build consensus among state directors, educators, and parents on what education outcomes are of importance to all students.

National Education Association—National Center for Innovation
Launched by the NEA, the center sponsors a number of programs to restructure and revitalize public education. The Teacher Education Initiative (TEI) is a collaborative partnership with colleges, universities, and schools to improve the quality of teacher preparation programs. The Learning Laboratories Initiative (LLI) is a national network of school districts committed to enhancing their capacity to support classroom and building level improvement. The Charter Schools Initiative (CSI) is a five-year research and development effort to explore charter schools' potential to improve student learning. The National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE) promotes excellence in teaching and learning by providing educators with opportunities to develop and test the solutions to the challenges facing American public education.

National Network for Educational Renewal
This network is composed of school-university partnerships committed to the simultaneous renewal of schooling and the education of educators. John Goodlad and Roger Soder's Center for Educational Renewal serves as the hub of the network. Approximately 34 colleges and universities, over 100 school districts, and over 400 partner schools in 16 settings in 14 states are linked to the National Network for Educational Renewal. The network emphasizes forming partnerships, strengthening liberal arts and professional curricula, and developing a system of rewards and incentives for faculty members. Publications and resources are also available through the center.

National Paideia Center
Founded at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Mortimer J. Adler, the center disseminates information, collects and publishes research, and trains educators in Paideia principles and methods. It focuses on helping communities create fully operational Paideia schools where all students are taught to learn in an active, challenging environment.

National Urban Alliance for Effective Education
The Alliance is a nonprofit group that supports systemic changes in teaching and learning in urban and metropolitan school districts. It works to identify promising approaches to cognitive instruction and to help districts implement approaches to educational planning and service delivery that foster advanced learning for all students. A key factor in this effort is the design and delivery of appropriate professional development.

New American Schools
New American Schools (NAS) is a coalition of the nation's leading business people and educators committed to nationwide school reform. Since 1991, NAS has fostered the development and implementation of eight comprehensive designs, or blueprints, for world-class schools. Over the past five years, NAS has supported the creation and development of Design Teams, made up of educators, researchers, and other professionals, that provide hands-on assistance, support, and materials to help schools build the capacity to improve student achievement. The NAS strategy assists communities in four areas: establish supportive and assistance-oriented schools systems; develop school and teacher capacity to teach all children to high academic standards; spend resources wisely; and build substantial community support for education improvement.

New Standards
Jointly run by National Center on Education and the Economy and the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, this organization has developed high national academic standards and a system of performance assessment to measure student progress toward meeting those standards.

Project Zero
Project Zero consists of 14 research projects whose common goal is to develop new approaches to learning for the individual, group, and institution. The project conducts studies on such topics as how project-based curricula can enhance teaching for deep understanding; the implementation of portfolio assessment; and the identification and promotion of students' strengths to help enhance their performance in weaker curriculum areas. In schools, the project engenders continuing education workshops with teams of teachers who, in turn, facilitate staff development schoolwide. Project Zero hopes to effect reform on the district level through its participation in the Atlas Communities, one of nine design teams supported by New American Schools. It also helps organizations assess their educational effectiveness through a self-examination using "organizational portfolios."

Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network
The QEM Network is a nonprofit group dedicated to improving education for members of minority groups. It serves as a national resource to help unite and strengthen educational restructuring efforts to benefit minority children, youth, and adults, while advancing minority participation and leadership in the national debate on how best to insure access to a quality education for all citizens. It seeks to put into practice the recommendations in the QEM report, Education That Works: An Action Plan for the Education of Minorities, by working with minority and non-minority individuals, organizations, and governments around the country.

Re:Learning
This partnership between the Education Commission of the States and the Coalition for Essential Schools is designed to improve student learning by redesigning states' education systems "from the schoolhouse to the statehouse." Re:Learning does not promote a specific model; instead, it provides a set of principles and processes for considering school and state reform. Participating schools agree to adopt the nine "Common Principles" developed by the Coalition of Essential Schools, while district and state leaders work on changes in administration, governance, and policy in order to stimulate and support school innovation.

School Development Program
The School Development Program (SDP) was founded by James P. Comer to use child-development and relationship theories and principles to improve the academic and psychosocial functioning of students in a significant number of schools. SDP also seeks to influence such institutions as schools of education, state departments of education, and federal agencies so that their policies and practices become child-centered.

Success for All
A schoolwide program for students in grades pre-K to 6, Success for All organizes resources to insure that virtually every student will reach third grade with adequate reading skills and that no student will be allowed to "fall through the cracks." Components include: one-to-one tutoring for students who are failing to keep up with their classmates; research-based reading, writing and language arts instruction; preschool and kindergarten programs; cooperative learning; eight-week assessments to determine reading progress; and family support. Roots and Wings, a New American Schools program, adds math, science, and social studies to this practical constructivist approach. Research comparing SFA/R&W schools to control groups consistently finds positive effects on student achievement.

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[Resource V - Web Sites]

[Resource VI - School Reform Networks and Associations (con't)]