Community Partnership Resource Page
The George Lucas Educational Foundation. 
http://www.glef.org/php/keyword.php?id=189
This webpage provides a variety of resources from the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) on school and community partnerships.  It includes articles describing programs in specific school districts and research on the importance of community involvement in general.

Helping Every Student Succeed: Schools and Communities Working Together
Study Circles Resources Center (2002).
http://www.studycircles.org/en/Resource.14.aspx
This tool explains how study circles engage community members in school improvement efforts and provides the discussion materials necessary for a series of four study groups. Group discussions begin with consideration of what each participant considers a “good education” and progresses to deciding upon specific actions for change.

Developing Effective Partnerships to Support Local Education
School Communities that Work: A National Taskforce on the
Future of Urban Districts (2002).
http://www.schoolcommunities.org/Archive/images/Partnerships.pdf
This paper describes design and operating principles used in effective education and community partnerships. The authors emphasize that partnerships should focus on equity in addition to results and aim to affect youth engagement and development.

What is a Partnership Program?
National Network for Partnership Schools. 
http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/program2.htm
This page highlights six types of involvement for partnership programs, summarizing recommendations from the book Schools, Family, and Community Partnership: Your Handbook for Action (Epstein, 1997).  The six types of involvement are parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community.  For each type, the website briefly lists sample practices, challenges and redefinitions, and results.

Their Key to Survival:  Each Other
Gingold, H.  (2004, June). Classroom Leadership, 7(9). 
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U1263262B
This article from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development describes the work of four teachers in Liverpool, N.Y. who created a “collaborative teacher network” designed to support one another throughout the school year.  The four teachers worked as a team, planning lessons and instruction, evaluating the results of their teaching, and refining their professional practice.  They set aside time each week to meet with one another, and kept in regular contact via email and phone calls.  As a result, their teaching improved and they each developed skills required of reflective practitioners.

Improving Relationships within the School House
Barth, Roland S. (March 2006). Educational Leadership
http://snipurl.com/nz7f
Roland S. Barth, a former teacher and principal and the founder of the Principals Center at Harvard University discusses different relationships among teachers and administrators in schools that affect the overall school climate and student learning. He identifies four primary types of relations: teacher isolation, adversarial relationships, congenial relationships, and collegial relationships. He focuses on collegial relationships, which are characterized by sharing best practices or “craft knowledge,” observing colleagues’ teaching, and rooting for each others’ success, and he explains what school leaders can do to create collegiality within their school.

Action Research Tools and Resources
The Teacher Leaders Network 
http://www.teacherleaders.org/Resources/ARgroup/ARresources.html
The members of the Teacher Leaders Network, a major initiative of the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality, recently examined the process and potential of action research as a school improvement tool.  This web page features an extensive list of action research resources.  Included are articles related to action research, sample action research projects, and reviews of books that are designed to introduce educators to the process of action research.

School Based Coaching – A Lit Review
Green, Terry. (2004). National Staff Development Council
http://www.nsdc.org/library/schoolbasedlitreview.pdf
This document presents a review of literature supporting school-based staff developers or coaches. The author provides detailed definitions of key terms and then discusses research pertaining to a variety of coaching models. The publication also includes a list of practical tools for use by schools and districts.

Watch Over Me
Kersten, Denise. (2006). Teacher Magazine
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2006/01/01/04mentor.h17.html
This article discusses the importance of quality mentoring in stemming new teacher attrition. The author distinguishes between informal and under-supported mentoring programs that provide “buddy” relationships at best and intensive mentoring experiences that include collaborative planning, teaching demonstrations, and networking. She highlights the work of a full-time mentor and a mentee in Virginia and emphasizes the role that funding plays in making such a program successful.

Their Key to Survival:  Each Other
Gingold, H.  (2004, June). Classroom Leadership, 7(9). 
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U1263262B
This article from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development describes the work of four teachers in Liverpool, N.Y. who created a “collaborative teacher network” designed to support one another throughout the school year.  The four teachers worked as a team, planning lessons and instruction, evaluating the results of their teaching, and refining their professional practice.  They set aside time each week to meet with one another, and kept in regular contact via email and phone calls.  As a result, their teaching improved and they each developed skills required of reflective practitioners.

Improving Relationships within the School House
Barth, Roland S. (March 2006). Educational Leadership
http://snipurl.com/nz7f
Roland S. Barth, a former teacher and principal and the founder of the Principals Center at Harvard University discusses different relationships among teachers and administrators in schools that affect the overall school climate and student learning. He identifies four primary types of relations: teacher isolation, adversarial relationships, congenial relationships, and collegial relationships. He focuses on collegial relationships, which are characterized by sharing best practices or “craft knowledge,” observing colleagues’ teaching, and rooting for each others’ success, and he explains what school leaders can do to create collegiality within their school.

