Given the conflicting research results on the effectiveness of whole-school
reform models (Nunnery, 1998; Stringfield & Herman, 1997; American Institutes for
Research, 1999; U.S. Department of Education, 2004), there is a need to focus on the
evaluation procedures of whole-school reform organizations. Because the ultimate goal
is to improve school performance, it should also be a goal of each whole-school reform
organization to design a comprehensive data collection system to evaluate each schoolÂs
performance.
A comprehensive reporting system was developed for a school reform
organization, the Accelerated Schools Project (ASP). Using the steps of the research and
development process recommended by Borg and Gall (1989), this study: (a) developed a
theoretical framework for the reporting system, (b) identified data that should be
collected in the reporting system, (c) performed a field test with an expert panel of
educational professionals, (d) developed a preliminary form of the reporting system, (e)
performed a main field test with principals and coaches in the ASP network, (f) reported
field test results, (g) revised the preliminary reporting system, (h) developed a website
for the reporting system, and (i) provided recommendations for the completion,
dissemination and implementation of the system in accelerated schools across the nation.
This study has important implications for both the ASP community and for the
entire whole-school reform community. For the ASP community, the reporting system
could be used: (a) to collect data in all accelerated schools across the nation (b) as a
longitudinal database of information to monitor data on each ASP school, and (c) to
generate school summary reports on ASP schools. These data will assist researchers in
measuring the effectiveness of the ASP model on student achievement and other
important variables. For the whole-school reform community, the method used in this
study could be replicated in other school reform organizations to develop a
comprehensive reporting system. By providing consistent data for school reform
organizations to evaluate the impact of their models on students and schools, educational
researchers will be better equipped to understand each modelÂs impact, and thus will
better understand the diverse research results on school reform effectiveness.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/3100 |
| Date | 12 April 2006 |
| Creators | Stephens, Jennifer Anne |
| Contributors | Knight, Stephanie |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 6574299 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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