Using Postschool Outcome Data To Improve Practices and Policies in Restructured Inclusive High Schools. Research Institute on Secondary Education Reform (RISER) for Youth with Disabilities Brief (original) (raw)
Related papers
2002
School districts and schools collect a wide variety of data, including transcripts, enrollment records, and standard achievement test scores, in an effort to improve their educational offerings and outcomes. However, they often fail to use the data they collect in a systematic manner to identify strengths and weaknesses at their sites, to determine improvement strategies , or to monitor progress. Schools often rely on informal, anecdotal information or hunches rather than education research in assessing the quality of their teaching and learning.
A Wide-Angle Lens: How To Increase the Variety, Collection, and Use of Data for School Improvement
1991
The progress made by 24 League of Professional Schools in increasing the variety, collection, and use of data during 1990-91 is examined in this paper. Three goals of the league are to involve schools in action research for school improvement, increase teacher participation through shared governance, and develop school improvement initiatives. Methodology involved analysis of the 24 schools, action plans, 2 planning surveys, and conference discussions. Finlings indicate that participating school teams need information about assessment devices--particularly availability and procedures--and formulation of specific assessment goals. Confrontation with data initiates action for change, often producing beneficial outcomes. Four tables and two figures are included. (18 references) (LMI) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * stit********************************...
This brief provides an overview of the foundation and framework for the Research Institute on Secondary Education Reform (RISER) for Youth with Disabilities. RISER focuses on secondary schools engaged in reform efforts that include students with disabilities and seeks to identify restructuring practices that benefit all students. RISER's goal is to expand the knowledge base related to practices in secondary schools that enhance authentic learning, achievement, and outcomes for students with disabilities. After discussing pitfalls and possibilities in education reform and inclusion, the brief describes three essential features of authentic student learning: (1) construction of knowledge, in which students take information and construct knowledge using higher order thinking process6s to transform information into knowledge; (2) disciplined inquiry, in which students draw on the established knowledge base to conceptualize problems in terms of the discipline and elaborate their inquiry via extensive writing; and (3) value beyond school, in which students generate products of learning that have an audience beyond the classroom. The relationship between authentic achievement and special education is explored and an expanded model of authentic achievement is introduced, the Schools of Authentic and Inclusive Learning, which addresses the needs and assets of students with disabilities. (Contains 15 references.) (JCR)
Comprehensive school reform and inclusive schools
Theory into Practice, 2006
In spite of the emphasis in public policy and the professional literature on developing inclusive programs for students with disabilities over the past 30 years, surprisingly little progress has been made in this regard in school districts across the United States. One approach to change that is currently being used with some success in general education and that has shown promise for developing more inclusive schools is comprehensive school reform (CSR). This article provides a brief description of an approach to CSR that has been used to develop programs that support a diverse range of students, including students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Preliminary research on this approach to school change suggests that CSR has the potential to provide teachers and administrators with a framework to develop successful, sustainable inclusive programs.
Improving Low-Performing High Schools: Searching for Evidence of Promise
Future of Children, 2009
Noting that many of the nation's high schools are beset with major problems, such as low student reading and math achievement, high dropout rates, and an inadequate supply of effective teachers, Steve Fleischman and Jessica Heppen survey a range of strategies that educators have used to improve low-performing high schools.
Students with Disabilities and Accountability Reform: Findings from the California Case Study
Educational Policy Reform Research Institute, 2007
This paper is one of four individual case study reports presenting the qualitative findings from a five-year investigation of the impact of accountability reform on students with disabilities in four states, eight districts, and twenty schools. During the late 1980s and 1990s, many states passed legislation requiring school systems to be more accountable for students' learning. However, the impetus for the most recent changes in state accountability systems originated in state responses to federal concerns about the quality and equity of public education. These concerns can be considered as the next phase of the standards-based reform movement.
Policy Brief on Data Analyses and Their Implications for School Policy
2000
This report discusses the idea that all children should receive the support that they require in order to meet their educational goals, and how the schools are supposed to provide this support. It discusses how United States schools are not all equally successful at accomplishing their goals. (AMT)