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This month we are highlighting resources related to middle and high school improvement and hosting two new Online Events focused on high schools.
We will occasionally have monthly themes. If you would like to suggest one, please write us at: schoolsmovingup@wested.org, Subject: Monthly Theme.
March 8, 2006
Inside High School Reform: Making the Changes That Matter
 What happens when some of the lowest-performing high schools make a commitment to reform themselves? Inside High School Reform: Making the Changes That Matter, a new book from WestEd, looks at the reform efforts of 28 California high schools where educators collaborated to fundamentally change expectations for students — in effect, to prepare all students for postsecondary education. Staff challenged the status quo and strengthened their delivery of services so all students, especially those traditionally denied access to college, would have more options for college and life. In this interactive presentation, the book’s author, Jordan Horowitz, Senior Project Director in WestEd's Evaluation Research Program, will present applicable findings for teachers, administrators, and policy makers. Horowitz also will disseminate the “top ten tips” derived from the book.
March 22, 2006
Converting to Smaller Learning Communities
 Participants will learn about what it takes to convert to smaller learning communities, based on information compiled by WestEd staff from their site visits to high schools across eight states. The focus will be on what we now understand about why some schools make the conversion more easily than others, and what we may do to help schools get ready to make the transformation. Rose Owens-West, Senior Project Director of WestEd's Comprehensive School Assistance Program, will lead this interactive presentation.
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Rethinking High School: Five Profiles of Innovative Models for Student Success
With college seen as a minimum requirement for a growing number of living-wage jobs, the economic future is not looking bright for the large number of U.S. students who aren’t even graduating from high school. Some are wondering whether shrinking the size of America’s high schools can help, not just to keep more students in school, but, equally important, to prepare greater numbers for college. At the request of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has committed $800 million to fund 2,000 small schools nationwide, WestEd took a look at five such schools. What is happening at these select schools? Who are they educating? How are the students doing? In this interactive presentation, one of the study’s authors, Tracy Huebner, Senior Research Associate at WestEd, presented the preliminary findings from the report, along with recommendations for further study.
Small but Mighty: The Promise of Smaller Learning Communities For High School Redesign
Smaller learning communities hold great promise as an innovation for addressing the complexities of high school redesign. This interactive presentation with Rose Owens-West, Senior Project Director at WestEd, examined how smaller learning communities effectively address many of the significant challenges facing high schools today.
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Focus on Freshman
A high school dedicates one floor of their building to ninth grade students and sees results.
Increasing English Learner Parent Involvement
A California high school finds that food, personal attention, and valuable information help parents of English Learners feel more comfortable at school.
Parent Liaison Outperforms
New Parent Liaison position at Sanger High leads to many initiatives that dramatically increase parent involvement.
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American Indian Public Charter School
High expectations plus high support equals student success
Birmingham Senior High School
Smaller learning communities for both teachers and students
Mark Keppel High
Use of data and standards, student connectedness, and parent involvement
Torch Middle School
Standards implementation, professional development, and school culture
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Against Odds, Schools Propel Its Students to College
Author: Viadero, D.
Publication Date: 2001, May 16
Publisher: Editorial Projects in Education, Inc.
Rethinking High School: Five Profiles of Innovative Models for Student Success
Author: Huebner, T.A., Calisi, G.
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: WestEd
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Rethinking High School: An Introduction to New York City's Experience
Author: Huebner, T.A.
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: WestEd
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A Call to Action: Transforming High School for All Youth
Author: National High School Alliance
Publication Date: 2005, April
Publisher: Institute for Educational Leadership
Apprenticing Adolescents to Reading in Subject-Area Classrooms
Author: Schoenbach, R., Braunger, J., Greenleaf, C., Litman, C.
Publication Date: 2003, October
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa
Creating a Culture of Literacy: A Guide for Middle and High School Principals
Publication Date: 2005, October
Publisher: National Association of Secondary School Principals
Developing Communities of Instructional Practice: Lessons from Cincinnati and Philadelphia
Author: Supovitz, J.A., Christman, J.B.
Publication Date: 2003, November
Publisher: Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE)
Every Young American a Strong Reader
Publication Date: 2004, June
Publisher: U.S. Department of Education
Graduation Counts: A Report of the NGA Task Force on State High School Graduation Data
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: National Governors Association
Inside High School Reform: Making the Changes That Matter
Author: Horowitz, J., California Academic Partnership Program
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: WestEd
Most Likely To Succeed: Policymaking in Support of a Restructured High School
Author: NASBE Study Group on Restructuring High Schools
Publication Date: 2002
Publisher: National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE)
Motivating Struggling Readers in Middle School Through an Engagement Model of Classroom Practice
Author: Guthrie, J., Davis, M.
Publication Date: 2003, January
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Net Choices, Net Gains: Supplementing the High School Curriculum with Online Courses
Author: Aronson, J., Timms, M.
Publication Date: 2004
Publisher: WestEd
On Course for Success: A Close Look at Selected Courses That Prepare All Students for College
Author: ACT and The Education Trust
Publication Date: 2004
R&D Alert: Focus on Secondary Schools
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: WestEd
Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms
Author: Schoenbach, R., Greenleaf, C., Cziko, C., Hurwitz, L.
Publication Date: 2000
Publisher: WestEd
Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Secondary Literacy
Author: Biancarosa, G., Snow, C.E.
Publication Date: 2004
Publisher: Alliance for Excellent Education
Reinventing High School: Outcomes of the Coalition Campus Schools Project
Author: Darling-Hammond, L., Ancess, J., Ort, S.W.
Publication Date: 2002, Fall
Publisher: AERA
Rethinking High School: An Introduction to New York City's Experience
Author: Huebner, T.A.
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: WestEd
Rethinking High School: Five Profiles of Innovative Models for Student Success
Author: Huebner, T.A., Calisi, G.
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: WestEd
Strategies for Success: Engaging Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools
Author: Walqui, A.
Publication Date: 2000, June
Publisher: Center for Applied Linguistics
Teaching Reading in Mathematics, 2nd Edition
Author: Barton, M.L., Heidema, C.
Publication Date: 2002
Publisher: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)
The Case for Small High Schools
Author: Vander Ark, T.
Publication Date: 2002, February
Publisher: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
The Writing Rubric
Author: Saddler, B., Andrade, H.
Publication Date: 2004, October
Publisher: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Transforming the American High School: New Directions for State and Local Policy
Author: Cohen, M.
Publication Date: 2001
Publisher: Jobs for the Future and The Aspen Institute
Virtual Schools: Trends and Issues - A Study of Virtual Schools in the United States
Author: Clark, T.
Publication Date: 2001, October
Publisher: WestEd
Works in Progress: A Report on Middle and High School Improvement Program
Publication Date: 2005, January
Publisher: Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center
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Principals.org
This National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) site provides middle and high school leaders with relevant news, research, and federal policy and legal resources. It also provides research-based, peer-tested resources and practical tools that strengthen the role of the principal as instructional leader, as well as example "breakthrough schools" to serve as inspiration.
National Middle School Association
The National Middle School Association (NMSA) is dedicated to improving the educational experiences of young adolescents by providing information, knowledge, and research publications specific to secondary schools. The NMSA site provides an extensive list of useful links to state, regional, provincial and international affiliate organizations.
Small Learning Communities
This Small Learning Communities (SLC) Web site is maintained by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, as part of a U.S. Department of Education-sponsored partner project managed by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The site brings together a knowledge base, tools, and resources for implementing and deepening small learning community practice.
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