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Using Research to Lead School Improvement

Turning Evidence Into Action

By: Scott C. Bauer, S. David Brazer

This one-of-a-kind book takes readers beyond thinking about school improvement to leading the process of creating excellent learning environments. Beginning with fundamental principles of school leadership for grades K-12, the book demonstrates how action research and published studies can work hand-in-hand to explain the nature of student achievement gaps and the reasons that underlie them. Using examples from education leadership classrooms, research, and practice, the authors bring to life the processes of problem identification and diagnosis, developing solutions, and project implementation and evaluation.

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781412974059
Published By: Sage Publications Inc
Year: 2011
Page Count: 336
Publication date: February 15, 2011

Price: $129

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Description

Key features

Key Features:
Presents a step-by-step approach to problem diagnosis and school improvement.
Numerous activities and discussion topics help readers create critical documents such as an improvement target proposal, a research brief, and a school improvement project proposal.
A focus on using a deliberate process of thorough problem diagnosis helps readers avoid the common syndrome of adopting off-the-shelf "best practices" that may not fit the actual challenges faced in a reader's school or school district.
Practical guidelines for putting together a collaborative team and thinking about how non-team members should collaborate on different levels are provided.
Links to national standards help readers align with standards as they plan and implement their school improvement projects.
help readers create critical documents such as an improvement target proposal, a research brief, and a school improvement project proposal.

Author(s)

Scott C. Bauer

Scott C. Bauer (Ph.D. Cornell University) serves as Associate Professor and Program Coordinator in the Education Leadership Program at George Mason University. His research interests involve the application of organizational design and theory to the improvement of schools, and the efficacy of various strategies used to develop school leaders at all levels. His most recent publications deal with the design of distributed leadership processes in schools, the development of teacher leaders, and the redesign of school leadership preparation programs. He is involved in a federally-funded three-year study of the implementation and effectiveness of a cross-district coaching and mentoring support system for new principals. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of School Leadership and Journal of Research for Educational Leaders, and he is an officer for the Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership special interest group in the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

S. David Brazer

S. David Brazer (Ph.D. Stanford) is an Associate Professor in the Education Leadership Program at George Mason University. Prior to coming to the College of Education and Human Development, David was a School Administrator for 12 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, serving his last six years as the Principal of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California. David teaches primarily in the Education Leadership master's program for students pursuing a Virginia principal's license. He teaches in cohorts throughout Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. Recent projects also include coordinating a partnership with Fairfax County Public Schools to provide accelerated licensure to a promising group of teacher leaders.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Tables and Figures

ELCC Standards

Part I. Research and Leadership

1. A Structured Approach to Leading School Improvement

2. Research, Leaders, and Improving Student Performance

3. Involving Others, Forming a Team

Part II. Problem Articulation: Using Evidence to Find Improvement Needs

4. Assessing the Local Situation

5. Communicating a Message with Data

Part III. Building a Deep Understanding of the Problem

6. Getting to the Root of the Problem

7. Finding Supportive Literature

8. Understanding Research Design and Analysis

Part IV. Completing the Journey: Solutions, Actions, and Implementation

9. Identifying Solutions and Action Planning for School Improvement

10. Considering Implementation and Evaluation

Epilogue

References

Index

About the Authors

Reviews

"Hurry and get this book published. I'd like to use it in my current class. It is better than anything else I've seen. The book covers more topics than most textbooks. I like the way in includes the change process, the understanding of how to find high quality literature and research, and the understanding of the research processes. I also like the inclusion of the topic of assessing the context.

Thomas L. Alsbury
North Carolina State University

Other Titles in: Administration & Leadership | Educational Research | Action Research/Practitioner Inquiry

Available As:

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.