A Guide to Renewing Your School

Sponsored by the League of Professional Schools

"Understanding school reform is a daunting task. A Guide toRenewing Your School goes a long way in communicating essentialinformation about reform in a clear-cut manner."
--Childhood Education

In Renewing America's Schools, Carl D. Glickman--founder of theLeague of Professional Schools--made the case for basing schoolimprovement efforts on democratic values and principles. Heproposed a three-part framework for reform that would enableschools and communities to create successful change in theirschools and discussed how states and districts could support theirefforts. In this companion volume, the authors provide detailedinstructions on how Glickman's framework can be implemented at theschool level.

A Guide to Renewing Your School is based on years of practicalexperience, numerous case examples, and empirical studies from theLeague of Professional Schools, a reform network based in Georgia.This hands-on book guides school practitioners through theessential steps of a reform process: (1) designing a covenant toguide teaching and learning, (2) creating a shared governanceprocess to promote democratic leadership and decision making, and(3) implementing action research to assess the reform process. Theauthors also address the challenges of change, such as how tocreate a school climate that will foster implementation of theframework and how to determine the type of facilitation and staffdevelopment needed to sustain this work. Filled with samplecovenants, charters, mission statements, worksheets, forms, andother tools, A Guide to Renewing Your School presents not only acoherent framework, but useful strategies for promoting school-widerenewal and improvement. Understanding the Framework for School Renewal.

Creating a Covenant for Teaching and Learning.

Designing a Charter for Shared Governance.

Using Action Research to Monitor Progress.

Applying the Lessons of Change. "Understanding school reform is a daunting task. A Guide toRenewing Your School goes a long way in communicating essentialinformation about reform in a clear-cut manner, with little jargon,making it easily understood by parents, teachers, andadministrators.... A Guide to Renewing Your School is not aprescription for practice, but rather a systemic format that isapplicable to every school. The book contains numerousillustrations and self-monitoring guides to facilitate theassessment of a school's implementation efforts." (ChildhoodEducation)

"What my colleagues have done in this book is write a guide andcompanion--not a prescription--for all those educational leaders(principals, teachers, staff, parents, community members, districtand union personnel) who are committed to the promise of educationand a fully functioning democracy." (Carl D. Glickman, UniversityProfessor of Social Foundations of Education and chair, Program forSchool Improvement, The University of Georgia, Athens)

"This book is more than a practical guide; it is an inspiration.Underlying the numerous strategies and examples for implementingthe League's framework for school improvement are the democraticvalues that inform and sustain the effort. It is a guide for bothheart and mind." (Charles A. Ott, assistant superintAndent,Portsmouth School District, New Hampshire)

"A Guide to Renewing Your School connects ideas and makes abstractconcepts concrete in a way that will help schools new and oldcreate or modify a plan for implementing change and reform."(Gwendolyn M. Mayfield, principal, Leonora P. Miles ElementarySchool, Atlanta, Georgia)

"An essential and valuable guide to how the framework of the Leagueof Professional Schools works. Key lessons about what it means toimplement the three core requirements of the model--sharedgovernance, covenant, and action research." (Michael Fullan, dean,Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto) Lew Allen, Maude Glanton, Frances Hensley, Martha Livingston, and Dale Rogers are codirectors of the League of Professional Schools, which is part of the College Education at The University of Georgia. Sponsored by the League of Professional SchoolsIn Renewing America's Schools, Carl D. Glickman—founder of the League of Professional Schools—made the case for basing school improvement efforts on democratic values and principles. He proposed a three-part framework for reform that would enable schools and communities to create successful change in their schools and discussed how states and districts could support their efforts. In this companion volume, the authors provide detailed instructions on how Glickman's framework can be implemented at the school level. A Guide to Renewing Your School is based on years of practical experience, numerous case examples, and empirical studies from the League of Professional Schools, a reform network based in Georgia. This hands-on book guides school practitioners through the essential steps of a reform process: (1) designing a covenant to guide teaching and learning, (2) creating a shared governance process to promote democratic leadership and decision making, and (3) implementing action research to assess the reform process. The authors also address the challenges of change, such as how to create a school climate that will foster implementation of the framework and how to determine the type of facilitation and staff development needed to sustain this work. Filled with sample covenants, charters, mission statements, worksheets, forms, and other tools, A Guide to Renewing Your School presents not only a coherent framework, but useful strategies for promoting school-wide renewal and improvement.