Beginning with the End in Mind: The District Office Leadership Role in Closing the Graduation Gap for At-Risk Students

We need to begin with the end in mind as Stephen Covey (1989) reminds us. Graduating all students ready for college or career is the ultimate goal of the K-12 educational system

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #65

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.Criticizing school district bureaucracies has become a growth industry over the past couple of decades. In the face of all this anti-district and anti–central office rhetoric, it is important to recognize the growing number of scholars who are emphasizing the importance of the district in school reform efforts and the research base that examines the role of the central office. Building on previous reviews of school district leadership, this review adds a new focus on the role of school district central offices in improving instruction and raising student achievement. We examine the functional tasks of the central office and the internal dynamics of relations between the central office and district schools (with their principals, teachers, and students). The review concludes with a heuristic model of how the central office influences classroom instruction and student achievement in district schools.Grant (No. R117-D40005) from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES, formerly OERI) at the U.S. Department of Educatio

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #4

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.Central East Middle School in Philadelphia and CRESPAR are working together to implement a Talent Development Middle School model of schooling. Part of this effort includes use of the Student Team Reading (STR) program, which changes both the instructional processes and curriculum in Reading, English, and Language Arts (RELA) to create a motivational climate that is conducive to learning and personal development. Teachers at Central East Middle School in Philadelphia were trained in STR in the summer of 1995 and received curricular materials and technical support throughout the first semester of the 1995–1996 school year. Implementation and outcome data were collected in February 1996 at Central East Middle School and a matched comparison school.Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U. S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #50

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.This is the final report from a five-year, matched-control study of five Maryland schools that began implementation of the Core Knowledge Sequence in the fall of 1994. This report provides both longitudinal implementation and outcome data.Grant (No. R-117-40005) from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Educatio

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #21

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.In Talent Development Middle Schools, students needing extra help in mathematics participate in the Computer- and Team-Assisted Mathematics Acceleration (CATAMA) course. CATAMA is an innovative combination of computer-assisted instruction and structured cooperative learning that students receive in addition to their regular math course for about ten weeks of the school year. This report presents two studies of CATAMA. The first compares growth in math achievement for 96 seventh graders, 48 of whom participated in CATAMA for ten weeks and 48 of whom were students of similar prior achievement who attended a comparison school where CATAMA is not offered. The second study reports data from interviews with CATAMA participants and observations of the program in action. Growth in mathematics procedures achievement was about one-half a standard deviation higher for CATAMA participants than for students in the comparison sample.Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #21

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.In Talent Development Middle Schools, students needing extra help in mathematics participate in the Computer- and Team-Assisted Mathematics Acceleration (CATAMA) course. CATAMA is an innovative combination of computer-assisted instruction and structured cooperative learning that students receive in addition to their regular math course for about ten weeks of the school year. This report presents two studies of CATAMA. The first compares growth in math achievement for 96 seventh graders, 48 of whom participated in CATAMA for ten weeks and 48 of whom were students of similar prior achievement who attended a comparison school where CATAMA is not offered. The second study reports data from interviews with CATAMA participants and observations of the program in action. Growth in mathematics procedures achievement was about one-half a standard deviation higher for CATAMA participants than for students in the comparison sample.Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #15

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.The Talent Development Middle School’s Student Team Literature (STL) program includes: (1) curricular materials designed to assist students study great literature; (2) recommended instructional practices, peer assistance processes, and assessments; and (3) staff development, mentoring, and advising to support the curricular and instructional reforms. Data on students‘ prior reading achievement, achievement after the first year of implementation, and on the frequency of peer assistance were collected in 21 STL classes and in 25 comparison classes in a closely matched control school. HLM analyses that control for prior reading achievement reveal that students in STL classes display significantly better reading comprehension after the first year of implementation (effect size = .51).Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (R-117-D40005

Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #48

The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.In this comprehensive report, the authors examine four distinct processes for reforming nine low-performing Title I schools in challenging high-poverty contexts.Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education (R-117D-40005