Action Research Tools and Resources
The Teacher Leaders Network 
http://www.teacherleaders.org/Resources/ARgroup/ARresources.html
The members of the Teacher Leaders Network, a major initiative of the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality, recently examined the process and potential of action research as a school improvement tool.  This web page features an extensive list of action research resources.  Included are articles related to action research, sample action research projects, and reviews of books that are designed to introduce educators to the process of action research.

School Based Coaching – A Lit Review
Green, Terry. (2004). National Staff Development Council
http://www.nsdc.org/library/schoolbasedlitreview.pdf
This document presents a review of literature supporting school-based staff developers or coaches. The author provides detailed definitions of key terms and then discusses research pertaining to a variety of coaching models. The publication also includes a list of practical tools for use by schools and districts.

Watch Over Me
Kersten, Denise. (2006). Teacher Magazine
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2006/01/01/04mentor.h17.html
This article discusses the importance of quality mentoring in stemming new teacher attrition. The author distinguishes between informal and under-supported mentoring programs that provide “buddy” relationships at best and intensive mentoring experiences that include collaborative planning, teaching demonstrations, and networking. She highlights the work of a full-time mentor and a mentee in Virginia and emphasizes the role that funding plays in making such a program successful.

Planning and conducting professional development that makes a difference:  A guide for school leaders. 
Southern Regional Education Board.  (2002)
http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/publications/profdev/00V02_ProfDevGuide.pdf
This guide outlines a step-by-step approach to conceiving, creating, developing, implementing and evaluating school-level professional development opportunities.

Facilitator: 10, Refreshments:  8, Evaluation:  0:  Workshop Satisfaction Misses the Point 
Mizell, H.  (2003, Fall). Journal of Staff Development, 24(4).
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/results/res3-99learning.cfm
Evaluating the impact that staff development has had on the teaching practices within a building is critical to determining a course of action for educators.  Traditionally, however, the evaluation of staff development opportunities is limited in scope, focusing on topics unrelated to student achievement or teaching.  This article details these failed attempts at evaluating professional development, examines the reasons that school-based staff developers continue to use ineffective approaches to evaluation, and outlines a more effective method of evaluating the impact of professional development.  

Developing Effective Partnerships to Support Local Education
School Communities that Work: A National Taskforce on the
Future of Urban Districts (2002).
http://www.schoolcommunities.org/images/Partnerships.pdf
This paper describes design and operating principles used in effective education and community partnerships. The authors emphasize that partnerships should focus on equity in addition to results and aim to affect youth engagement and development.

Their Key to Survival:  Each Other
Gingold, H.  (2004, June). Classroom Leadership, 7(9). 
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U1263262B
This article from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development describes the work of four teachers in Liverpool, N.Y. who created a “collaborative teacher network” designed to support one another throughout the school year.  The four teachers worked as a team, planning lessons and instruction, evaluating the results of their teaching, and refining their professional practice.  They set aside time each week to meet with one another, and kept in regular contact via email and phone calls.  As a result, their teaching improved and they each developed skills required of reflective practitioners.

Watch Over Me
Kersten, Denise. (2006). Teacher Magazine
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2006/01/01/04mentor.h17.html
This article discusses the importance of quality mentoring in stemming new teacher attrition. The author distinguishes between informal and under-supported mentoring programs that provide “buddy” relationships at best and intensive mentoring experiences that include collaborative planning, teaching demonstrations, and networking. She highlights the work of a full-time mentor and a mentee in Virginia and emphasizes the role that funding plays in making such a program successful.

Teacher Quality: Teachers Teaching Teachers
Christensen, Linda. (Winter 2005/2006). Rethinking Schools
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/20_02/ttt202.shtml
Linda Christensen, a high school English teacher from Portland, Oregon, writes that teachers find professional development lead by classroom teachers to be the most productive. She describes her experiences with the Portland Writing Project, summer curriculum camps, and professional development days, all of which are teacher-lead and actively involve teachers in reflection, writing, and curriculum development.

Their Key to Survival:  Each Other
Gingold, H.  (2004, June). Classroom Leadership, 7(9). 
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U1263262B
This article from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development describes the work of four teachers in Liverpool, N.Y. who created a “collaborative teacher network” designed to support one another throughout the school year.  The four teachers worked as a team, planning lessons and instruction, evaluating the results of their teaching, and refining their professional practice.  They set aside time each week to meet with one another, and kept in regular contact via email and phone calls.  As a result, their teaching improved and they each developed skills required of reflective practitioners.