TNTP has been investigating the importance of school environment and leadership practices using a survey tool called "Instructional Culture Insight," which measures teachers' perceptions of their school environments. In "Greenhouse Schools: How Schools Can Build Cultures Where Teachers and Students Thrive (2012)," TNTP found…

This dissertation addresses the dynamic interaction between policies aimed at urban education reform and teachers' role in advancing policy objectives. It examines teacher agency in the context of proposed community and school change by focusing on teacher involvement with policy implementation. It investigates teacher views of their individual…

Social return on investment (SROI) offers a new strategy to measure and communicate the value of outcomes achieved by programs that provide social, health, and education services to children and their families. It can be a powerful tool for demonstrating the monetary value of programs and services and for communicating that value in a way that can…

As of the writing of this report, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are being implemented in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Approaches to implementing the standards, however, are highly varied. For the past 3 years, Research For Action (RFA) has been tracking how one approach to implementing the literacy standards--the Literacy…

Social return on investment (SROI) analysis offers a practical new approach for measuring and communicating the value of outcomes achieved by programs that provide social, health, and educational services to children and their families. This guide highlights the key steps in conducting SROI research, issues in data-gathering and analysis, as well…

Background: With the increasing acuity of student health problems, growing rates of poverty among urban families, and widening racial/ethnic health disparities in child and adolescent health indicators, the contributions of school nurses are of increasing interest to policymakers. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of school nurses on…

Background/Context: Calls for evidence-based decision making have become increasingly prominent on the educational landscape. School district central offices increasingly experience these demands. Yet there are few empirical studies of evidence use at the district level. Furthermore, research on evidence use among policy makers in noneducation…

This report identifies the concrete practices that set exemplary principals apart from their peers, exploring how they assemble the strongest-possible staff and foster a culture where teachers--and their students--are supported to success. The researchers conducted an in-depth analysis of data sets from two studies conducted by New Leaders from…

States, districts and schools are now being offered unprecedented opportunities to develop programs that will improve student performance and turn around underperforming schools. An understanding of how reducing chronic early absence helps those efforts will go a long way to assure that innovative school improvement policies and practices will be…

This three volume study presents the results of research which examined working conditions and their possible relationship to stress among faculty in six schools (two elementary, two middle, and two high schools) in two major U.S. cities. Information about the schools was obtained through ethnographic case studies. Data were synthesized to…

This case study provides an account of one teacher's background, experiences, and perceptions as she has changed curriculum, teaching approaches and methods, and professional roles in consequence of her experiences in the Memphis Urban Mathematics Collaborative. Data are descriptive and presented from the perspective of the teacher. The discussion…

In this guide, the results and findings of a major survey of magnet schools are organized into a practical manual for school districts to use in planning, developing, and implementing new magnet programs or improving those already in existence. The guide is divided into three sections: (1) key steps in magnet program development (an outline of…

Poor students and parents in the East Harlem schools of New York City's Community District 4 should have the same opportunity to obtain the benefits of school choice available to the wealthy, who can afford private and parochial schools. Parental choice can provide the catalyst for educational reform by introducing a market mechanism to the public…

This document reports on the third of a series of hearings on the reauthorization of expiring federal elementary and secondary education programs. Four school administrators gave testimony regarding the block grant programs funded under the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act, Chapter 2. Testimony suggested the following: (1) the proposed…

This report presents a case study concerning the accomplishments of the Kansas City (Missouri) specialized magnet schools that were created to cure the low academic achievement of minority students and eliminate the racial isolation that existed. The plan sought to dramatically improve the facilities and programming of the city schools, the…