Research
Balancing Act: Best Practices in the Middle Grades
The concluding report from the three-year California Best Practices Study addresses the unique challenges that schools with middle grade students face. This report focuses on the systems, tools, techniques and practices of schools that are successfully educating middle-grade students, despite the significant barriers of high poverty rates and large numbers of English Learners. Key findings highlight the importance of using data to guide continuous improvement, and establishing structures and systems that foster an attitude of constant improvement. (July 2007) ~75 pages.
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Soft Cover Report |
$22.50 plus shipping and handling | Click Here to Order |
| $14.00 | Click Here to Order | ||
| View or Download the Executive Summary | |||
Minding the Gap:New Roles for School Districts
in the Age of Accountability
Though individual districts continue to deserve their bad reputation, school districts are widely seen as key to scaling up improvement strategies. Even charter schools, which often operate outside the framework of a school district, often are affiliated with a “charter management organization” that provides many of the services of a district. Yet despite the emerging consensus that districts can matter, many still do not. This study sheds light on what the most effective districts do to lead and foster a process of improving teaching and learning. (May 2006) 89 pages.
| Format | Price | ||
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Soft Cover Report |
$22.50 plus shipping and handling | Click Here to Order |
| $14.00 | Click Here to Order | ||
| View or Download the Executive Summary | |||
| View or Download the Survey Instrument used in the study | |||
Challenged Schools, Remarkable Results: Three Lessons from California's Highest Achieving High Schools
This report identifies California's highest achieving, challenged high schools, those schools with large numbers of students challenged by poverty, English as a second language, fewer resources and lower expectations. It also, more importantly, reveals the three secrets to their success: the use of consistent curricula coupled with frequent diagnostic tests, adoption of best practices, and investment in teacher improvement. These three practices resulted in dramatic gains for these California high schools serving large populations of low-income, minority, and English-language learners. (November, 2005). 73 Pages.
| Format | Price | ||
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Soft Cover Report |
$22.50 plus shipping and handling | Click Here to Order |
| $14.00 | Click Here to Order | ||
| View or Download the Executive Summary | |||
After the Test:How Schools are Using Data to Close the Achievement Gap
The Springboard Schools Achievement Gap Study is the first to use California's Academic Performance Index (API) to compare schools that have narrowed the gap between African-American and Latino students and their white and Asian American peers with schools that have not. It found significant differences in the ways in which the schools approached data, leadership and communication (December, 2003). 53 Pages.
| Format | Price | ||
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Soft Cover Report |
$22.50 plus shipping and handling | Click Here to Order |
| $14.00 | Click Here to Order | ||
| View or Download the Executive Summary | |||
| View or Download the Ahcievement Gap Powerpoint | |||
The Cycle of Inquiry as the Engine of School Reform:
Lessons from the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative
by Milbrey McLaughlin and Dana Mitra, from the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching, Stanford University.
This study draws on five years of evaluation research that examines the role of inquiry in schools who worked with Springboard Schools between 1996-2001. The study highlights both the promises and challenges of inquiry as a culture-changing strategy in reforming schools. (2004) 51 Pages.
| Format | Price | ||
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Soft Cover Report |
$22.50 plus shipping and handling | Click Here to Order |
| $14.00 | Click Here to Order | ||
| View or Download the Executive Summary | |||
Comprehensive Aligned Instructional Systems:
CAIS Benchmarking Study
Urban district reform has been hampered by the challenge of understanding and supporting the tremendous complexity of district change. The purpose of the CAIS Benchmarking Study was to improve this understanding through actionable, practice-based research. The CAIS Study examined three urban school districts in detail: Montgomery County, Maryland; U-46, Illinois; and Elk Grove, California.
Each of these districts has had success in raising the achievement of underperforming students and has been recognized for the development of systems to support this effort.
Bellevue, Washington, which did not meet the demographic profile, has received wide recognition for closing the advanced placement gap and for developing strong district systems. Their accomplishments and openness to partnering in the development of the methodology for this study resulted in their inclusion as a pilot CAIS district.
This CAIS study was conducted in a partnership between the Stupski Foundation, Springboard Schools and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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To learn more about this study, download the full report. Click on PDF |