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Good Schools
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Getting started. (September 11) Introductions, review of syllabus. Introductory discussion of our experiences with "good" schools. Assignment is described in assignment link. It is due by mail or email no later than 5PM September 19.
What is a "good" school? (September 18 and September 25)   The definition of a "good" school changes over time. Examining how schools were defined at different times in our past and how each of you define a "good" school suggest a wide variety in definitions, the importance of who does the defining, and shifting ideological fashions. If I pressed you, how would you categorize these different versions of "good" schools?
READINGS:
"A Good School"
"Core Knowledge Schools"
"The Social Factor"
"Learning To Care"/" 'P' is for
Prosocial Teaching"
"Democracy in a New Hampshire School"
"C.W. Mills Middle School"
"A Community-Based School for Latino Teens"
How can you tell if a school is "good? What the research says (October 2) Here are various examples of research on current "good" schools. As you read, look for what makes the school "good" and the evidence that is provided. On what basis do you judge whether the research is credible?
READINGS:
"Hollibrook Accelerated Elementary School,"
"Educating Poor Children"
"The Wade School and Coalition Philosophy"
"Power and Politics in the Adoption of School Reform Models"
What is the theory of action driving different versions of "good" schools (October 9)? Behind each "good" school are the designers' and adopters' beliefs, values, and experiences about what it takes for a "good" school to achieve its desired outcomes. Theories of action are these assumptions and beliefs, seldom made explicit, which guide the actions of those who run the program. After reading the selections, jot down the theory (or theories) of action embedded in the last reading on the Texas accountability system. Also when you come to class, think about what theory (or theories) of action are behind the "good" school that you described in your memo or op-ed piece.
READINGS:
"The Differences in Theory That Matter in the Practice of   School Improvement"
"Theory-of-action for Child Development Project, 1992"
"Can State Accountability Systems Drive Improvements in School Performance for Children of Color and Children from Low-Income Homes?"
How is your project faring? (October 16)
WORKSHOP ON RESEARCH REPORTS: This session is set aside to help each team move ahead on its report. To prepare for this workshop I need to receive from you by October 15 a 1-pager for your team that has the following items:
• the question that you intend to answer in your report;
• sources that you are using or intend to use;
• how you plan to divide the work between you and your team-mate;
• what issues, questions, and points you are worried about;
I will meet briefly with each team and go over the 1-pager to provide help, if necessary. Teams can continue their planning, pick other teams to form a group to critique each other's 1-pagers, or similar ways of securing feedback on your project.
How can federal, state, and district educational policy makers make "good" schools: 1965-2000 (October 23 and 30)? For almost four decades, policy makers have debated strategies for making "good" schools. The earliest strategy was the whole school model of change centering on the "effective schools" movement. By the late 1980s, two other approaches gained favor among policy makers and educators: "systemic reform" and choice models. Keep in mind that these strategies are aimed at both the individual school and district. More than one approach can be used simultaneously within a district. Which of these strategies make the most sense to you? Why? Are there other strategies that you can think of which are missing here? If so, describe them.
READINGS FOR October 23:
"Ready, Read"
"The Promise and Limits of School-based Reform"
"Systemic School Reform"
"Healthy Competition"
READINGS FOR OCTOBER 30
"The Comprehensive School Reform Program"
"Achieving Student Success: A Handbook of Widely Implemented Research-Based Educational Reform Models"
"States and Districts and Comprehensive School Reform"
How to make "good" elementary schools? (November 6) Examples of "growing" elementary schools that are labeled "good" can be seen in the creation of the Disney town of Celebration in Florida, the work of university professors James Comer, Robert Slavin, and Henry Levin, and a New York City district Superintendent Jerome Harris. As you read, consider the strategies of change that each use. What are the strengths and weaknesses to each? Which do you prefer and why?
READINGS:
"Town-Building Is No Mickey Mouse Operation"
"A District-wide Application of the Effective Schools Research" "Democracy in an Elementary School"
How to make "good" secondary schools? (November 13) Making "good" high schools differs from making "good" elementary schools. What are the differences and which ones do you believe are most critical in making high schools "good?"
READINGS:
"Good Secondary Schools: What Makes Them Tick?"
"But We Are Not Failing Here: The Coalition at Evans Hill High
School"
"Democratic Governance at a Large Diverse High School: The
         Brookline Experience"
What role does leadership play in making and sustaining "good" schools? (November 20) Think back on all of the different schools about which we have read. What part did the principal, a small group of teachers, or perhaps a superintendent play in making the school "good?"   What are the theories of action that explain how principals, groups of teachers, or superintendents influence student outcomes in "good" schools?
READINGS:
"Teachers and Schools--What Makes a Difference: A Principal's   Perspective"
"Scores Count"
"Building a New Structure for School Leadership"
What are the inevitable dilemmas facing policy makers and practitioners in making a school "good"? (November 27) Planned changes are basically solutions to problems that policy makers and practitioners have identified. Some problems, however, are so messy that favored solutions don't work at all or only work for a short time. These situations are dilemmas.
READINGS:
"An Educator's Road Map to Solving Problems and Managing
    Dilemmas"
In growing "good" schools, what kinds of change do you want? (December 4) Each of you seeks to change and, maybe, even improve schools from what they are. To make a "good" school, changes must occur. How clear are you in your own mind and heart as to what kinds of change you want to happen in a school? What are your theories of action?
