Annotated bibliography of resources for transforming school

Ascher, C., Henderson, A., and Maguire, C. 2008. Putting kids on the pathway to college: How isyour school doing? A college pathways rubric.This five-part tool (one of the College Pathways series) was developed to help anyone with astake in improving high schools assess the extent to which a school has adopted practices thatresearchers have discovered in high-performing high schools. The tool presents four keycomponents, along with indicators of good practice, found in a group of high schools whose lowincomestudents of color are ―beating the odds."Corbett, G.C., and Huebner, T.A. 2007. Rethinking high school: Preparing students for successin college, career, and life.This report examines five model programs that exemplify five approaches to preparing studentsfor college.National Association for College Admission Counseling. Guiding the way to higher education:Step by step to college workshops for students curriculum (middle school, early highschool, late high school).This curriculum--presented in three manuals, for middle school students (grades 7-8), early highschool students (grades 9 through first semester 11) and late high school students (grades 11-12)offers training for counselors and others who work with underrepresented and underservedstudents, and provides comprehensive tools for meeting the needs of first-generation studentsand their families.Pathways to College Network. College readiness for all toolbox.The College Readiness for All Toolbox is an effective set of well-researched tools, lessonslearned, resources, and documents designed to assist in the creation of a college-going culture.Payne, C., and Corrin, W. 2009. Making high school students into "college material."This brief describes new initiatives to help high school students, particularly those in lowperformingschools in high-poverty communities, prepare for the academic demands of college byproviding a strong, college preparatory curriculum and academic supports.Tierney, W., Bailey, T., Constantine, J., Finkelstein, N., Hurd, N., Max, J., and Tuttle, C. 2009.Helping students navigate the path to college: What high schools can do.This guide is intended to help schools and districts develop practices to increase access to highereducation. It can be useful for individuals who work in schools and districts in planning andexecuting strategies to improve preparation for, and access to, higher education.Creating a College-going CultureCenter for Education Outreach at UC Berkeley. College-going culture rubric (checklist).This checklist provides nine elements to support and encourage a college-going culture in highschools.Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis. Creating helping environments for college-going:The CHEPA CHEC-list for counselors.Provides tips for guidance and college counselors on working with other school officials to createsupportive college-going environments in high schools.College Board. 2006. Creating a college-going culture guide.Promoting a college-going culture in high schools benefits both the students and the schools,improving preparation, college access, and college attendance rates among students and helpingschools to achieve goals and improve accountability.3

College Board. Supporting a college-going culture.This site provides ten steps schools can take to encourage the development of a school wide"college-going culture."Conley, D. 2009. Six aspects to laying the groundwork for a college-going culture.This presentation provides examples of recent research on "college readiness," presents adefinition and four key dimensions of "college readiness," and describes how to apply lessonslearned from college readiness research to high schools and state and federal policies.Corwin, Z.B. and Tierney, W.G. 2007. Getting there–and beyond: Building a culture of collegegoingin high schools.This report argues that high school students are best served by schools with a strong collegegoingculture that cultivates aspirations and behaviors conducive to preparing for and enrolling incollege. It discusses key elements, common challenges, and strategies that schools can use tostrengthen their college-going culture.Double the Numbers. Counselor and college access provider activities to create a college-goingculture.The resources and activities in this book are designed to help counselors and college accessproviders support students as they explore and discover their identity and career interests andlater take more specific steps to prepare for college.Haskins, R. 2009. A new goal for America's high schools: College preparation for all.Disadvantaged young people in the United States have experienced declining economicopportunity in recent decades. Experts agree that the best way for disadvantaged youth to boosttheir income is by achieving a degree from a two-year or four-year college. This paper outlinesthe steps high schools should take to help low-income students prepare for and succeed incollege.High School Reform Strategy Toolkit. High School Reform Strategy Toolkit.This toolkit is designed to provide researchers and practitioners with up-to-date information oncommon high school reform strategies, with a focus on implementation.High School Reform Strategy Toolkit. The implementation checklist for college awareness: Aproduct of the High School Reform Strategy Toolkit.This checklist helps high schools to make sure they are promoting college-going and givingstudents access to information, resources, and support networks.Holcomb-McCoy, C. Developing a college-going culture: What the research says and how toapply it.This presentation provides information about building a college-going culture in high schools.MacDonald, M., and Dorr, A. 2006. Creating a college-going culture: A resource guide.Prepared as part of the Building Educational Success Through (BEST) Collaboration in LosAngeles County initiative, this report is meant to serve as a resource for regional educatorsstriving to create and/or improve college going cultures in K-12 schools.McDonough, P. 2008. Building a college culture: Needs, goals, principles. and a case study.Changes must occur throughout schools so that the college mission is heard loud and clear by allstudents. Moreover, these expectations must be present from the earliest stages of theiracademic careers. This document offers a template for creating an environment where this cantake place. Specifically, it outlines the changes that are required in order to create what we havecalled a ―college culture.‖4

