The Practice and Theory of School Improvement : International Handbook of Educational Change

ANDY HARGREAVES Department of Teacher Education, Curriculum and Instruction Lynch School of Education, Boston College, MA, U.S.A. ANN LIEBERMAN Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, CA, U.S.A. MICHAEL FULLAN Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada DAVID HOPKINS Department for Education and Skills, London, U.K. This set of four volumes on Educational Change brings together evidence and insights on educational change issues from leading writers and researchers in the field from across the world. Many of these writers, whose chapters have been specially written for these books, have been investigating, helping initiate and implementing educational change, for most or all of their lengthy careers. Others are working on the cutting edge of theory and practice in educational change, taking the field in new or even more challenging directions. And some are more skeptical about the literature of educational change and the assumptions on which it rests. They help us to approach projects of understanding or initiating educational change more deeply, reflectively and realistically. Educational change and reform have rarely had so much prominence within public policy, in so many different places. Educational change is ubiquitous. It figures large in Presidential and Prime Ministerial speeches. It is at or near the top of many National policy agendas. Everywhere, educational change is not only a policy priority but also major public news. Yet action to bring about educational change usually exceeds people's understanding of how to do so effectively. Table of Contents......Page 6 International Handbook of Educational Change - Introduction......Page 8 Introduction: Tensions in and Prospects for School Improvement......Page 13 I. Towards a Theory of School Development......Page 34 Developing the Twenty-First Century School: A Challenge to Reformers......Page 35 Reconnecting Knowledge Utilization and School Improvement: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back......Page 50 The School Effectiveness Knowledge Base as a Guide for School Improvement......Page 72 II. The Contemporary Context of School Improvement......Page 92 School Evaluation and Improvement: A Scandinavian View......Page 93 Quality Assurance Reviews as a Catalyst for School Improvement in Australia......Page 109 Assessment and Accountability in Kentucky: How High Stakes Affects Teaching and Learning......Page 137 III. Tensions and Contrasts in School Improvement Strategies......Page 153 Innovations in Planning for School Improvement: Problems and Potential......Page 154 Curriculum Reform, Educational Change, and School Improvement......Page 176 The Conduct of Inquiry on Teaching: The Search for Models more Effective than the Recitation......Page 189 Three Rival Versions and a Critique of Teacher Staff Development......Page 215 Why Teachers Need their Colleagues: A Developmental Perspective......Page 230 IV. The Effectiveness of School Improvement Strategies......Page 245 "World Class" School Improvement: An Analysis of the Implications of Recent International School Effectiveness and School Improvement Research for Improvement Practice......Page 246 "Inside-Out" and "Outside-In": Learning from Past and Present School Improvement Paradigms......Page 257 Sands, Bricks, and Seeds: School Change Strategies and Readiness for Reform......Page 270 Using "Promising Programs" to Improve Educational Processes and Student Outcomes......Page 285 International Handbook of Educational Change - Table of Contents......Page 310

The purpose of this volume is to locate school improvement within a theoretical and practical framework, to illustrate the challenges facing school improvement strategies from a policy context, to demonstrate the evolution of a range of school improvement strategies in recent times, and through reports of recent research to challenge the assumptions underlying contemporary school improvement approaches. These concerns are reflected in the four major sections of the book.

(1) Towards a Theory of School Development;

(2) The Contemporary Context of School Improvement;

(3) Tensions and Contrasts in School Improvement Strategies;

(4) The Effectiveness of School Improvement Strategies.

This volume (part of 4 volumes) is the fourth section in the International Handbook of Educational Change.

The volumes are a state-of-the-art collection of the most important ideas and evidence of educational change. The volumes bring together some of the most influential thinkers and writers on educational change. It deals with issues like educational innovation, reform, restructuring, culture-building, inspection, school-review, and change management. School leaders, system administration, teacher leaders, consultants, facilitators, educational researchers, staff developers and change agents of all kinds will find these volumes an indispensable resource for guiding them to both classic and cutting-edge understandings of educational change, no other work provides as comprehensive coverage of the field of educational change.

This International Handbook of Educational Change brings together evidence and insights on educational change issues from leading writers and researchers in the field from across the world.