There is no shortage of innovations on offer for schools. Hardly a week passes without someone marching out the latest device, app, service, curricular add-on, or instructional technique that, we are told, is sure to cure the perennial woes of systemic education. This book is an investigation of this enchantment with "innovation" and its…

Jobs for the Future's (JFF) vision for the Big Blur calls for entirely new educational institutions and systems to better prepare 16-to-20-year-olds for college and careers. This paper examines the new type of governance needed to help states create more effective grade 11-14 schools and systems by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high…

A junior/senior high school counselor used an innovative psychoeducational group counseling curriculum based on cognitive behavioral therapy to meet the social/emotional needs of identified students. This article provides a summary and evaluation of the small group plan conducted via practitioner research. Results indicated that, although…

There is a long history of calls to "personalize" education -- (by which will be meant, in this study, to adaptively generate goals and plans for individual students, based on various kinds of information about those students). Calls for such personalization have perhaps increased with the rise of personalizing information technologies.…

This report is the executive summary to a paper that argues for a radical restructuring of education for grades 11-14--by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college--to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. The authors make the case for an entirely new type of institution--neither high…

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are approaches to help us to understand and improve the world. Therefore, as a country, we need to develop more STEM literate citizens through exemplary STEM learning in schools. This report asks four questions that are answered through five case studies: (1) What is exemplary STEM learning?; (2)…

Personalized learning is an evolving method for tailoring the goals of K-12 education to meet the needs of each student. This study supports education leaders in learning how to tailor education plans that maximize success for each student. This study extends learning about a better course of action for schools that might prevent students from…

Sixty-six school districts and more than 150 schools in the state of Kansas are participating in the Kansans Can Redesign Project. In this article, we present a case study of using Design Thinking as a systemic process to structure continuous school improvement. The collage of real-life scenarios presented in our case shows the integration of…

Much can be learned from practicing school leaders, including how they describe their roles navigating between policy and practice with a focus on meeting students' needs. This article considers how alternative school administrators work with school personnel to create communities for supporting students once considered at risk in traditional…

This paper argues for a radical restructuring of education for grades 11-14--by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college--to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. The authors make the case for an entirely new type of institution--neither high school nor college--designed specifically to…

In this report, the Rennie Center for Education Policy & Research focuses on Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) as a key tool that districts and schools can use to prepare students for college and career success, as well as the costs districts incur to implement ILPs. In Massachusetts some public school districts have utilized ILPs to pursue…

Education is the catalyst for families, communities, and businesses to thrive. While Washington's employers report a growing need for a more educated workforce in order to stay competitive, many individuals need higher levels of education to obtain work that can support themselves and their families. Washington's Roadmap goals identify the…

This case study asks readers to consider what leadership actions might help to sustain success for immigrant students in a small urban high school when the leader leaves. Principal Michael Perez, the founding principal of Romero High School, has been recruited to become the superintendent of a first-ring suburban district with rapidly changing…

In recent years, the curriculum programs have been changed dramatically in Turkey, as part of a comprehensive reform initiative. The history curriculum for secondary schools was subjected to this transformation as well. This study examines the curriculum reform in terms of teacher autonomy, a key-concept for the comprehension and improvement of…

Calls for schools to "improve" are everywhere, but recently calls for schools to "transform" have proliferated, based on the idea that schools are not simply underperforming but outdated if not obsolete. Most prominently, scholars and authors such as Phillip Schlechty, Peter Senge, and Francis Duffy have targeted school and…