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Front Page
— Small School Might
Features
— Paths to Literacy: From Story Hour to Student Publishing
— School Change: A Step at a Time
— Improving the Learning Climate for Native Students
— Revealing Student Thinking

Conference News
— Conference Call

What's New on the Web
— www.nwrel.org

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Flashback
— Pictures from past events

Credits
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May/August 2002 | NW REPORT

School Change:
A Step at a Time

The journey to school improvement can be long and rigorous, but embarking on change takes only that first step. Moving Forward: From Where You Are to School Improvement That Lasts, developed by members of the Laboratory's Re-engineering Schools team, is a guide for superintendents, principals, teachers, parents, school board members, and service providers—in short, anyone who is working to improve schools.

Moving Forward provides practical, research-based suggestions and tools for creating high-performing learning communities—in which both educators and students achieve high goals—by harnessing what educators already know and do with what research reveals about best practices.

"In sum, this guide is a tool for ensuring that the best that we know and do becomes everyday practice," says author Deanna Woods. The 148-page book reviews what research reveals about school-improvement strategies, introduces readers to the school change process, and provides suggestions, resources, and supporting research for making informed decisions. Chapter titles are:

• "Establishing Collaborative Roles and Relationships Between School
  and District Staffs and the Larger Community"
• "Enabling Shared Decisionmaking"
• "Getting Focused and Building Coherency"
• "Finding Time for Adult Learning, Planning, and Collaborative Work—Supporting Professional Learning Communities"
• "Growing Leaders"

"Successful reform efforts depend on an understanding of several needs: time, effective professional development, practice in new behaviors, collaboration between all school community members, patience with the change process, commitment, and support from all stakeholders," writes Woods. "It does not matter which step you take first: Step One is simply any first step forward."

To order Moving Forward: From Where You Are to School Improvement That Lasts, see the Document Order Form or the NWREL Products Catalog Online, www.nwrel.org/comm/catalog/.

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