Research Supporting Our Theory of Action

“California’s Lowest Performing Schools: Who They Are, The Challenges They Face, and How They’re Improving,” EdSource, March 2003. This report takes a close look at the first cohort of California’s bottom ranking schools, and their progress. It also explores some factors that may be contributing to these schools’ improvement. Key among those is focus on consistent curriculum and ongoing professional development and coaching. (www.edsource.org)

Jaramillo, A. and Olsen, L. “Turning the Tides of Exclusion: A Guide for Educators and Advocates for Immigrant Students.” Oakland: California Tomorrow, 1999. This guide is the culmination of California Tomorrow’s 15 years of research and work to help schools better serve language minority and immigrant students. Each chapter presents strategies, tools and activities illustrated by real-life examples of how to place access and equity center-stage. The need to begin what authors call “the data dialogue for moving school equity,” i.e., the need to use data to inform instruction, is highlighted along with tools to support it.

Newmann, F. M., B. Smith, E. Allensworth, A. Bryk. “Instructional Program Coherence: What It Is and Why It Should Guide School Improvement Policy,” Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, January 2001. A must read on establishing a strong foundation for sustainable change, this is the article for which Tony Bryk received the 2003 AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education award. The report discusses an important reason why schools involved in multiple improvement initiatives do not always improve their students’ achievement. It introduces the concept of instructional program coherence and presents evidence that students in Chicago elementary schools with stronger program coherence show higher gains in student achievement. The report suggests ways in which school leaders, school improvement partners, and policy makers can act to bring about the instructional coherence that will reward their school improvement efforts.

Richardson, J. “The Secrets of 'Can-Do' Schools,” Results, February 2003. The Louisiana Staff Development Council sought an answer to this question by exploring the role that professional development plays in high-poverty, high-performing schools in that state and identified key features. Investigators identified characteristics that were consistently present in each of the 12 schools underscoring key features of PartnersSI’s Theory of Action from the centrality of job-embedded staff development coaching, mentoring to beginning with examination of student data.

“Schools That Are Beating The Odds,” EdSource, February 2003. This index lists schools in California that are serving particularly challenging populations of students and yet are ranked as a 6 or higher based on their Academic Performance Index. Characteristic among these is a consistent curriculum. (www.edsource.org)

Carter, S.C. et al. No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools. Heritage Foundation, 2000. In this report, author Samuel Casey Carter examines the common practices of 21 principals of low-income schools who set the standard for high achievement. The lessons uncovered in these case studies provide a resource for anyone interested in providing increased educational opportunities for low-income children. (www.noexcuses.org)

Fullan, M. Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2001. Michael Fullan highlights five core competencies as instrumental for leaders to deal with complex change: 1) attending to a broader moral purpose, 2) keeping on top of the change process, 3) cultivating relationships, 4) sharing knowledge and 5) setting a vision and context for creating coherence in organizations.

Ruth, F. and Freidus, H., eds. Guiding School Change: The Role and Work of Change Agents. New York: Teacher College Press, 2001. The essays in this book describe the functions of “change agents,” the individuals who facilitate reform efforts, and the interpersonal processes that they engage in to advance change. The essays feature both “insider” and “outsider” varieties of change agents and identify some of the challenges change agents face.

Taylor, B. M. and D. Pearson. “Beating the Odds in Teaching All Children to Read.” CIERA Report # 2-006, 1999. The authors use quantitative and descriptive methods to investigate school and classroom factors related to primary-grade reading achievement. A combination of school and teacher factors, many of which were intertwined, was found to be important in the “most effective” schools. Statistically significant school factors identified by the authors include: ongoing assessment of pupil progress, strong communication and a collaborative model of reading instruction, including early reading interventions. Significant teaching factors included time spent in small group instruction. In all of the most effective schools, reading was clearly a priority at both the school-wide and classroom level.

“The Why? of Reading Instruction.” CORE Reading Research Sourcebook. Novato, CA: 2002. Providing a research-based foundation for effective reading instruction, this anthology contains a collection of up-to-date articles and research papers that serve as a useful resource for information on best practices in reading instruction.

“Investing in Teacher Learning: Staff Development and Instructional Improvement in Community District 2, New York,” prepared for The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, 1997. Building on the prior year’s findings by the National Commission on what matters most in teaching and learning, this paper spotlights the role of local school districts in mobilizing teachers and community members around teaching and learning.

“What Matters Most: Teaching For America’s Future,” The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, 1996. Compiled under the leadership of Linda Darling-Hammond, this foundation-laying report offers the single most important strategy for achieving America’s educational goals: a blueprint for recruiting, preparing, and supporting excellent teachers in all of America’s schools. The plan is aimed at ensuring that all communities have teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to teach so that all children can learn, and all school systems are organized to support teachers in this work. A caring, competent, and qualified teacher for every child is the most important ingredient in education reform.

Haycock, K. “Good Teaching Matters: How Well-Qualified Teachers Can Close the Gap,” Thinking K-16, Document Number: 1213, Education Trust, Summer 1998. This programmatic report synthesizes research showing that teachers are not only the single most significant factor related to student achievement but that good teaching can be the single most significant factor in closing the achievement gap. Using data from William Sanders, Ronald Ferguson and others, author Kati Haycock argues that the best investment states and districts can make for poor and minority students is assuring a well-qualified teacher for every child.

McLaughlin, M. and I. Oberman, eds. Teacher Learning: New Policies, New Practices, 1998. Individual chapters of this volume examine the challenges and nature of professional development by exploring specific contexts, such as those involving school/university partnerships, secondary/higher education collaborations, and inner-city settings. The studies reinforce the finding that teachers are the final change agent.

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