Breaking Ranks II and High School Reform
A follow-up to the 1996 seminal report Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution, Breaking Ranks II engages principals, teacher leaders, and the entire school community in reforming the American high school into an academically rigorous, personalized learning environment that is improved through collaborative leadership. Where Breaking Ranks I presented a vision of a dramatically different high school for the 21st century, Breaking Ranks II takes a step further by outlining tested strategies for positive change that have proven successful in all types of high school settings.
Written as a field guide, Breaking Ranks II was developed to improve the learning experience of every student by providing high school principals and their leadership teams with illustrations of possible entry points or areas in which to begin reform, strategies for implementing successful reform, and profiles of successes, challenges, and results of implementation. Breaking Ranks II focuses its strategies in three key areas:
- Collaborative leadership, professional learning communities, and the strategic use of data
- Personalizing the school environment
- Curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
The strategies imbedded in Breaking Ranks II are replicable in urban, suburban, and rural schools (one of each was featured in the report). Moving from several isolated high-performing schools to a system of excellent schools benefiting all students is the ultimate goal of this handbook.