This book provides a more comprehensive discussion of collaborative school efforts than any other single source currently available. Specifically, multiple disciplinary perspectives are presented, addressing the complexity or "promises and pitfalls" of school collaboration efforts. The book is organized in terms of major considerations in school collaboration initiatives—the organizational structure; the change process; inter-agency and intra-school collaborative efforts; and implications for instruction, leadership, and leadership preparation. Also, the book informs the design of educator preparation programs emphasizing collaborative schools and cross-disciplinary teaching. The chapters address many issues regarding school collaboration, such as which organizational structures will enhance collaborative efforts; which change processes are important in building school collaboration; the costs (in effort, energy, time, or other resources) of collaborating with other external agencies; how teachers' work can be redesigned to enhance collaboration between teachers and the anticipated outcomes for teachers and students; how educators can overcome their separate role socializations to build collaborative work relationships within schools; and the implications of school collaboration for teaching and learning, school leadership, and leadership preparation. The closing chapter offers five synthesizing issues or dilemmas for school collaboration.

Explores the intersection of two central issues in American education today: school reform through restructuring and alienation from school of many children of color. A tough look at the impact of teachers' and administrators' beliefs and practices.

This bestselling book addresses a major instructional and policy concern in public education—how personnel and resources can best be utilized to develop strong instructional programs for a culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student population. This meticulously updated second edition incorporates the experience that the authors have gained since the publication of the first edition in 1997. The changes not only reflect the current state of affairs in education, but also what has been learned from the many schools that have used the framework successfully. Useful to prospective and current teachers and essential for educational administrators and policymakers, this new edition includes: Activities in every chapter based on the authors’ professional development work in schools. New templates, tools, exercises, and case studies. A new chapter on standards-based differentiated instruction and assessment. Attention to populations that have increased in U.S. schools, such as immigrant refugees from around the globe. New features to support teacher study groups, such as guided discussion questions. Comments from Users of the First Edition: “It is imperative that administrators familiarize themselves with this book—it addresses the issues revolving around student achievement for not only ELLs, but ALL students.” —Catherine Baldwin-Johnson, Director, ESL/Dual Language Programs, Diverse Learners Department “We’ve been searching for a framework, one that is strong, practical, well-researched, and takes into account ALL students. This book addresses it all. What a gem.” —Constance Kowal, Schoolwide Instructional Coach (Secondary) “This book will give educators the power to speak with confidence about the issues at hand. Knowledge is power.” —Gavin Dunnet, ESL Dual Language Resource Specialist

This new book presents the findings of a five-year, federally funded study that examined the connection between school restructuring and student achievement. Investigating twenty-four elementary and secondary schools from twenty-two districts across the country, the researchers found that restructuring efforts fail when there is too much focus on structure and technique and not enough attention paid to the intellectual quality of student and teacher work and to the vitality of the school community. Using a wealth of examples, the authors provide a vivid picture of the conditions under which innovations in a school's organization contribute to student achievement - extending learning beyond rote memorization of isolated facts to thinking, disciplined understanding, and complex communication.

Make good decisions about your own restructuring effort by seeing what has and what hasn't worked in other schools.

The restructuring of schools systems across the world has been controversial. Have reforms been driven by a desire to cut educational budgets or the need to improve the quality of educational provision? This book explores the restructuring movement, with a particular emphasis on how decentralisation of power has affected the quality of education. It provides a broad and international picture of educational reform.