Running head: IMPROVING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 1 A Systems-based Synthesis of Research Related to Improving Students ’ Academic Performance

This paper addresses the issue of school improvement by looking to research on both the variables that should be the focus of school improvement efforts as well as factors that make it more likely that the organization will actually implement research findings. Issues of transformational leadership, instructional leadership, and high functioning teams are addressed; Hattie’s (2009) review of over 800 meta-analyses of variables related to school achievement is the primary source of identifying classroom and school variables that can be addressed by educators. As developed nations move out of the industrial age into the information/conceptual age, there is an ongoing debate about how to best prepare children and youth for adult success in the twenty-first century (Huitt, 1999b, 2007). While there is a consensus that schools should play a major role in this process, there is less agreement about exactly what that role should be. Some believe that the primary focus of schools should be academic preparation of students (Hirsch, 1987, 1996; Tienken, & Wilson, 2001), that classroom teachers are primarily responsible for student academic achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2000), and schools should efficiently and effectively organize themselves towards that task (Engelmann & Carnine, 1991). These effort

HOLISTIC VIEW 1 A Holistic View of Education and Schooling: Guiding Students to Develop Capacities, Acquire Virtues, and Provide Service

This paper considers the development of the whole person from the perspective of developing capacities in nine domains: (1) temperament, personality, and self-views, (2) cognition/thinking, (3) affect/emotion, (4) conation/volition (or self-regulation), (5) physical/bodily-kinesthetic, (6) social/interpersonal; (7) spiritual / transpersonal, (8) moral character, and (9) citizenship. Basic research is considered as well as how interested adults, especially educators, can facilitate development in these areas. Parents, educators, and concerned citizens around the world are asking questions about how best to prepare children and youth for successful adulthood in the twenty-first century. The question takes on added importance because humanity is immersed in a social and cultural environment that is changing at an accelerating rate (Kurzwiel, 2001). Simultaneously, there is exponential growth in an understanding of human capacities and the potential for human development (Damon, 2004). Though every human society has dealt with issues of preparing children and youth for adulthood, the potential benefits have never been greater for providing the proper learning experiences so that young people can flourish as adults. While it is acknowledged that schools are not the only social institutions responsible fo