In the current context of standards-based reform and heightened accountability for school performance, state education agencies (SEAs) have an important, but not yet well-articulated, role to play in local school improvement efforts. This article starts to articulate such a role by examining the variety of approaches and strategies used by 7 SEAs…

The purpose of this article is to examine how the relationship between comprehensive school reform (CSR) and state accountability systems helps or hinders school improvement efforts. This article draws on case study data collected in schools in 3 states that received funding to implement reforms through the federal CSR program. Findings show that…

This article presents initial findings from an evaluation research study of the implementation of a Web-based decision support tool, the Quality School Portfolio (QSP), developed at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The study focused on…

The student-assessment results that schools must report to satisfy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements could be useful in pinpointing strengths and weaknesses in instructional programs and students' skills. However, many school staffs lack the expertise to learn from assessment results. We describe lessons learned from a yearlong workshop…

The implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) presents important challenges for schools across the nation to identify problems that lead to poor performance. Yet schools must intervene with instructional programs that can make a difference and evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. New advances in artificial intelligence (AI) data-mining…

This article revisits the Trinity University and Hawthorne School partnership since the first case study written 10 years ago. This new perspective analyzes the teacher education program-particularly beliefs and attitudes about it and changes made to the program-with an eye to two primary themes: preparing future teachers and Hawthorne's Core…

Since the mid 1990s, reading instruction has changed and so has the School Development Program's (SDP) Essentials of Literacy (EOL) process. Beginning as a teaching suggestion at one New Haven, Connecticut school, Lincoln Bassett, EOL became a pilot project at Davis Street School in New Haven for the 1996-1997 school year and continues to be an…

In a national education climate where change is the only constant, Norman S. Weir Elementary School has maintained and expanded the reform efforts that have resulted in striking academic achievement and improved school climate. Despite changes in administration and staffing, a highly professional and committed staff has continued the…

This article describes a viable alternative to hiring full-time certified teachers or to using lay volunteers to provide children at risk of failing in school with academic coaches (tutors). The Academic Coaching Program described herein recruited and trained students enrolled in a university's school of education programs to serve as academic…

Accountability mandates such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have drawn attention to the practical use of student data for school improvement. Nevertheless, schools may struggle with these mandates because student data are often stored in forms that are difficult to access, manipulate, and interpret. Such access barriers additionally preclude the…

This article presents initial findings of a case study focusing on data use in five low-performing urban high schools undergoing comprehensive schoolwide reform. The case study investigates: (a) the ways in which disaggregated data can be used to examine progress and guide improvement in the process of restructuring urban, low-performing high…

During the last decade, standards, assessments, and accountability have emerged as three prongs of a national education reform movement that has asked district and school administrators to think very differently about educational decision making and the use of data. However, research about data-driven decision making is limited, especially…

Magnet schools have been criticized for intensifying the concentration of disadvantaged, low-achieving students at neighborhood high schools. This article investigates the impact of academically selective magnet high schools on the average achievement of ninth graders enrolling in neighborhood high schools in a large urban school district. The…

This study was conducted to examine the characteristics of middle schools in which Latino students from low-income families made substantial achievement gains. Nine schools in Texas were selected where Latino students had shown strong gains in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Data from onsite interviews, focus groups, and documents were…

This article describes the development and field-testing of an observational tool, the Volunteer Tutor Instructional Practices Checklist. It is an example of action research in a clinical setting and will be of interest to all educators, including special education and reading center directors, in the training and ongoing supervision of community…