This four-part series illuminates the challenges of district and high school redesign processes and provides a learning tool for district and high school personnel, technical assistance providers, and others involved in school and district redesign efforts. Currently in progress, this series will include case studies of four school districts and one analytical report drawing from the four individual case studies.
This is an analytical report that looks across the four district case studies in the series to reflect on what happens when a district commits to the goal of graduating each student ready for college, career, and citizenship. The report describes four challenge areas—differentiation and standardization, capacity building, equity and resources, and use of data—that highlight the need for greater connection, alignment, and capacity throughout the district system if they are to reach this college-ready goal.
What happens when a district aligns its graduation requirements to four-year college entrance requirements? This case looks at teachers' reactions to such a policy and explores differing beliefs and attitudes about rigor and the role of high school education. New leadership and a changing district culture create the context for the case, which also examines the principal's challenge in preparing her staff to graduate all students eligible and prepared for college.
This case study examines one school district's efforts to align its resources with the district's commitment to graduate each student ready for college, career, and citizenship. In a district where half of the high school students attend its two alternative high schools, this commitment has challenged traditional management and resource allocation structures and has created an enormous learning opportunity for administrators, staff, teachers, students, parents, and community members throughout the district. The overarching research question for this case study was: What happens when a district considers reallocating resources to meet its goal of "graduating every student ready for college, career, and citizenship"?
The first set of case studies in our series examines the supports for instructional improvement in two school districts through the experience of individual teachers who are trying to change their practice in accordance with the district's reform work and their small school's vision and mission. Our overarching research question for these case studies was: What supports this teacher in changing his or her classroom practice and what gets in the way?
This is an analytical report that looks across the four district case studies in the series to reflect on what happens when a district commits to the goal of graduating each student ready for college, career, and citizenship. The report describes four challenge areas—differentiation and standardization, capacity building, equity and resources, and use of data—that highlight the need for greater connection, alignment, and capacity throughout the district system if they are to reach this college-ready goal.
What happens when a district aligns its graduation requirements to four-year college entrance requirements? This case looks at teachers' reactions to such a policy and explores differing beliefs and attitudes about rigor and the role of high school education. New leadership and a changing district culture create the context for the case, which also examines the principal's challenge in preparing her staff to graduate all students eligible and prepared for college.
This case study examines one school district's efforts to align its resources with the district's commitment to graduate each student ready for college, career, and citizenship. In a district where half of the high school students attend its two alternative high schools, this commitment has challenged traditional management and resource allocation structures and has created an enormous learning opportunity for administrators, staff, teachers, students, parents, and community members throughout the district. The overarching research question for this case study was: What happens when a district considers reallocating resources to meet its goal of "graduating every student ready for college, career, and citizenship"?
The first set of case studies in our series examines the supports for instructional improvement in two school districts through the experience of individual teachers who are trying to change their practice in accordance with the district's reform work and their small school's vision and mission. Our overarching research question for these case studies was: What supports this teacher in changing his or her classroom practice and what gets in the way?