Getting By or Getting Better: Applying Effective Schools Research to Today's Issues

In Harbors of Hope: The Planning for School and Student Success Process (2005), the authors presented a model to support school improvement efforts. In Getting By or Getting Better, the authors focus on the results that can be achieved when a solid planning process is used consistently. They provide viable school improvement strategies that are supported by a solid research base primarily the second generation of the Seven Correlates of Effective Schools. A wide range of practical approaches are illustrated through lessons learned in real schools that are not just getting by, but getting better. All schools featured in the book are Canadian, but the lessons are applicable to all North American schools. The authors did original research on 45 successful schools to determine the most important features of their success. The authors chose Effective Schools as their primary research base because it provides school improvement teams with a comprehensive framework for identifying, categorizing, and solving the problems that schools and districts face. Over the years, a second generation of the Seven Correlates of Effective Schools has emerged in response to the ever-changing and diverse demands being placed on schools. After working with many schools across North America, the authors identified seven common themes or lessons from successful schools. Embedded in all of the lessons are the Correlates. The book features 14 of the 45 schools in the authors study, all powerful examples of second generation Correlates at work in today's educational context. Each school is attached to one of the lessons and then specific aspects of its story are highlighted to illustrate the lesson and Correlate being featured, however all of the schools illustrate all the lessons effectively.