Achieving Equity and Excellence. Douglas Reeves

      

      Achieving Equity & Excellence

      Immediate Results From the Lessons of High-Poverty, High-Success Schools

      DOUGLAS REEVES

      Copyright © 2020 by Solution Tree Press

      All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction of this book in whole or in part in any form.

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      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Reeves, Douglas B., 1953- author.

      Title: Achieving equity and excellence : immediate results from the lessons of high-poverty, high-success schools / Douglas Reeves.

      Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019024086 (print) | LCCN 2019024087 (ebook) | ISBN 9781949539431 (paperback) | ISBN 9781949539448 (ebook)

      Subjects: LCSH: Educational equalization. | Academic achievement. | Low-income students. | Educational accountability. | School improvement programs.

      Classification: LCC LC213 .R44 2019 (print) | LCC LC213 (ebook) | DDC 379.2/6--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024086

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024087

       Solution Tree

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      Edmund M. Ackerman, President

       Solution Tree Press

      President and Publisher: Douglas M. Rife

      Associate Publisher: Sarah Payne-Mills

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      Managing Production Editor: Kendra Slayton

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       For Amy and Mary

      Acknowledgments

      My debts are too numerous to mention, but I will nevertheless attempt at least a few. To Rick and Becky DuFour, for their friendship, challenging intellect, and standard of excellence, which guide me daily to be a better teacher, leader, and writer. To Robert Eaker, for a model of friendship and intellectual rigor—he is what I want to be when I grow up. To the Solution Tree team, with whom I have collaborated for close to two decades—Jeff Jones, chief executive officer, and Douglas Rife, publisher, exemplify what partnership means, consistently elevating the interests of the teachers, leaders, and students whom they serve above short-term business considerations. Alissa Voss provided detailed and constructive feedback that made this a better book than if it had been left to my efforts alone.

      I owe a special intellectual debt to Karin Chenoweth, for whom footnotes and reference citations are woefully inadequate recognitions of her seminal contribution to the scholarship of success in high-poverty schools. Robert Pondiscio writes with courage and eloquence, and challenges everyone who researches and writes about equity and excellence to put ourselves in the shoes of students and parents. Anthony Muhammad and Luis Cruz have influenced my understanding of the role of culture in schools of every socioeconomic status. Michael Fullan reminds me that fundamental truths in education transcend time and international boundaries. My colleagues at Creative Leadership Solutions have been my friends and intellectual inspirations. They include Lisa Almeida, Kate Anderson Foley, Brandon Doubek, Tony Flach, Lauren Mahoney, Kim Marshall, Brian McNulty, Stacy Scott, Mike Wasta, and many others. Special thanks to Allison Wedell, whose assistance in research and editing were vital to the completion of this book. To Julie Reeves who, in her 96th year, continues to research and write original papers on Abraham Lincoln, tend her garden, provide love and encouragement for generations of family and friends, and model the admonition of Saint Augustine to preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary, use words; her every act of kindness and generosity is worth a lifetime of sermons.

      While I am happy to share credit, I do not share blame for the inevitable errors, omissions, and other failures. The only worse thing than failing to publish is to publish and then be held to public account for these mistakes, a burden I happily accept alone.

      —Douglas Reeves, Boston, Massachusetts

      Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:

      Carrie Barnett

      Instructional Coach

      San Jacinto Unified School District

      San Jacinto, California

      Jonathan Cornue

      Staff and Curriculum Development

      Madison-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services

      Verona, New York

      Michael Giromini

      Principal

      Royal Oak High School

      Royal Oak, Michigan

      Andy Pattee

      Superintendent

      Cedar Falls Community School District

      Cedar Falls, Iowa

      Brad Randmark

      Assistant Principal

      Burnham School

      Cicero, Illinois

      Table of Contents

       About the Author

       Introduction

      

PART I

       Discovering When to Trust Educational Research

       1 Understand the Five Levels of Educational Research

       2 Decide Which Research to Trust