Big-city school reforms
Subtitle: lessons from New York, Toronto, and London
By: Michael Fullan, Alan Boyle
Contributors: Boyle, Alan, 1945- author
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 178
ISBN-13: 9780807755181; 9780807755198; 9780807772768
Subjects: Urban Education; Educational innovations; Case studies; Educational change
Description: "Big cities have struggled to improve public school systems. This book shows why--and offers a framework for achieving future success. Fullan and Boyle, internationally renowned thinkers on school change, demonstrate that while the educational challenges of big cities may be overwhelming, they are not insurmountable. They draw on ten years' of research to identify six essential "push" and "pull" actions that enable big school systems to improve student achievement. Leaders must push to challenge the status quo, convey a high sense of urgency, and have the courage needed to intervene. But they need to also pull together to create a commonly-owned strategy, develop professional power, and attend to sustainability. Examining three major cities--New York, Toronto, and London--through the decade of 2002-2012, this book weaves case studies with careful analysis and recommendations to hone in on which policies and strategies work best to raise the bar for all students and reduce the gap for the disadvantaged. Big-City School Reforms offers invaluable advice to those leading the next phase of school reform in cities around the world. This is an eminently practical book that focuses on big problems and big solutions."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Tackling the challenges of urban education. Demographic challenges for urban school systems ; Attitudes toward equity issues ; Strategies for improvement : balancing push and pull actions ; The national educational contexts of the case cities; title: 2. New York City : restructuring over reculturing. Setting the scene ; Children First reforms ; The limits of restructuring; title: 3. Toronto : success amidst the rocks. Setting the scene ; Ontario tri-level reform ; Toronto District School Board ; Success amidst the rocks; title: 4. London : success against the odds. Setting the scene ; London challenge ; East End boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Hackney ; Conclusion: Integrating push and pull; title: 5. Lessons learned : a matter of integrated balance. Comparing push-pull actions from the cases ; Scoring balance in reform actions ; Looking ahead at system reform.