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This book provides unique insights into one of the United States' most comprehensive school-restructuring movements, the Accelerated Schools Project. Since its inception in 1986, the Project has aimed to transform school cultures which slow down learning through remediation into cultures which accelerate the learning of all students. The contributors to the book explore the challenges which face those involved in the Project.
List of contents
Preface - Edward P St John
PART ONE: INQUIRY INTO ACCELERATED SCHOOLS
Introduction - Edward P St John
Accelerated Schools - Henry M Levin
The Background
Growth and Learning - Ilse Brunner and Wendy Hopfenberg
Big Wheels and Little Wheels Interacting
Accelerated Schools as Learning Organizations - Ilse Brunner and Brenda Le Tendre
The Revitalization of Pioneer Schools
Reflection - Edward P St John
Learning to Facilitate, Reflect, and Inquire
PART TWO: BUILDING CAPACITY
Introduction - Christine Finnan
Building Shared Meaning and Commitment during the Courtship Phase - James W Kushman and Thomas G Chenoweth
Making Change Our Friend - Christine Finnan
Building Communities of Inquiry - Edward P St John et al
Linking Teacher Research and School Restructuring
Reflection - Christine Finnan
Creating an Environment to Sustain School Change
PART THREE: THE ROLE OF THE PRINCIPAL IN ACCELERATED SCHOOLS
Introduction - Simeon P Slovacek
Building Initial Commitment to Accelerate - Thomas G Chenoweth and James W Kushman
Principals¿ Changing Roles - Betty M Davidson and Edward P St John
Analysis of Selected Case Studies
Toward a New Leadership Paradigm - Georgia Christensen
Behaviors of Accelerated School Principals
Principals Speak Out on Their Evolving Leadership Roles - Joan Sabrina Mims
Reflection - Simeon P Slovacek
The Changing Role of Principals in Accelerated Schools
PART FOUR: POWERFUL LEARNING THROUGH CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Introduction - Jane McCarthy
A Teacher¿s Voice - Cynthia J Olivier
The First Year of the Accelerated Schools Project
Full Inclusion in Accelerated Schools - Henry M Levin and Jane McCarthy
Equal Access to Powerful Learning
Teaching All Children to Read - Vicky Gonzalez and Carolyn Tucher
Hoover Elementary School
The Influence of Accelerated Schools Philosophy and Process on Classroom Practices - Beth M Keller and Pilar Soler
Reflection - Jane McCarthy
Making Learning Come Alive in Accelerated Schools
About the author
Christine Finnan holds a joint position as an associate professor in the Foundations, Secondary, and Special Education Department and the Anthropology Department at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC. Prior to assuming this position, she was an associate professor in the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Grades Department. In this capacity, she helped develop curriculum for a BS in elementary education, preparing graduates to work in second- to sixth-grade classrooms.
Since 1990, Finnan has been involved in school reform initiatives, particularly the Accelerated Schools Project and more recently Partners for Acceleration. Using her anthropological lens, she examines the interplay between school and classroom culture and reform models. She works closely with teachers, observing in classrooms and providing professional development.
Finnan coauthored A
ccelerating the Learning of All Children: Cultivating School, Classroom and Individual Change (Westview Press, 2000) with Julie D. Swanson and co-edited
Accelerated Schools in Action: Lessons from the Field (Corwin Press, 1996) with Ed St. John, Jane McCarthy, and Simeon Slovacek and has published extensively in edited volumes and journals.
Finnan's joint appointment reflects her academic training and scholarship. She became interested in studying education through her research on children's play and folklore. She completed a Master of Arts degree from University of Texas, Austin in anthropology and folklore. Her research focused on the study of third-grade children's spontaneous play. Finnan completed a PhD in education at Stanford University in 1980, focusing on anthropology and education. While at Stanford, she continued to study children's play, examining how Vietnamese refugee children used play to assimilate into a new culture.
Edward P. St. John is professor of educational leadership at Indiana University and was director of the Indiana Education Policy Center. His research focuses on policy issues in K-16 education (1998-2002). At the Policy Center, he has directed several studies of the impact of early read-ing programs and comprehensive school reform. His other collaborative books on topics related to school reform include Accelerated Schools in Action (Corwin), Families in Schools (Heinemann), and Reinterpreting Urban School Reform (SUNY Press).