READINGS:
"Thinking and Doing Change"
Why are "good" schools so hard to get? (December 11). A few writers offer answers to the question. On what points, if any, do you agree/disagree with the writers? Why?
READINGS:
"Why Are Good Schools So Hard To Get?"
"Becoming Good American Schools"
What have we learned about "good" schools and how to make them that way? (December 18)
We will spend our last session analyzing what we have learned and what unanswered questions, puzzles, and dilemmas remain.

REFERENCES FOR READER (in order of appearance):
Diane Ravitch, "A Good School" in Ravitch, The Schools We Deserve (New York: Basic books, 1985).
"Core Knowledge and Standards, A Conversation with E.D. Hirsch, Jr" Educational Leadership, March 1999, pp. 28-31.
Amanda Datnow, et. al, "Scaling Up The Core Knowledge Sequence" Education and Urban Society, 30(3), May 1998, 409-432;
http://www.coreknowledge.org
James Comer, "The Social Factor" New York Times, education supplement, August 1988.
"Learning to Care: The Child Development Project," Education Week, October 26, 1994
Alfie Kohn, "P Is for Prosocial Teaching," The Boston Globe Magazine, November 6, 1988.
Ralph Mosher, Robert Kenny, Jr., Andrew Garrod, Preparing for Citizenship: Teaching Youth to Live Democratically (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994), pp. 5-21.
Joel Westheimer, Among Schoolteachers (New York: Teachers College Press, 1998.
Lillian Castaneda, "Alternative to Failure: A Community-based School Program for Latino Teens" Education and Urban Society, 30(1), November 1997: 90-106.
Jane McCarthy and Suzanne Still, "Hollibrook Accelerated Elementary School," in P. Hallinger and J. Murphy (Eds.) Restructuring Schools (N.Y. Corwin Press, 1993).
James Comer, "Educating Poor Minority Children," Scientific American, 259(5). November 1988.
"The Wade School and the Coalition Philosophy," Donna Muncey and Patrick McQuillan, Reform and Resistance in Schools and Classrooms (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996).
Amanda Datnow, "Power and Politics in the Adoption of School Reform Models" Educational Evaluation and Policy, Winter 2000, 22(4): 357-374.
Thomas Hatch, "The Differences in Theory That Matter in the Practice of School Improvement" American Educational Research Journal, 35(1), 1998: pp. 3-31.
Edward Fuller and Joseph Johnson, Jr., "Can State Accountability Systems Drive Improvements in School Performance for Children of Color and Children from Low-Income Homes?" Education and Urban Society, 33(3), May 2001: 260-283.
Nicholas Lemann, "Ready, READ!" The Atlantic Monthly, November 1998, vol. 5 (282), pp. 92-104.
Patrick Shields and Michael Knapp, "The Promise and Limits of School-Based Reform" Phi Delta Kappan, December 1997, pp. 288-294.
Marshall Smith and Jennifer O'Day, "Systemic School Reform," Politics of Education Association Yearbook 1990, pp. 233-267.
David Osborne, "Healthy Competition" The New Republic, October 4, 1999, pp. 31-33.
"The Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program," press release, March 12, 1998.
"Achieving Student Success: A Handbook of Widely Implemented Research-Based Educational Reform Models" Laboratory for Student Success, Temple University: http://www.reformhandbook-lss.org/overview.htm
"States and Districts and Comprehensive School Reform," Policy Briefs, RB-24-May 1998, Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education.
Michael Pollan, "Town-Building Is No Mickey Mouse Operation" New York Times Magazine, December 14, 1997, pp. 56-63, 76, 81, 88.
Ethel Sadowsky, "Taking Part: Democracy in the Elementary School"
Ralph Mosher, Robert Kenny, Jr., Andrew Garrod, Preparing for Citizenship: Teaching Youth to Live Democratically (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994), pp. 151-163.
Jerome Harris, "A District-wide Application of the Effective Schools Research" Journal of Negro Education, 57 (1988), no. 3, pp. 292-306.
"Good Secondary Schools: What Makes They Tick?" Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 1986.
"But We're Not Failing Here: The Coalition at Evans Hill High School," Donna Muncey and Patrick McQuillan, Reform and Resistance in Schools and Classrooms (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), pp. 94-118.
"Democratic Governance at a Large Diverse High School: The Brookline Experience," Ralph Mosher, Robert Kenny, Jr., Andrew Garrod, Preparing for Citizenship: Teaching Youth to Live Democratically (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994), pp. 93-129.
James M. Bower, "Something Very Right about the Mather" Boston Globe, April 19, 1992.
Kim Marshall, "Teachers and Schools--What Makes a Difference: A Principal's Perspective" in "America's Childhood, Daedalus, 122(1), 1993: pp. 209-242.
Sara Mosle, "Scores Count" New York Times Magazine, September 8, 1996, pp. 41-45.
Richard Elmore, "Building a New Structure for School Leadership" (Washington, D.C., Albert Shanker Institute, 2000).
Larry Cuban, "Thinking and Doing Change" and "Solving Problems and managing Dilemmas" from How Can I Fix It? An Educator's Guide to Solving Problems and Managing Dilemmas (Teachers College Press, 2001)
___________, "Why Are Good Schools So Hard To Get?" Dorothy Shipps (ed), Reconstructing the Common Good in Education: Managing Intractable Dilemmas (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000), pp. 148-169.
Jeannie Oakes, Karen Quartz, Steve Ryan, and Martin Lipton, "Becoming Good American Schools" Phi Delta Kappan, April 2000, pp.568-575.