From Standards to Success: A Guide for School Leaders

By Mark R. O'shea

In this era of accountability and high-stakes testing, school leaders must find more sophisticated ways to help all students succeed. But how can districts make adequate yearly progress without a coherent system for addressing state standards? In From Standards to Success, education professor Mark R. O'Shea introduces the Standards Achievement Planning Cycle (SAPC), a comprehensive protocol for meeting the standards.

To illustrate his multi-layered approach, O'Shea takes readers to a fictional school as it prepares to install the SAPC. We meet the superintendent, who organizes the district for curriculum reform; the principal, who supervises standards-based instruction; and the teachers, who collaboratively plan lessons and evaluate their students' work. From teacher observation to student assessment, O'Shea offers innovative strategies to help school leaders

* identify and analyze which standards are most important
* select appropriate curriculum materials and resources
* provide instructional planning time for teachers
* create a benchmark-testing program
* design effective professional development

Checklists at the end of each chapter highlight best practices, and sample lessons show how to plan curriculum that enables students to meet state standards. The result is a thorough and sensible guide to realizing the promise of standards-based education.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416602070
• ISBN13: 9781416602071
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: ASCD
• Length: 162 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A comprehensive tool for meeting high expectations

Education professor Mark O'Shea presents From Standards To Success: A Guide For School Leaders, a multi-layered guide to the author's Standards Achievement Planning Cycle (SAPC), which is a comprehensive tool for meeting high expectations. Walking the reader through a fictional school that prepares to install the SAPC, From Standards To Success reveals the value of each facet of implementation from the levels of superintendent and principal to teacher observation and student assessment. Spelling out strategies to help school leaders identify which standards are most important, select appropriate curriculum materials and resources, create a benchmark-testing program, and much more. Charts and bullet points help clarify potentially confusing procedures and recommendations, and checklists at the end of each chapter emphasize the best practices in this useful guide to making standards-based education a reality.