DERDC Evaluations and Policy Studies
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Browsing DERDC Evaluations and Policy Studies by Author "Buttram, Joan"
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Item Distributed Leadership in Delaware(Delaware Education Research & Development Center, 2009-08-13T14:30:19Z) Buttram, Joan; PizziniThe Delaware Education Research and Development Center (DERDC) conducted a two-part study to determine the impacts of this program on participating schools in the state. In the first part, DERDC interviewed a sample of administrators and teachers from 6 of the 15 participating schools. Their responses helped design a survey that was administered in the second part of the study administered to 13 of the 15 schools involved in the DL effort and 3 comparison schools not involved in the effort. The work undertaken by DL teams, and other members of the schools, more often involved collaboration between teachers and, sometimes, between teachers and administrators. Interview responses suggested that teachers and principals were generally positive about the initiative, feeling that DL provided an opportunity to “open up so many doors,” reduce “the isolation” that many felt, and “let…everyone have a voice in the school.”Item Policies and Practices of Successful Delaware High Schools(2009-07-27T14:03:21Z) Buttram, Joan; Cooksy, Leslie; Rubright, JonathanThis study examined the policies and practices used by three Delaware high schools to promote student achievement and graduation. The research found that high schools employed different combinations of policies and practices, including transition programs to orient incoming ninth grade students, academies to organize ninth grade students into smaller groups, extra instructional time to support students not making satisfactory academic progress, afterschool instructional help for all students needing extra help, mentoring, and twilight programs for students missing a small number of credits to graduate. These approaches were based on research findings, sound management, and creative programming. Many had been in place for multiple years, others had only been recently adopted. Although few conclusions about the effectiveness of the specific policies and practices described above can be drawn from a study of only three schools, the case studies do point to key considerations in deciding what interventions are appropriate in any school. These include student population, universal versus targeted services, resource availability, and size of school.