How Schools Change: Lessons from Three Communities Revisited

In this compelling book, Tony Wagner analyzes the complex and often-painful process of undertaking meaningful school reform by examining the experiences of three representative but very different schools in Massachusetts as they attempted to implement significant program changes during the early 1990's. All were chosen for his study because they were undertaking 'systemic change', a process by which a school attempts sweeping changes in teaching methods, curriculum, and decision-making processes all at once. Rejecting as inadequate such traditional 'objective' quantitative methods as looking at average test scores and dropout rates, Wagner chose instead to use a mix of qualitative research techniques: extensive observation of classes and of large and small group meetings, analysis of documents ranging from official publications to memoranda, and one-on-one interviews. He combines all of this into 'in-depth portraits of three schools in the process of change.' In the final chapter he offers his conclusion that there are three essential components to a successful school reform process - clear academic goals, core values, and collaboration - and describes how they could be implemented. This fully-updated edition brings the report up to date and boasts a new chapter and fully revised index. It also includes an introduction by Theodore R. Sizer, who is a major scholar in this area.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Theodore R. Sizer Acknowledgments Introduction to the Second Edition Introduction: A Nation at Risk One: The Hull Junior-Senior High School Two: The Academy at Cambridge Rindge and Latin Three: The Brimmer and Mary School Four: Some Lessons Learned Five: Reflections at the Dawn of the Millenium Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Tony Wagner is Co-Director of the recently created Change Leadership Group at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He also chairs the Harvard Seminar on Public Engagement and consults to numerous school districts and foundations, in the United States and internationally. He is currently senior consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to assuming his current position at Harvard, Tony was a classroom teacher for twelve years, a school principal, a project director for the Public Agenda Foundation, a university professor in teacher education.

Review :
"In school reform, three careful case studies are worth 300 reports from blue-ribbon commissions. In How Schools Change, Tony Wagner portrays the trials and the triumphs of three schools engages in reinventing themselves." -- Howard Gardner, author of Creating Minds "Vivid and compelling... A provocative work that argues for a better understanding of the change process before we head off on some new fad." "Tony Wagner's fresh look at his three subject institutions in How Schools Change reveals sober and useful insights into contemporary educational reform. We must pay close attention to Wagner's conclusions." -- Theodore R. Sizer, Chairman of the Coalition of Essential Schools