Authentic Achievement: Restructuring Schools for Intellectual Quality

"Fred Newmann, unlike most researchers, pays attention to the critical linkage between reorganizing schools and what happens in classrooms. In these research-based portraits of schools and classrooms, reform-minded policymakers and practitioners will find compelling evidence to never forget the connection between teaching, learning, and restructuring."
—Larry Cuban, professor of education, Stanford University

Why are some schools more successful than others? This new book presents the findings of a five-year, federally funded study that examined the connection between school restructuring and student achievement. Using a wealth of examples, the authors provide a vivid picture of the conditions under which innovations in a school's organization contribute to student achievement—extending learning beyond rote memorization of isolated facts to thinking, disciplined understanding, and complex communication. Standards for achieving student intellectual quality are recommAnded, and evidence is provided that teaching consistent with these standards greatly contributes to student achievement. The results and recommAndations offer teachers, administrators, and policymakers an important mid-course correction in the process of school restructuring.