Expanding the Reach of Education Reforms : Perspectives From Leaders in the Scale-up of Educational Interventions

How does one spread out a successful educational reform? THe authors recount the scale-ups of a variety of programs, descsribing the challenges they faced and the lessons they drew from their experiences. Over the last few decades, demands that schools serve all students better and be accountable for student performance have inspired many education reforms. Meanwhile, the focus has shifted from assisting individual teachers and schools to applying proven reforms more widely-scale-up. The authors of the essays in this volume have helped extend various reforms beyond the environments in which they first proved successful. The authors recount the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned. One major challenge has been building the capacity in schools, districts, and states both to implement and to sustain the reforms. Some elements of successful scale-ups are adjusting programs for differing cultural and policy environments, implementing quality-control mechanisms, ensuring that all supports are in place (including financing), and fostering a sense of ownership. Success with any design requires participants at all levels-developers, teachers, schools, districts, and states-to cooperate in an iterative and complex and process that, among other things, aligns the program with local accountability requirements and provides the policies and infrastructure that will sustain the practices for the long term How does one spread a successful educational reform? The essays here recount the authors'experiences with the scale-up process. Among their lessons are the importance of building the capacity to implement and sustain the reforms, adjusting for local culture and policy, ensuring quality control, providing the necessary infrastructure, and fostering a sense of ownership. The process is iterative and complex and requires cooperation among many actors who must ensure that the results align with goals. Fifty years ago, Brown v. Board of Education set in motion a series of legislative and judicial efforts to undo the effects of racial segregation, providing opportunities and support for children who had been denied both. [edited By] Thomas K. Glennan ... [et Al.]. Prepared For The Ford Foundation. Mg-248. Includes Bibliographical References. Also Available Via The Internet. How does one spread a successful educational reform? The essays here recount the authors experiences with the scale-up process