The school reopening debate has reached an inflection point as districts weigh both the safety and learning implications of returning to in-person education this fall. Challenges with transitioning to distance learning during the spring made it clear that teachers, parents and students needed more and different resources to make supportive,…

Ideal for faculty and administrators looking to blend business education and the liberal arts, this toolkit combines exemplary syllabi from 26 leading institutions with step-by-step strategies to advocate successfully for curricular innovation. Conceived with comprehensiveness in mind, these resources cover both inspiration and implementation for…

"Building Institutional Capacity for Data-Informed Decision Making" is the third installment of the Cutting Edge series, which aims to help colleges engage faculty, scale successful interventions, and create a strong culture of evidence through use of data to strengthen their institutional change and student success efforts. Though the…

Discusses the trend toward centralized decision making in schools brought about by state legislatures specifying curricular details. In the process, authority is shifted upwards to state level, and professionals become demoralized about changing or improving their schools' curricula. Citing Texas legislation and 11 other references, this paper…

Operation Excel is a program developed in a Texas school system that teaches principals and teachers the skills of effective teaching and teacher evaluation. The program has resulted in documented improvement in teacher effectiveness. (MD)

Describes the Southwest Texas Program for Improving Basic Skills Instruction in the Secondary Schools. It promotes a thoughtful, inquiry-oriented dialog between a university and six participating schools that encourages teachers to become more effective decision-makers. (MD)

The real-life drama 25 years ago when Apollo 13 was rescued through a collaborative team of colleagues provides a model for changes in many public schools. In Texas, the state code specifies that site-based decision making address planning, budgeting, curriculum staffing patterns, staff development, and school organization. (MLF)

This guide offers specific recommendations to Texas school districts concerning the implementation of least restrictive environment (LRE) requirements for students with disabilities. Suggestions are grouped according to six issues recommended for consideration in the decision making process: These are: (1) the primacy of the individual student's…

This analysis exemplifies Texas as 1 of 22 "adoption states" that select textbooks according to systematic state criteria and interprets this approach in relation to textbook reform efforts. Survey data of state committee members' ranking of criteria during the initial selection phase revealed that the top three criteria were…

Examines the institutional power of Texas's state textbook selection committee. Studies the relationship between selection of educational content and social and professional interests. Finds that centralized adoption provides citizens and interest groups input, but that technical and pragmatic priorities tend to dominate selection decisions. (NL)

The National Policy Board of Educational Administration reflects the belief that principals should be taught processes for experimenting and learning from real world data to meet the challenges of the work environment. This study of practicing principals yielded a content analysis of 482 responses, which reflect the need for principals to…

This report examines the relationship between philanthropy and public schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas served by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). While begun as a project to build understanding and to support institutional planning, this report speaks also to local school leaders, the…

This document highlights the development of guidelines and strategies for teaching preservice and inservice elementary school educators about parent involvement. Based on previous Parent Involvement in Education Project research and on input from experts and professionals actively engaged in teacher education and/or parent involvement, strategies…

This resource guide is intended to assist local Texas school districts in the implementation of site-based decision-making and in the development of district and campus plans that will result in improved student performance. This document includes information on site-based decision-making and suggestions for developing district and campus plans.…