While it is nationally recognized that there is a high need for teachers, particularly those of diverse backgrounds and with ESL/bilingual certifications, barriers to certification continue to exist for undocumented individuals. Within the state of New Jersey, these barriers mirror the national limitations. Although New Jersey has made efforts to…

In 2010, the Obama administration called for schools with low standardized test scores, often in high poverty, urban communities, to be targeted for rapid school improvement through reforms in teacher professional development, curriculum, and other areas. Since that time, many of schools deemed in need of improvement have experienced a vast array…

Released on the 25th anniversary of the opening of the first charter schools, David Osborne's "Reinventing America's Schools" explores the new paradigm of public education that is emerging to fit the realities of the 21st century. Osborne's new book offers a bracing survey of the most dramatic improvements taking place in urban education…

This study evaluates how welcoming thirty American cities--the twenty-five largest and five smaller "hotspots"--are to "nontraditional" problem-solvers and solutions. It assumes that the balky bureaucracies meant to improve K-12 education and hold leaders accountable are so calcified by policies, programs, contracts, and…

While much is known about the critical importance of educative experiences outside of school, little is known about the social systems, community programs, and everyday practices that can facilitate learning outside of the classroom. "Thinking Comprehensively About Education" sheds much-needed light on those systems, programs, and…

Superintendent of Trenton (New Jersey) Public Schools discusses process and challenges of implementing whole-school reform models in his district and the educational benefits derived there from. Argues that results thus far support New Jersey's approach to whole-school reform in urban districts. (PKP)

Some public schools do a great job educating students of color to high standards. But they populate public education much the way houses in rural regions appear at night from a jetliner passing high above--as faint beacons. The core challenge of school reform today is to produce not merely a few glimmers of success but the dense glow of thousands…

Anchoring, a term rooted in the seafaring world, is a useful metaphor for contemplating the role of music in schooling, and particularly for thinking about the implications of including music in the professional development school (PDS) reform movement. In 1999, the College of Education at William Paterson University (Wayne, New Jersey) joined two…

This guide's 11 sections are: "Evolution of Whole School Reform (WSR) in New Jersey"; "Department of Education Organizational Structure in Support of Urban Education Reform"; "Whole School Reform Regulations"; "School Management Teams: Leading the Process"; "Becoming a Whole School Reform School";…

The Urban Development Component at Research for Better Schools, Inc., attempted to attack problems facing urban secondary schools in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania by using the "natural channels" of educational and civic associations to disseminate research and development information and to work collaboratively toward improving…

This document is the final report of a two-year study of the interdependency of race and education in Newark, New Jersey. The report is organized into sections describing how the research was performed and presents the results on a set of topics defined as central for providing a useful understanding of the complex interrelationships of race and…

The seminar began with a report of some research that W.M. Phillips, Jr. had done in Newark. Three purposes guided the design of that study of educational change and race from 1958 to 1972: First, there was the fundamental curiosity to discover the changing nature of participation by the Black community in the creation and implementation of public…

This paper presents a set of general observations about state-sponsored school improvement initiatives with data from several sources. One major source is the Research for Better Schools, Inc., Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), implementation study, "Facing the Challenge: Selected Programs and Practices of the Urban Initiative's Operation School…