Catalog Describes

Reform Models

Comprehensive school reform involves major changes in everything from classroom instruction to school governance. While some schools develop their own models, others look to external providers for coherent, research-based strategies that have already been field-tested. With so many models available, the online Catalog of School Reform Models is a valuable tool to help schools choose the approach that best fits their needs.

The catalog is produced jointly by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory and a new partner, The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement. Based in Washington, D.C., the center provides a wide array of resources on school reform issues and is administered by Learning Point Associates, in partnership with the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), the Education Development Center (EDC), and WestEd. "With its abundant online resources, and its soon-to-be-released interactive technical assistance tools, the catalog fills a critical niche for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers interested in comprehensive school reform issues," says Jacqueline Raphael, who is NWREL's lead on the catalog.

According to Raphael, models are listed in the catalog after a rigorous vetting process. Reviewers—who include researchers, evaluators, and technical assistance providers with expertise in comprehensive school reform—select models based on evidence of effectiveness in improving student academic achievement, extent of replication, implementation assistance to schools, and comprehensiveness. Each entry in the catalog analyzes the model's approach, results, costs, and other factors. In addition to whole-school models, NWREL and the center will reintroduce the subject-area model category, starting with reading/language arts models and adding mathematics at a later date.

"Judging from preliminary results of our online survey of catalog users, people using this tool consider it very useful for their work," notes Raphael. The Catalog of School Reform Models can be found at www.nwrel.org/scpd/catalog/guide.shtml. Applications for additions to the catalog's whole-school model category are being accepted through July 1, 2005.