Align the Design: A Blueprint for School Improvement

by Nancy J. Mooney, Ann T. Mausbach

"This is our THIRD school improvement plan! Why aren't we seeing any results?" "We have all of this data, but we don't know what to do with it!" "What does this workshop have to do with the goals we set for our school? Many of today's school leaders have all the latest tools, techniques, and programs for school improvement. Unfortunately, some leaders fail to create real, sustainable results for their schools because they use one or two "flavor-of-the-month" strategies without connecting all the pieces together for real improvement. In Align the A Blueprint for School Improvement , Nancy J. Mooney and Ann T. Mausbach emphasize the importance of coordinating essential school improvement processes to increase staff capacity, improve student achievement, and develop effective schools. The authors show school leaders how to use "power tools" to
*Develop effective curriculum

*Make the most of their school's data

*Create successful school improvement plans

*Implement valuable professional development sessions and workshops

*Use efficient supervisory techniques

*Foster leadership for school improvement
Each chapter includes personal reflections from the authors and lists of touchstone texts that have inspired their efforts. At a time when school leaders are trying to translate urgent calls for higher achievement into actions that work, Align the Design provides expert guidance and practical tools that will help educators work more purposefully together to create better schools for their students.

Genres: Education

202 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2008

Reviews

[Jordan Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for graduate school and rated it according to other educational texts.

I enjoyed many aspects of the way this book was organized. It provided several helpful questions to consider, as well as checklists that leaders can follow for a variety of their improvement plans.

Nothing about this text excited me to become an instructional leader, however. A lot of the processes felt very cold, informal, and removed from the reality of modern schools. A huge portion of the book was also irrelevant to my current educational goals since it was focused on central office work as opposed to building-specific roles.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is the model for how a lot of the things we do at ISDs are run, I still believe it is incomplete in terms of really getting in depth. Of course the catch 22 is that to be as in depth as it should be it would require a tome thousands of pages long. A good overview.