Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap Whatever It Takes - Softcover

Richard DuFour; Rebecca DuFour; Robert Eaker; Gayle Karhnek

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935249991 ISBN 13: 9781935249993

Publisher: Solution Tree Press, 2009

Synopsis

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap is a sequel to Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don t Learn (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Karhanek, 2004). In Whatever It Takes, the authors addressed the question of what happens when students don't learn. In this sequel, the authors reiterate, reinforce, and expand upon the ideas in Whatever It Takes by exploring the following questions: 1. Is the PLC improvement process sustainable? The authors return to two of the schools featured in the Whatever it Takes case study to examine once again the intervention and enrichment processes they put in place and to consider how those processes have impacted student achievement in the years since Whatever It Takes. 2. Is this improvement process transferable? To answer this question, the authors explore the practices of schools at different grade levels, from different parts of the country, serving very different student populations to consider how they have transferred the research base on best practice and the experiences of other schools to become some of the best schools in America. 3. What is the role of the central office in promoting the professional learning communities concept throughout a district? The authors devote three chapters to case studies that examine how three different school districts have created the expectation that all of the schools in their districts would operate as professional learning communities. 4. How should we enrich and extend the learning of students who are proficient? In Whatever It Takes, the authors focused intensively on students who experienced academic difficulty. In this book, the authors address enrichment for proficient students by illustrating how the effective implementation of the PLC concept not only closes the gap for students who have historically struggled in schools but also raises the achievement bar for all students. 5. What prerequisite framework must be put in place in order for schools to create effective systems of intervention and enrichment? Creating an effective system of interventions and enrichment must be part of a larger cultural transformation of a school; however, educators often fail to fully appreciate the comprehensive change that must occur. In this book, the authors are explicit about the prerequisite work a school must address and the structures that must be in place as part of the process of creating powerful intervention and enrichment. 6. How have the changes in national educational policy impacted the premise that schools should have a systematic plan for responding to the learning needs of students? The authors address the future of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) legislation of 2004 as it relates to the professional learning community concept. They also explore the connection between Response to Intervention (RTI) and the PLC concept.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard DuFour, Ed.D., is recognized as a leader in helping school practitioners apply the principles of professional learning communities in their schools. During his tenure as superintendent of Adlai Stevenson High School District 125 in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Stevenson became one of the most recognized and celebrated high schools in America. Rick received his state s highest award as both a principal and superintendent and was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award of Illinois State University, the Distinguished Scholar Practitioner Award of the University of Illinois, and the Distinguished Service Award from the National Staff Development Council. He has coauthored ten books and more than seventy-five professional articles. He developed the video series on the principalship for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development and was a featured columnist for the Journal of Staff Development for almost a decade. He is an active consultant with school districts, state departments of education, and professional organizations throughout North America.

Rebecca DuFour, M.Ed., is a former elementary school principal who helped her school earn state and national recognition as a model professional learning community. Becky is one of the featured principals in the Video Journal of Education program Leadership in the Age of Standards and High Stakes (2001). She is also the lead consultant and featured principal for the Video Journal of Education production of Elementary Principals as Leaders of Learning (2003) and is featured in two other videos on professional learning communities produced by Solution Tree Press. Becky is coauthor of seven books and has written for numerous professional journals. She is an active consultant with school districts, state departments of education, and professional organizations throughout North America.

Robert Eaker, Ed.D., has been associated with Middle Tennessee State University for more than 37 years as a professor, dean of the Department of Education, executive vice president, and provost. He is a former fellow with the National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development. He has written widely on the issues of effective teaching, effective schools, helping teachers use research findings, and high expectations and student achievement. Bob is coauthor of ten books and numerous professional journal articles. Bob is an active consultant with school districts, state departments of education, and professional organizations throughout North America.

Gayle A. Karhanek, M.Ed., M.A., worked as director of student services at Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, from 1979 to 2004. As architect of the Adlai Stevenson pyramid of interventions, Gayle has worked with educators across the United States to create the foundational structures necessary to ensure that students are guaranteed systematic access to viable interventions that address their academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs. She is an active consultant whose passion comes from the results she has seen once schools become professional learning communities and are committed to answering the question, what do we do when students don't learn?

Review:

When it comes to school improvement for each and every child, the authors raise the bar. They take all excuses off the table and annihilate them. With diamond-cutter precision, they unveil-directly from the mouths and actions of practitioners-exactly what raising the bar looks like and how it can be done. ----Michael Fullan, author, educational consultant, and special advisor to the Premier and Minister of Education in Ontario

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap is an invaluable addition to the expanding narrative attesting to the educability of all children. The case studies, like a good cookbook, offer many appealing options for building your own system of interventions; your challenge is to find the recipe that suites your taste and prepare it with commitment and care. Our children deserve nothing less. ----Lawrence W. Lezotte, CEO of Effective Schools Products, Ltd.

For years I have carried Whatever It Takes wherever I go because it shows school leaders in considerable detail what to do if they really want all their students to achieve proficiency not just some. The pyramid of interventions, so clearly described at the elementary-, middle-, and high-school levels in this first book, became the template for schools all over the country to achieve groundbreaking results. But now the authors have added the missing link to bring their vital work to scale.

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap has all the eloquence and moral commitment of the first book, and all its detail. But now we have a systems approach and a set of guidelines to bring the pyramid to entire school districts and high-functioning PLCs to every building. In the second half of the book, case study after case study provide specific implementation ideas and engaging stories with the unifying thread of using data well combined with strong culture building and determination that all students will succeed.

It is so rare to find a work that combines high moral purpose, a systemic approach, and specific usable ideas. Now that we have this map, everyone must study it and engage it! --Jonathon Saphier, founder and president of Research for Better Teaching, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Solution Tree Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1935249991
• ISBN 13: 9781935249993
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 243