Stonington’s Theory of Practice for District Improvement

The district leadership (administrators, coordinators, and instructional specialists) meet at least monthly to gain knowledge and skills to ensure increased learning in the Stonington Public Schools.

It is believed that increased learning will occur when:

• Rigorous, relevant, and increasingly complex curricula are presented in a manner that engages students in their own learning.
• Collaboration and shared decision-making among students, teachers, parents and the community are practiced.
• Leadership is distributed throughout the organization.
• The capabilities of adults in the organization are improved.
• Systems thinking is institutionalized.

The Theory of Practice, stated above, was developed over time by the district leadership. It aligns with the strategic plan created by the Board of Education with the participation of community members. Resources for the theory’s development include input from educational leaders from Harvard University, support by the CT Center for School Change, and the expertise and cooperation of the teachers of the Stonington Public Schools. The following bibliography continues to serve as a knowledgebase to stimulate thinking and conversation as the school system proceeds in its mission of teaching and learning.

Primary Sources:

Collins, Jim. Good to Great. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 2001.

Daniels, Harvey and Marilyn Bizar, Methods that Matter, Six Structures for Best Practice Classrooms. Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 1998.

Elmore, Richard, “Bridging the Gap Between Standards and Achievement.” A monograph for Albert Shanker Institute, 2002.

Elmore, Richard, “Building a New Structure for School Leadership.” A monograph for the Albert Shanker Institute, 2000.

Fuhrman, Susan and Marvin Lazerson, eds. American Institutions of Democracy: The Public Schools. New York: Oxford University Press (The Annenburg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands), 2005.

Fullan, Michael. Change Forces. Bristol, PA: The Falmer Press, 1993.

Fullan, Michael. The Moral Imperative of School Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc., 2003.

Gharajedaghi, Jamshid. Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity. Boston: Butterworth Heinemann, 1999.

Heifeitz, Ronald A. and Donald L. Laurie. “The Work of Leadership.” In Best of Harvard Business Review. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001.

Lambert, Lando, Deborah Walker, et. al. The Constructivist Leader, 2^nd Edition. New York: Teachers College Press, 2004.

Marzano, Robert, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollack. Classroom Instruction That Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2001.

Senge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

Sousa, David. How The Brain Learns, 2^nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc., 2001.

Wagner, Tony. Making the Grade. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2002.

Zimelman, Steven, Harvey Daniels and Arthur Hyde. Best Practice: Today’s Standards for Teaching and Learning in America’s Schools, 3^rd Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005.

Secondary Sources:

Fullan, Michael. Change Forces: The Sequel. Philadelphia: The Falmer Press, 1999.

Gardner, Howard. Changing Minds. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2004.

Gardner, Howard. The Disciplined Mind. NYC, NY: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2000.

Hargreaves, Andy and Michael Fullan. What’s Worth Fighting for Out There. New York: Teachers College Press, 1998.

Kegan, Robert and Lisa Lahey. How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work. San Francisco: Jossey-Boss, a Wiley Company, 2001.

Levine, Mel. The Myth of Laziness. New York: Simon& Schuster, 2003.

Pfeffer, Jeffrey and Robert Sutton. The Knowing-Doing Gap. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000.

Reeves, Douglas. The Daily Disciplines of Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, 2002.

Senge, Peter. The Dance of Change. New York: Doubleday, 1999.