| This study represents an attempt to reveal that school improvement is not only possible, but probable when we gear ourselves for attaining palpable, measurable results. The premise is that schools only improve when we set out very explicitly to attain specific, measurable improvement. One of the sub-themes explored here is that even an enormous amount of effort and activity does not necessarily favor, much less ensure, school improvement. Countless examples several that too much of what schools have attempted to do is to merely "change" schools peripherally, thinking that this is the same as endeavoring to improve them. There is a difference. Many well-intentioned change efforts are very different from the kind of targeted improvement discussed in this study. For the most part, schools simply do not improve in the absence of a clear, unambiguous results-orientation.; Such an orientation consists of certain key concepts that form a foundation for achieving palpable, concrete results. Those concepts are an emphasis on Teamwork, on Goals, and on Performance Data, which are treated in the early chapters. Throughout this discussion, school examples illustrate how these concepts, in combination, have enormous power for helping us to improve both the quality of student learning and the number of students receiving a quality education.; The subsequent chapters reinforce these primary concepts. One chapter marshalls evidence that these concepts not only work, but can even be expected to work fast, and that an emphasis on results is one of the best ways to motivate and promote collective effort and commitment. Another deals with the importance of consulting research in our attempt to get better results. Another chapter suggests ways we should begin to redefine measurable results in ways that prevent them from being trivialized. Another chapter provides a range of examples of results that emphasize student learning and behavior and how they can be measured. Finally, there is a chapter on the importance of encouraging continuously better results by creating a culture which routinely recognizes and expresses appreciation to individuals and groups who have attained improved results. |
