What Is Whole-School Reform?
Whole-school (or comprehensive school) reform is a broad brush that covers a diverse set of nationwide and local programs. In their most visionary expression, these reform programs are cross-disciplinary efforts that involve home, school, and community in the intellectual development and personal nurturing of all children. “This new approach,’ says Brent Keltner (1998), “takes an integrated view of the reform process. It is based on the concept that the way to successfully improve school performance is to simultaneously change all elements of a school’s operating environment so as to bring each element into alignment with a central, guiding vision.” Robert Slavin, founder of Success for All, is quoted as saying, “We do a heart-lung transplant. One of the things we learned is that if you don’t deal with both instruction and curriculum and school organization, things start to slide back. In a Success for All School, there’s nothing to slide back toit’s all gone” (Lynn Olson 1998). Essent
