Central to the successes many schools have begun to experience is the concept of comprehensive, school-wide reform. It is a concept derived from many years of research on school reform indicating that schools are more successful when they focus on improvement of the entire school and address all key aspects of the school program. Comprehensive school reform is contrasted with short-term, piecemeal reforms that introduce isolated programs with little follow-up or sustained support. In cases where comprehensive reform has been based on the adoption of a specific model or design for school reform, another finding is particularly significant: a school's success depends on how faithfully the staff implements the model.

from Comprehensive School Reform: Research-Based Strategies to Achieve High Standards

Education experts at universities, nonprofit research and development organizations, and for-profit organizations have been developing school reform models. These developers, sometimes called "design teams," conceive of a reform design; then develop principles, implementation strategies, and supporting materials; and sometimes provide professional development and consulting support to schools and districts that adopt their programs (Stringfield & Datnow, 1998) . Examples of these reform models include such widely known programs as the Coalition for Essential Schools and Success For All.

These reform programs are generally regarded to be of two types: (1) curricular reform programs that emphasize content in one or more academic disciplines, or (2) comprehensive programs that focus on the whole school, including governance, organization, and, often, revised curricular content (Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1997). Reform models vary in terms of a number of dimensions, including goals, types of students and grade levels served, content area or curricular focus, classroom practices and instructional strategies, student assessment, staff development, parent involvement activities, classroom management, and school governance. The extent to which any one model addresses all of these dimensions is the extent to which it is considered to be a comprehensive school reform approach.

Consistent with the central tenet of systemic reform - that sweeping changes need to be made in schools in order for meaningful change to occur - the latest focus of school improvement efforts is comprehensive school reform (CSR), or whole school reform. In 1998, more than 3,000 schools across the nation were using CSR approaches (Education Commission of the States, 1998) . The growth in the number of CSR programs can be attributed in large part to the bipartisan congressional initiative begun in 1997, the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program. The purpose of the CSRD program is to provide financial incentives for schools to adopt comprehensive school reform programs based on reliable research and effective practices with the goal of helping all children meet challenging content and performance goals.

Resources

Leadership Folio Series: Comprehensive Design

McREL CSR Web site

¹Stringfield, S., & Datnow, A. (1998). Scaling up school restructuring designs in urban schools. Education and Urban Society, 30 (3), 269-276.
²Wang, M. C., Haertel, G. D., & Walberg, H. J. (1997). What do we know: Widely implemented school improvement programs. Philadelphia: Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education.
³Education Commission of the States(1998). The progress of education reform 1998. Denver, CO: Author.