In Chapter 16, I outlined three principles for a new era of school reform. When followed, these principles have the potential of making this wave of reform more significant than any previous effort. In this chapter, I outline the process a school might use to apply those principles using the model described in the previous chapters. The process can be characterized as involving four phases: (1) taking the pulse of a school, (2) identifying and implementing an intervention, (3) examining the effect on achievement, and (4) moving to the next issue.

Phase I: Take the Pulse of Your School

The first step is to examine the school's practices relative to the school-level, teacher-level, and student-level factors. To this end, I have developed and field-tested a questionnaire that can be found in its entirety in the Appendix (pp. 179–186). For discussion purposes, the first 21 items (showing the five school-level factors) are listed in Figure 17.1. The questionnaire in the Appendix has similar items for the teacher-level and student-level factors.