McDonough, P. 2003. What research tells us about college access: Assuring the success of allstudents.Examines what’s needed to create college-going cultures at schools to ensure that more studentsprepare for and attend college.Oakes, J. Critical conditions for equity and diversity in college access: Informing policy andmonitoring results.This paper defines and explains the importance of seven conditions that most middle and uppermiddleclass youngsters from college-going families routinely enjoy in their schools andcommunities.Pathways to College Network. College readiness for all toolbox.The College Readiness for All Toolbox is an effective set of well-researched tools, lessonslearned, resources, and documents designed to assist in the creation of a college-going culture.Pathways to College Network. 2007. Frequently asked questions about college access andsuccess.This brief answers the questions: What is the achievement gap and how serious is it? Is collegethe best option for all students? If not, why prepare all students for college? Can we afford tosend everyone to college? What prevents students from going to college? Why do so manystudents who begin college leave without a degree? How does financial aid impact decisionsabout college? What is an underserved student? When should students begin preparing forcollege? And what is meant by a college-going culture?Schramm, J., and Sagawa, S. 2008. High schools as launch pads: How college-going cultureimproves graduation rates in low-income high schools.This paper argues that in order to raise graduation rates, schools need to stop seeing high schoolgraduation as their ultimate goal and start seeing themselves as a launch pad for college andcareer success.Schneider, B. 2007. Forming a college-going community in U.S. public high schools.This report provides an overview of the kinds of services and activities that are part of a "wholeschool" approach to creating a college-going community.TG. 2008. College-going cultures in urban high schools.This project explored perceptions of the culture to support college going in six urban high schoolsthat serve primarily students from groups underrepresented in higher education whose parentsdid not graduate from college.Educational EquityBalfanz, R. 2009. Can the American high school become an avenue of advancement for all?As the twenty-first century opens, the United States is developing a deep social consensus thatAmerican high schools should ensure that all adolescents graduate from high school prepared forpostsecondary schooling and training.Bemak, F., and Chung, R. 2005. Advocacy as a critical role for urban school counselors:Working toward equity and social justice.This article explores the need for a change of the school counselor's role to incorporate advocacyas a key component in decreasing the achievement gap and fostering social justice and equity forall students. Challenges in being an advocate are discussed along with recommendations forschool counselors.5

Campaign for High School Equity. A plan for success: Communities of color define policypriorities for high school reform.This document outlines the Campaign for High School Equity's collective sense of the policypriorities that must be addressed if our nation’s high schools are to change so that all youngpeople graduate from high school ready to work, ready for college, and ready to beknowledgeable citizens.Campaign for High School Equity. Campaign for High School Equity.The Campaign for High School Equity is a diverse coalition of national organizations representingcommunities of color that believe high schools should have the capacity and motivation toprepare every student for graduation, college, work, and life.Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. The Equity Project.The project's mission is to provide evidence-based information specific to issues of schooldiscipline, school violence, special education and equality of educational opportunity for allstudents. In addition, the project provides support and technical assistance to educationalagencies seeking to create equitable school systems.Education Equality Project. Education Equality Project.The Education Equality Project is a civil rights movement aimed at eliminating the racial andethnic achievement gap in public education by working to create an effective school for everychild.Lerner, J. 2007. Setting the record straight: How trendy approaches to college access might ormight not be helping low-income students.This presentation examines secondary-postsecondary learning options (SPLO's), such as dualenrollment,tech prep, middle/early college high schools, programs serving disadvantaged youth,and the International Baccalaureate program.Scheurich, J., Skrla, L., Mckenzie, K., and Richardson, J. 2009. Background and context forequity audits.Equity audits are a systematic way for school leaders—principals, superintendents, curriculumdirectors, teacher leaders—to assess the degree of equity or inequity present in three key areasof their schools or districts: programs, teacher quality, and achievement. This chapter from thebook "Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools" describes and discussesequity audits with an emphasis on detail and practicality.Scott, B. 2001. Coming of age (information about educational equity audits).This newsletter outlines ways to create systemic equity in educational systems, includingconducting educational equity audits.Skrla, L., Garcia, J., Scheurich, J., and Nolly, G. 2002. Educational equity profiles: Practicalleadership tools for equitable and excellent schools.This paper proposes a prototype model for an educational equity profile, a tool for school leadersand other educators to help them understand and address the systemic inequities in theirorganizations and practices that lead to differential levels of student achievement distributedalong race and social class lines.The Education Equality Project. The Education Equality Project: Improving teacher quality.The paper presents specific policy proposals that can help transform the teaching profession andmake public education the great equalizer in America—not an ongoing source of inequity andinjustice for low income and minority students.6

