Making Creative Schedules Work in Middle and High Schools

Elliot Y. Merenbloom - Education Consultant
Barbara A. Kalina - Education Consultant

Foreword by Gordon Cawelti

Other Titles in:
School Change, Reform, & Restructuring | Teaching Methods & Learning Styles | Teaching in Secondary Schools

January 2007 | 208 pages | Corwin

Increased attention has been placed on the importance of teachers knowing their students and developing positive relationships that promote learning success and prevent dropouts and violence. Within this context, secondary schools are also reorganizing around smaller schools or "houses" and structuring longer blocks of learning time.

Authors Elliot Y. Merenbloom and Barbara A. Kalina present a roll-up-your-sleeves working handbook for leaders and school teams focusing on restructuring as a means to support learning. This practical, user-friendly resource:

· Offers a thorough presentation of restructuring options with advantages and disadvantages of multiple models

· Walks leaders and teams through the decision-making and solution-building processes

· Presents instructional formats and strategies that maximize the benefits of restructured schedules

List of Tables and Figures

Foreword by Gordon Cawelti

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

1. Why Are Schools Reorganizing?

2. Structural Options

3. Steps in Building a Middle School Schedule

4. Steps in Building a High School Schedule

5. Small Learning Communities: Role and Function

6. Elements of Teaming: A Goal-Setting Process for Curriculum and Instruction

7. Elements of Teaming: A Goal-Setting Process for Organizational Considerations

8. Teaching in Variable-Length Time Periods

9. Implementing Change

References

Index

"The Strategies section is a good overview for building leaders to understand what should be going on in restructured settings. This book is fairly easy to follow and was clearly written by a seasoned practitioner."

Deborah Kasak, Executive Director

National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform

"As an associate principal whose role is to develop and implement a master schedule, I truly valued the many charts and diagrams on schedule configuration. The Structures and Strategies section offers non-generic forms that are easy to transpose onto our school community's specific needs."

Dan Woods, Associate Principal

Cedar Park Middle School, Portland, OR

"Principals, teacher leaders, school leadership teams, school improvement committees, superintendents, school boards, and policymakers will find this book very useful."

Vincent A. Anfara Jr., Associate Professor of Educational Administration and Supervision

University of Tennessee