As the concept of distributed leadership and its concomitant organizational structures become more prevalent in schools, studying how teacher capacity can be enhanced and can be used as a catalyst for reform is important. This article documents the nature of how the implementation of a research-validated reform influenced what teachers thought about their own teaching, student achievement, and expectations. A case study approach documented the experiences of elementary school teachers in a high poverty, historically low-performing elementary school as they implemented a researched-validated instructional reform targeting the most atrisk students in the school. The teachers experienced significant professional growth that encompassed self-doubt, resistance, acceptance, and finally advocacy. Implications for the practices that define educational leadership and school improvement are discussed in light of how successful reform can improve teacher capacity.

In 2002, Early College High Schools Initiative became a reality across the United States for students and educators looking for ways to improve student graduation rates, college attendance, and overall student achievement. This mixed method case study found that (a) the early college high school environment supported the academic success of disadvantaged and underrepresented students, (b) during subsequent conversations with teachers, students, and the administration, it was revealed that these stakeholders readily identified critical success factors, and (c) there was a high degree of agreement on what these factors were—high expectations, purposeful actions, and meaningful relationships.

No abstract

In 2002, the first early college high schools opened in North Carolina in an attempt to improve the performance of traditionally underserved students. Students of color, economic disadvantage, or having family histories of little or no post secondary attainment were targeted by this school reform initiative. Students attending these schools are exposed to rigorous high school curricula, experience a small school environment, and have access to post secondary education at the community college or university level. This study examined the academic performance of early college students compared to traditional high school students in North Carolina using non-parametric methods to determine whether the early college students have different passing rates on select North Carolina high school exams. The results indicate that for the selected end-of-course exams, many of the early college students have significantly greater rates of passing and in several instances that the gap between white and traditionally under represented students is narrower than traditional schools. These results suggest the North Carolina early college model may be a viable school reform initiative in assisting students to graduate high school and prepare students for life beyond high school.

Since 2001 several states have adopted the requirement that high school students either take the SAT or ACT to assess high school programs or assist students in accessing post-secondary-educational opportunities. In 2012 the state of North Carolina adopted a new accountability program that included the ACT as a measure of college readiness. Previous research on the relationship between school districts and school level performance found that district size had a role in school achievement. This study looked at how district factors influenced the ACT performance of students across North Carolina in an effort to better understand if there were district factors other than size that may be influencing student performance and how high school reforms, given the influence of district factors is meeting the goal of increasing student college readiness. The results of this study are as follows. (1) District factors are related to school level performance, where student race and parental education levels were found to be significant predictors of achievement, (2) the traditional school level factors of race and student socioeconomic status did significantly predict ACT scores, and (3) as a high school reform model, students attending early college high schools did score higher on the ACT as compared to traditional high schools. District and School Factors Affecting Student PerformanceThe association of school district composition or characteristics and student performance is not well documented and when research is available, district size appears to be the factor most often controlled for. For example, Trani [1] found that as district size increased the performance of students in general declined and when coupled with lowwealth students, the performance of these students declined further. These results run counter to other studies that found increases in school district size was associated with higher levels of student performance [2][3][4][5]. It has been suggested that some of the inconsistency in results seems to be contributable to the methods employed to study the hypothesized relationship (see [1]). Including other variables to enhance the understanding how district factors are associated with student performance are wanting and the application of methodological approaches that reflects the organization or schools and districts that may lead to more consistent findings and findings that can be readily applied to district and school reform efforts. In contrast to the lack of research understanding district factors and student performance, there has been a great deal of research on the relationship between school related factors and student achievement. The research has pointed to the influence of student wealth, race, school size, curriculum, teacher preparation, and other variables that were found to predict a reasonable degree of student outcomes [6][7][8][9][10]. For example, Ma and Klinger, in their study of New Brunswick Schools, found that how student and school factors influenced achievement varied over the ty...