School Improvement

Reflecting NASSP’s commitment to supporting principals in their schoolwide reform efforts, NASSP issued Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform in 2004, followed in 2006 by Breaking Ranks in the Middle: Strategies for Leading Middle Level Reform.

Both publications provide a framework to help schools become more student-centered by personalizing programs, support services, and academic challenges for every student. These publications identified three core areas for improvement:

• Collaborative leadership and professional learning communities;
• Personalization of the school environment
• Curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Since 1996, Breaking Ranks has addressed the “what” of school reform through recommendations to principals about middle and high school change.

In 2009, Breaking Ranks: A Field Guide for Leading Change addresses the “how” of school change. Through a focus on collaborative leadership, this guide provides a process that school leadership teams will use to implement and sustain change. Leadership teams will work through these steps in a customized fashion to ensure a fit for the context and culture of their schools and the communities they serve.

To provide principals additional support in implementing Breaking Ranks reform, NASSP has developed two- and three-day training sessions, which can be brought to your site.