Research Studies
Balancing Act:
Best Practices in the
Middle Grades
The concluding report from the three-year California Best Practices Study addresses the unique challenges that schools with middle grade students face. This report focuses on the systems, tools, techniques and practices of schools that are successfully educating middle-grade students, despite the significant barriers of high poverty rates and large numbers of English Learners. Key findings highlight the importance of using data to guide continuous improvement, and establishing structures and systems that foster an attitude of constant improvement. (July 2007) ~75 pages.
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Soft Cover Report | $22.50 plus shipping and handling | |
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$14.00 | |||
Minding the Gap:
New Roles for School Districts in the Age of Accountability
Though individual districts continue to deserve their bad reputation, school districts are widely seen as key to scaling up improvement strategies. Even charter schools, which often operate outside the framework of a school district, often are affiliated with a “charter management organization” that provides many of the services of a district. Yet despite the emerging consensus that districts can matter, many still do not. This study sheds light on what the most effective districts do to lead and foster a process of improving teaching and learning. (May 2006) 89 pages.
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Soft Cover Report | $22.50 plus shipping and handling | |
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$14.00 | |||
Challenged
Schools, Remarkable Results:
Three Lessons from California's Highest Achieving High Schools
This report identifies California's highest achieving, challenged high schools, those schools with large numbers of students challenged by poverty, English as a second language, fewer resources and lower expectations. It also, more importantly, reveals the three secrets to their success: the use of consistent curricula coupled with frequent diagnostic tests, adoption of best practices, and investment in teacher improvement. These three practices resulted in dramatic gains for these California high schools serving large populations of low-income, minority, and English-language learners. (November, 2005). 73 Pages.
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Soft Cover Report | $22.50 plus shipping and handling | |
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After the Test:
How Schools are Using
Data to Close the Achievement Gap
The Springboard Schools Achievement Gap Study is the first to use California's Academic Performance Index (API) to compare schools that have narrowed the gap between African-American and Latino students and their white and Asian American peers with schools that have not. It found significant differences in the ways in which the schools approached data, leadership and communication (December, 2003). 53 Pages.
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Soft Cover Report | $19.50 plus shipping and handling | |
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$12.00 | |||
The Cycle of Inquiry as the Engine of School Reform:
Lessons from the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative
by Milbrey McLaughlin and Dana Mitra, from the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching, Stanford University.
This study draws on five years of evaluation research that examines the role of inquiry in schools who worked with Springboard Schools between 1996-2001. The study highlights both the promises and challenges of inquiry as a culture-changing strategy in reforming schools. (2004) 51 Pages.
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Soft Cover Report | $19.50 plus shipping and handling | |
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$12.00 | |||
I think [Springboard Schools] has done a tremendous job of helping me to be a better educator and being a better instructional leader. The information and the knowledge . . . it's 
been profound.
