Center for Education Research and Policy at MassINC
Fall 2003
By studying the characteristics of successful schools in urban Massachusetts districts, this report tries to distill effective school improvement strategies and "forward the practice and policy discussion by providing a platform from which to assess current policies on urban high school organization and management." The authors examined nine urban schools identified as "improving." While each of the nine used unique strategies and practices, some practices were common to all, including high standards and expectations, data-driven curricula, a culture of personalization, strong community relationships, and small learning communities. The authors admit that their research merely skims the surface of the issue (they only spent "about a day" at each of the schools they studied), but their initial findings are worth perusing. Check it out at https://www.massinc.org/about/cerp/research/head_of_class/head_of_class.pdf. Or skip the report and visit Codman Academy instead!
