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Transforming School Leadership and Management to Support Student Learning and Development

The Field Guide to Comer Schools in Action

By: Edward T. Joyner, Michael Ben-Avie, James P. Comer

The tried, tested, and true approach to school leadership using consensus, collaboration, and no-fault problem solving to make all decisions in the best interest of children!

This first-ever field guide to the methods used by the Yale School Development Program (SDP) is sure to be the essential resource for every school leader charged with creating communities that foster the healthy development and academic success of students. It offers educators a guide to:

Identifying the problems schools need to solve through reform efforts
Using teams for school planning and management, student and staff support, and promoting parent, family, and community involvement
Implementing, sustaining, and renewing their schools' transformation into effective and efficient operating systems that support both students and staff

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781412905114
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2004
Page Count: 240
Publication date: May 12, 2004

Price: $42.95

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Description

Meets "the highest standard of evidence" for comprehensive school reforms that improve student achievement.
Review of Educational Research, 2003

"A unique feature of James Comer's school improvement is the comprehensiveness of his ecological approach. It necessarily involves all of the key players in each individual school setting and provides guidelines for their interaction. . . .The domain of educational change is not without good ideas, but it is rare to find them translated into the substance and strategies necessary to getting them into school practices. This handbook will help enormously to keep alive what James Comer and his colleagues have so carefully crafted over the years."
John I. Goodlad, President
Institute for Educational Inquiry

The tried, tested, and true approach to school leadership using consensus, collaboration, and no-fault problem solving!

For more than 35 years, the Yale School Development Program (SDP) has been pioneering the Comer Process for planned change in schools. From initial planning and preparation, through foundation building, transformation, institutionalization, and renewal, the Comer Process provides school leaders with a comprehensive and effective framework for transforming their schools and districts into learning communities that support the growth and development of every child and every adult.

Combining research; evidence-based best practices; essential tools for planning, data analysis, assessment, and program evaluation, and a generous collection of sample letters, sample presentations, charts, tables, and graphics, Transforming School Leadership and Management to Support Student Learning and Development offers educators a state-of-the-art guide to:

Identifying the problems the school wants to solve through reform efforts

Designing a comprehensive school plan that includes assessment, modification, and staff development

Using facilitators to model excellence and to promote team approaches

Using teams for school planning and management, student and staff support, and promoting parent/family involvement and community investment in schools

Training for teaming skills that support and develop consensus decision making

Implementing and sustaining the school's transformation into an effective and efficient operating system that supports student and staff growth and development

Transforming School Leadership and Management to Support Student Learning and Development is sure to be the essential resource for every school leader charged with creating schools, districts, and communities that foster the healthy development of young people and challenge them to the highest academic standards.

Key features

The primary resource for all Comer schools and for all schools and districts that want to use Comer principles to improve student learning and development.
A key training and administrative resource for urban schools and districts that must meet No Child Left Behind standards for "highly qualified" teachers
A key resource for schools and districts considering school improvement and restructuring
A key text for educational administration courses on school change, school administration, school leadership, and urban education
Includes diagrams, forms, checklists, reminder cards, sidebar features, and sample presentations for students, staff, and parents

Author(s)

Edward T. Joyner

Edward T. Joyner, Ed.D., is the Executive Director of the Yale School Development Program. He served as the SDP's first director of training, was the original designer of the SDP Leadership Development Academies, and initiated university-public school partnerships to strengthen local school reform efforts. He is the architect of the SDP's systemic initiative to coordinate the work of the school board, central office, building staff, and the larger school community to create an optimal environment for teaching and learning throughout each school district. He currently oversees all of the operations of the Yale School Development Program and serves as the lead implementation coordinator for New York.

Michael Ben-Avie

Michael Ben-Avie directs the Impact Analysis and Strategies Group, which studies corporate, nonprofit, and government partnerships that promote youth development and student learning. He conducts national studies designed to evaluate the effectiveness of mentoring programs and psychological interventions on children's lifepaths. He has co-edited books about the Yale School Development Program with James P. Comer and colleagues, and has published numerous book chapters, journal articles, and reports on educational change initiatives, high schools, parent involvement, and the relationship between youth development and student learning.

James P. Comer

James P. Comer, M.D., is the founder and chairman of the Yale School Development Program, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center, and Associate Dean of the Yale University School of Medicine. He has been the recipient of the Grawemeyer Award in Education, the John and Mary Markle Scholar in Academic Medicine Award, the Rockefeller Public Service Award, the Harold W. McGraw, Jr., Prize in Education, the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Education, the Heinz Award for Service to Humanity, and many other awards and honors, including 41 honorary degrees.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

1. Introducing the Comer Process to the Faculty for the First Time

2. Essential Understandings of the Yale School Development Program: A Reference Guide to the Comer Process

3. The School Planning and Management Team (SPMT): The Engine That Drives the School

4. Identifying the Problem You Are Trying to Solve with the Comer Process

5. All Decisions Must Be Made in the Best Interests of Children: SDP's Most Important Standard

6. Designing the Comprehensive School Plan

7. School Planning and Management Team (SPMT) Subcommittees: Where the Work of the Comprehensive School Plan Gets Done

8. Community Investment in Schools

9. Forging Strong Home, School, and Community Links

10. Families as Partners: Parent Teams and Parent/Family Involvement

11. The Student and Staff Support Team (SSST) and the Coordination of Student Services: "Nine Different People Were Helping One Child"

12. The Student and Staff Support Team (SSST) and Child Development

13. The Students Have Ruled That "School Should Not Hurt": One Comer School's Approach to Bullying and Other Student Interpersonal Problems

14. Letters from an Experienced Facilitator: Promoting a Team Approach to Educational Change

15. The Comer Facilitator and Teaming Skills for Meetings

16. SDP Facilitators Model Communication Excellence

17. Making Decisions: Reaching Consensus in Team Meetings

18. The School Development Program (SDP) Implementation Life Cycle: A Roadmap to Planned Change

Resources

Reminder Cards

Role Expectation Cards

Index

Foreword

Reviews

Meets "the highest standard of evidence" for comprehensive school reforms that improve student achievement.

Review of Educational Research, 2003

"A unique feature of James Comer’s school improvement is the comprehensiveness of his ecological approach. It necessarily involves all of the key players in each individual school setting and provides guidelines for their interaction."

John I. Goodlad, President
Institute for Educational Inquiry

Other Titles in: Group Facilitation | Administration & Leadership | School Change, Reform, & Restructuring

Select Format:

For Instructors

Request Review Copy

When you select 'request review copy', you will be redirected to Sage Publishing (our parent site) to process your request.