Challenges of conflicting school reforms : effects of New American Schools in a high-poverty district

Resource Information

The work Challenges of conflicting school reforms : effects of New American Schools in a high-poverty district represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Challenges of conflicting school reforms : effects of New American Schools in a high-poverty district

Title remainder

effects of New American Schools in a high-poverty district

Statement of responsibility

Mark Berends [and others]

Contributor

• Rand Corporation
• Rand Education (Institute)
• Berends, Mark, 1962-

Subject

• Case studies
• Educational change -- Texas | San Antonio
• Educational change -- United States -- Case studies
• New American Schools (Organization)
• Poor children -- Education -- Texas | San Antonio
• Poor children -- Education -- United States -- Case studies
• School improvement programs -- Texas | San Antonio
• School improvement programs -- United States -- Case studies

Genre

• Case studies

Language

eng

Summary

A decade ago, New American Schools (NAS) launched an ambitious effort for whole-school reform to address the perceived lagging achievement of American students and the lackluster school reform attempts that have produced so few meaningful changes. As a private nonprofit organization, NAS set out to help schools and districts significantly raise the achievement of large numbers of students by offering whole-school designs and design-based assistance during the implementation process. NAS is currently in the scale-up phase of its effort, and its designs are being widely diffused to schools across the nation. During the 1997_1998 and 1998_1999 school years, RAND assessed the effects of NAS designs on classroom practice and student achievement in a sample of schools in a high-poverty district. RAND found that high-poverty schools often have fragmented and conflicting environments with difficult and changing political currents and entrenched unions. Teachers in high-poverty schools tend to face new accountability systems and fluctuating reform agendas. These teachers generally lack sufficient time for implementing reform efforts, often becoming demoralized and losing their enthusiasm for the difficult task of improving student performance under difficult conditions. RAND concluded that high-stakes tests may motivate schools to increase performance and to seek out new curricula and instructional strategies associated with comprehensive school reforms. However, those same tests may provide disincentives to adopt richer, more in-depth curricula that can succeed in improving the learning opportunities of all students, particularly those in high-poverty settings

Cataloging source

CPE

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

LC call number

LB2822.82

LC item number

.C475 2002

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography