With many cities showing an interest in afterschool system building and research providing a growing body of useful information, this Wallace Perspective offers a digest of the latest thinking on how to build and sustain an afterschool system, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for this promising work. The report (a follow-up to a…

The idea that principals should focus more closely on teaching and learning did not emerge prominently until the mid-1990s. Then educators and policy makers began to realize that school leadership matters to student achievement. In a dozen years of working with states, districts, researchers and others, the Wallace Foundation has pinpointed five…

State education agencies are investing more time and effort to communicate effectively and engage with district, school and classroom leaders, parents, students and other key audiences about the important changes happening in their States. They are using myriad tools to do so, including forums, meetings, direct contact, mainstream and social…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and the Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) are strategies designed to improve how teachers teach and students learn. The designs encourage teacher collaboration and creativity and offer flexible frameworks for building lessons in all disciplines. Their purpose is to engage students to read challenging…

This paper describes conditions and processes involved in implementing school-based decision making (SBDM), examining an outcomes-driven developmental model (ODDM) and describing the training components within Springfield, Missouri's and Kentucky's strategic plans. The Springfield Board of Education approved a plan to guide a schoolwide community…