Authors: Christine Finnan (Editor), Simeon P. Slovacek (Editor), Edward P. St. John (Editor), Jane McCarthy
ISBN-13: 9780803962439, ISBN-10: 0803962436
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Corwin Press
Date Published: January 1995
Edition: New Edition
Christine Finnan holds a joint position as an associate professor in the Foundations, Secondary, and Special Education Department and the Anthropology Department at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC. Prior to assuming this position, she was an associate professor in the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Grades Department. In this capacity, she helped develop curriculum for a BS in elementary education, preparing graduates to work in second- to sixth-grade classrooms.
Since 1990, Finnan has been involved in school reform initiatives, particularly the Accelerated Schools Project and more recently Partners for Acceleration. Using her anthropological lens, she examines the interplay between school and classroom culture and reform models. She works closely with teachers, observing in classrooms and providing professional development.
Finnan coauthored Accelerating the Learning of All Children: Cultivating School, Classroom and Individual Change (Westview Press, 2000) with Julie D. Swanson and co-edited Accelerated Schools in Action: Lessons from the Field (Corwin Press, 1996) with Ed St. John, Jane McCarthy, and Simeon Slovacek and has published extensively in edited volumes and journals.
Finnan's joint appointment reflects her academic training and scholarship. She became interested in studying education through her research on children's play and folklore. She completed a Master of Arts degree from University of Texas, Austin in anthropology and folklore. Her research focused on the study of third-grade children's spontaneous play. Finnan completed a PhD in education at Stanford University in 1980, focusing onanthropology and education. While at Stanford, she continued to study children's play, examining how Vietnamese refugee children used play to assimilate into a new culture.
This book provides unique insights into one of the United States' most comprehensive school-restructuring movements, the Accelerated Schools Project. Since its inception in 1986, the Project has aimed to transform school cultures which slow down learning through remediation into cultures which accelerate the learning of all students. The contributors to the book explore the challenges which face those involved in the Project.
Preface | ||
About the Contributors | ||
Acknowledgments | ||
Pt. I | Inquiry Into Accelerated Schools | |
Introduction | 1 | |
1 | Accelerated Schools: The Background | 3 |
2 | Growth and Learning: Big Wheels and Little Wheels Interacting | 24 |
3 | Accelerated Schools as Learning Organizations: The Revitalization of Pioneer Schools | 47 |
Reflection: Learning to Facilitate, Reflect, and Inquire | 72 | |
Pt. II | Building Capacity | |
Introduction | 79 | |
4 | Building Shared Meaning and Commitment During the Courtship Phase | 82 |
5 | Making Change Our Friend | 104 |
6 | Building Communities of Inquiry: Linking Teacher Research and School Restructuring | 124 |
Reflection: Creating an Environment to Sustain School Change | 139 | |
Pt. III | The Role of the Principal in Accelerated Schools | |
Introduction | 143 | |
7 | Building Initial Commitment to Accelerate | 145 |
8 | Principals' Changing Roles: Analysis of Selected Case Studies | 169 |
9 | Toward a New Leadership Paradigm: Behaviors of Accelerated School Principals | 185 |
10 | Principals Speak Out on Their Evolving Leadership Roles | 208 |
Reflection: The Changing Role of Principals in Accelerated Schools | 219 | |
Pt. IV | Powerful Learning Through Curriculum and Instruction | |
Introduction | 225 | |
11 | A Teacher's Voice: The First Year of the Accelerated Schools Project | 228 |
12 | Full Inclusion in Accelerated Schools: Equal Access to Powerful Learning | 235 |
13 | Teaching All Children to Read: Hoover Elementary School | 253 |
14 | The Influence of the Accelerated Schools Philosophy and Process on Classroom Practices | 273 |
Reflection: Making Learning Come Alive in Accelerated Schools | 293 | |
Resources: Accelerated Schools Philosophy and Process Defined | 297 | |
References | 305 | |
Index | 315 |