School ReformAlliance for Excellent Education and the College Board. 2009. Facts for education advocates:School counseling, access and persistence.If we are to ensure that all students are ready to enter and graduate from higher education,school counselors need better and greater support. This month’s Facts for Advocates focus onschool counseling, access and persistence.Amatea, E., and West-Olatunji, C. 2007. Joining the conversation about educating our poorestchildren: Emerging leadership roles for school counselors in high-poverty schools.School counselors bring special skills to the effort of educating low-income children. A review ofliterature on poverty and social class as correlates of student success, teacher expectations, andparent involvement provides a rationale for school counselors expanding their leadership roles inhigh-poverty schools.Carey, J., Dimmit, C., and House, R. 2003. The ASCA national model.This presentation summarizes the American School Counselor Association's model for datadrivenschool counseling and guidance practices.Carrell, S. The student to counselor ratio: Does it matter?Research suggests that school counselors and other student support service personnel can havea positive impact on improving students’ academic outcomes. Carrell’s (2006) study provides oneexample of such an evidence based program with results suggesting that lower student-tocounselorratios decrease both the recurrence of student disciplinary problems and the number ofstudents involved in a disciplinary incidentEilers, A. 2004. Below the accountability radar screen: What does state policy say about schoolcounseling.This paper examines the state policy context of implementing an initiative that transforms thetraining and role of today’s school counselors.Eschenauer, R., and Chen-Hayes, S. 2005. The transformative individual school counselingmodel: An accountability model for urban school counselors.The realities and needs of urban students, families, and educators have outgrown traditionalindividual counseling models. The American School Counselor Association's National Model andNational Standards and the Education Trust's Transforming School Counseling Initiativeencourage professional school counselors to shift roles toward implementing comprehensivedevelopmental school counseling programs focused on systemic change to overcome institutionalK-12 school barriers.Foley, E., Mishook, J., Thompson, J., Kubiak, M., Supovitz, J., Rhude-Faust, M. Beyond testscores: Leading indicators for education.Leading indicators are a way of viewing and using data to inform system-wide decisions abouteducation. This study builds on existing efforts by school districts to use data-informed decisionmaking by developing further the concept of these indicators.High School Reform Strategy Toolkit. High School Reform Strategy Toolkit.This toolkit is designed to provide researchers and practitioners with up-to-date information oncommon high school reform strategies, with a focus on implementation.High School Reform Strategy Toolkit. The implementation checklist for college awareness: Aproduct of the High School Reform Strategy Toolkit.This checklist helps high schools to make sure they are promoting college-going and givingstudents access to information, resources, and support networks.7

National Center for School Counseling Outcome Research. 2003. Interventions for helpingstudents at risk of dropping out of school.Examines a 1998 study by Edmondson and White evaluating the effects of a combination oftutoring programs and counseling on the achievement of at-risk students.National Center for School Counseling Outcome Research. 2003. What are the expectedbenefits associated with implementing a comprehensive guidance program.Examines a 1997 Lapan, Gyspers, and Sun evaluation of the effectiveness of the ComprehensiveGuidance Program model, recently adopted in many states.Schneider, B. 2007. Forming a college-going community in U.S. public high schools.This report provides an overview of the kinds of services and activities that are part of a "wholeschool" approach to creating a college-going community.Snobarger, A. & Kempson, D. 2009. The role of the school counselor in the new era of RTI.This presentation examines the role of school counselors in the implementation of Response toIntervention for academic and behavioral indications.Southern Regional Education Board. 2007. Establishing an effective guidance and advisementsystem.An effective system can contribute to students’ achievement; help students set goals; find a nichein school; and open up new vistas of opportunity beyond those which students may envision.Southern Regional Education Board. 2005. Helping students make good decisions and act onthem: The real meaning of guidance and advisement.This publication provides recommendations for improved high school guidance, and includesexamples of schools whose counseling programs involve these components.Quint, J. 2006. Meeting five critical challenges of high school reform: Lessons from research onthree reform models.This report discusses three comprehensive initiatives evaluated by MDRC — Career Academies,First Things First, and Talent Development that seek to improve low-performing rural and urbanschools.UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools. 2007. New directions in enhancing educationalresults: Policymakers' guide to restructuring student support resources to addressbarriers to learning.This report presents findings related to a survey of schools relative to what they are doing todevelop comprehensive systemic approaches for addressing barriers to learning and teaching.8