Abstract
Increasingly, districts are being recognized for the role that they can play in improving instructional practice and, in turn, improving the academic performance of students (Hightower, Knapp, Marsh, & McLaughlin, 2002; Supovitz, 2006). With the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, improvement in student achievement is no longer just a laudable goal, but rather has become a real goal with real consequences. As the recognition that instructional improvement is the best way to boost student achievement has gradually sunk in among policymakers, raising the quality of teaching and learning across the board has become essential. Arguably, no organization is in a better position to accomplish this than is a school district.
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- 1.
We differentiate this type of district-to-district travel from the more commonly discussed process of “scaling up” because the scaling-up process typically refers to the transfer of school reform models (e.g., Accelerated Schools, AVID, Coalition of Essential Schools, Success for All; see Datnow, Hubbard, & Mehan, 2002). Although there has been considerable research on the challenges and methods of scaling up (Glennan, Bodilly, Galegher, & Kerr, 2004), little has been written about the travel of district-based reform. An exception is our earlier work that has helped to begin this discussion (see Stein et al., 2004; Mehan, Hubbard, & Stein, 2005), as well as the work of a few others (e.g., see Markholt, Gallucci, & Knapp, 2002; Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003).
- 2.
The Institute for Learning is located in the same building as Stein’s office. She has formed both personal and professional relationships with many IFL staff and has frequently spoken at IFL events.
- 3.
We acknowledge that (a) the individuals associated with each of these cases most likely would acknowledge varying amounts of intellectual debt to District #2; and (b) there was no single District #2-certified reform but rather it grew and evolved over time.
- 4.
This bifurcation of professional development and leadership was associated with mixed messages at the teacher level and some loss of accountability.
- 5.
We speak here primarily about tools to assist with leadership practices; there may have been tools related to Balanced Literacy and/or the mathematics program that were used by coaches and teachers.
- 6.
The notebooks included handouts, overhead transparencies, and scripts for leading meetings.
- 7.
Adjustments that might be required for high school, since this was the first time that Balanced Literacy-inspired reforms were being used at the high school level, or adjustments to include subject matter outside of literacy were undertaken.
- 8.
No relationship to Elaine Fink.
- 9.
The New Standards consisted of high-level standards for student learning accompanied by examinations that tested the extent to which students met those standards. In the nineties, they were adopted by many districts around the country in an attempt to raise the level of teaching and learning occurring in their classrooms.
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Stein, M.K., Hubbard, L., Toure, J. (2010). Travel of District-Wide Approaches to Instructional Improvement: How Can Districts Learn from One Another?. In: Hargreaves, A., Lieberman, A., Fullan, M., Hopkins, D. (eds) Second International Handbook of Educational Change. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2660-6_44
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