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January 1, 2002
Vol. 44
No. 1

Six Promising Schoolwide Reform Programs

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      Linda Stelly of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) shared information about six programs that aim to foster schoolwide improvement. These programs have shown evidence of effectiveness and replicability, according to the authors of the AFT publication Building on the Best, Learning from What Works.
      eu200201 stelly linda
      Linda Stelly

      The following list outlines these six promising programs.
      • Success for All. The core of this program is a reading curriculum that incorporates research-based instructional practices, including cooperative learning. Other key elements are the use of reading groups, frequent assessments, tutors, and a program facilitator. For more information, visit the Success for All Foundation at http://www.successforall.net/.
      • Comer School Development Program. This program revolves around nine essential components that focus on improving educators' understanding of child development and building positive relationships between schools and families. For more information, visit http://www.club.med.yale.edu/comer/.
      • High Schools That Work. This program encourages schools to implement 10 'key practices' for accelerating student achievement, including high expectations, vocational studies, academic studies, work-based learning, guidance, and extra help. For more information, visit http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/hstwindex.asp.
      • Direct Instruction. This program is a highly structured instructional approach, designed to accelerate the learning of at-risk students. Curriculum materials and instructional sequences attempt to move students to mastery at the fastest possible pace. For more information, visit http://www.uoregon.edu/~adiep/.
      • Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline. As the name suggests, this program has two main components: consistency management, through which the teacher is taught to organize all classroom activities to create an orderly and supportive environment; and cooperative discipline, which trains students to share in the classroom management role of teachers. For more information, visit http://www.coe.uh.edu/~freiberg/cm/cover.html.
      • Core Knowledge. This program, originated by E. D. Hirsch Jr., is designed to add detailed content to the general skills and objectives typically found in state and local curriculum guides and provide a common core of knowledge in the early grades. For more information, visit http://www.coreknowledge.org.

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