Realizing their coaching program was not having desired effects for teachers or for students' achievement, leaders in the Manor School District in Texas revamped the district's coaching program. They created two "communities" encompassing all coaches in the district (since district schools were each doing their own thing with regard to…

In 2005, the graduation rate for the Council Bluffs Community School District was, at 68 percent, the lowest in Iowa. District leaders knew that to improve, they needed to create a cultural change throughout the community. They began by getting community members involved in creating a strategic plan and mission statement that included a guarantee…

A low-performing California school district experienced a dramatic turnaround when faculty members began studying student assessment data and working together to ensure students had the support they needed. Sanger Unified School District began its reform journey in 2004 when district leaders launched an effort to focus deliberately on student…

Student mobility is a common phenomenon that disproportionately affects students in high-poverty schools. Research shows that students who move repeatedly are likely to fall behind in reading and other academic areas. This article reviews proactive strategies that high-poverty districts and schools are using to reduce the harmful effects of…

Describes the Community-Assisted Schooling Alternatives (CASA) Vida Home School Enrichment Center, a K-6 center developed by Arizona's Kyrene School District for 120 home-schooled students. (PKP)

As one survey shows, although collegiality within academic departments determined secondary teachers' innovation norms, conceptions of students, sense of subject area, and enthusiasm, teacher commitment and pride are primarily products of district-level influences. Teacher autonomy without strong district professional community, with its…

Describes a number of experimental programs at all levels of the Louisville, Kentucky public school system. (AN)

On Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina and the floodwaters from the breeched levees destroyed all 14 schools in Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish. Although most residents had been evacuated before the hurricane hit, 1,500 men, women, and children rode out the storm in Chalmette High School. The district superintendent and the school leadership…

Historical memory is part of an organization's culture and should not be forgotten. Stories acquire more power and persuasion each time an initiative is imposed without attention to how people think and feel about it. The Historygram process provides a collective forum for reviewing an organization's past. (MLH)

Site-based management tries to transform schools into communities where the appropriate people participate constructively in major decisions affecting them. Effective site councils have a well-designed community structure, enabling leadership, student and adult learning focus, and a schoolwide perspective. Districts should provide long-term…

Describes the approach used by one school district for increasing parent involvement in the schools and improving community understanding and support of school personnel and programs. (JG)