This article explores the relationship between research on educational change, the Baldrige continuous improvement framework, and Schlechty's (2002) WOW school standards articulated in "Working on the Work". Each of Schlechty's standards are examined and examples from practicing educators who have been trained in continuous improvement…

According to the 2020 Training Industry Report conducted by "Training Magazine," organizations across all industries and sizes have spent $87.5 billion in training per year. The average training budget for a large company was reported at $22 million, whereas a midsized company was $808,000 and a small-sized company reported a yearly…

In Phillip Schlechty's best-selling book "Working on the Work", he outlined a motivational framework for improving student performance by improving the quality of schools designed for students. "Engaging Students" offers a next-step resource in which Schlechty incorporates what he's learned from the field and from the hundreds of workshops he and…

Educators have realized the importance of engaging students in learning. Teachers often see participatory behaviors like "hand raising" as evidence of students being engaged in an activity. These indications of engagement do not capture motivational factors behind true engagement. A research team developed a five item scale to easily…

Thirty four fifth-grade students were interviewed about classroom learning and technology. Interview data were considered through Schlechty's (2002) levels of engagement framework to explore students' authentic or ritualistic engagement during technology supported lessons. Student engagement is defined as interest in and commitment to learning.…

The authors use Ryan and Deci's (2000) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to better understand how student motivation and engagement are linked combined with Schlechty's Student Engagement Continuum to analyse the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on students' different engagement types. The study seeks to understand which type of…

Based on a theoretical model developed by Schlechty, this case study focuses on a small high school, located on a college campus and designed to address the educational needs of gifted 9th- through 12th-grade students. Eight teachers who taught 9th- and 12th-grade classes and their 60 students were observed. Each teacher was observed during six…

The debate over the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) generally overlooks--or looks past--what may be the most fundamental flaw in that legislation. As the law is now written, decisions regarding what the young should know and be able to do are removed from the hands of parents and local community leaders and turned over to officials…

Over the years, the author has participated in many gatherings where business leaders have been invited to provide educational leaders with advice regarding the way they should lead their schools. Some of these events proved satisfying, but others proved disastrous. In this article, the author argues that it is a mistake to invite business leaders…

Although curriculum integration has a long history of myriad models, rarely have those stakeholders most connected to the practice--the students--been consulted about the efficacy of the approach. This study applied a longitudinal, intrinsic case study approach (Stake, 2000) to examine middle school students' perceptions of learning and engagement…

The way public school educators respond to emerging information technologies will be the defining event for public education over the next decade. This author, however, worries about whether public schools have the capacity to take advantage of the revolution going on around them--a revolution that is affecting not only the way students learn, but…

The purpose of this study was to develop a model that may be used to estimate the financial costs of teacher turnover in urban school districts. It is estimated that 50% of the beginning teachers leave the profession within the first five years on the job (Murname, Singer, Wilett, Kemple, and Olsen 1991; Colbert and Wolff 1992; Ingersoll 2003;…

Calls for schools to "improve" are everywhere, but recently calls for schools to "transform" have proliferated, based on the idea that schools are not simply underperforming but outdated if not obsolete. Most prominently, scholars and authors such as Phillip Schlechty, Peter Senge, and Francis Duffy have targeted school and…

Public education is threatened as it struggles to keep up with the pace of change in American society. School systems are change prone but are not good at transforming change into improved performance. This book sheds light on why and what might be done about it. Part 1 offers an overview of the current situation in U.S. public schools and…

This book, which is a companion to the books, "Shaking up the Schoolhouse" and "Inventing Better Schools," presents the Working on the Work (WOW) framework for improving student performance by improving the quality of schoolwork. Field-tested in schools nationwide, the framework describes the 12 essential components of a WOW…