10 Strategies for Doubling Student Performance

"In this highly readable book, Allan Odden vividly illustrates many of the most important practices for creating strong professional communities. From the organization of time to the development of productive curriculum and instruction, school leaders will learn how to create a framework for school reform grounded in research and the wisdom of practice."
―Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education
Stanford University

"Odden not only thinks big, he provides specific examples from real school districts to support his ten-step program. His systemic analysis of school district improvement and specific examples create a road map for the nation."
―Jack D. Dale, Superintendent
Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

"Odden offers a sound program of ten steps school leaders can implement to significantly improve student academic achievement in their districts."
―Daniel A. Domenech, Executive Director
American Association of School Administrators

A road map for school improvement with dramatic, measurable results!

This companion book to Doubling Student Performance by Allan R. Odden and Sarah J. Archibald brings to life ten strategies for achieving significant, measurable gains in student performance. School and district leaders can use the examples, stories, and resources in this book to create a research-based school improvement plan. To guide educational leaders in their improvement work, the book:

• Focuses on issues over which schools and districts have control, such as setting ambitious goals, changing the curriculum, using data to make decisions, and using time effectively and efficiently
• Offers detailed case studies from real schools that provide clear steps and specific tools for putting the strategies into action
• Provides an entire chapter devoted to recruiting and developing top talent, especially for high-needs schools

10 Strategies for Doubling Student Performance helps educators drive substantial gains in student achievement and effectively use resources to invest in what works in education reform.

Allan Odden is Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; he also is Co-Director of the Strategic Management of Human Capital (SMHC) in public education and Co-Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). CPRE is a consortium of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Pennsylvania, Harvard, Michigan, Northwestern, Teachers College-Columbia University, and Stanford Universities. He is an international expert on education finance, effective resource allocation and use, resource reallocation, the strategic management of human capital in education, teacher compensation, school-based management, and educational policy development and implementation. He consults regularly with states and districts on these issues.

His most recent books include School Finance: A Policy Perspective (McGraw Hill, 2008, 4th edition), with Lawrence O. Picus and How to Create World Class Teacher Compensation (Freeload Press, 2007) with Marc Wallace. Other books include Paying Teachers for What They Know and Do: New and Smarter Compensation Strategies to Improve Schools (Corwin Press, 1997, 2^nd Edition, 2002) with Carolyn Kelley; Reallocating Resources: How to Boost Student Achievement Without Spending More (Corwin, 2001) with Sarah Archibald; School Finance: A Policy Perspective (McGraw Hill, 1992, 2^nd Edition, 2000, 3^rd Edition 2004) co-authored with Lawrence Picus; School-Based Finance (Corwin Press, 1999), edited with Margaret Goertz; Financing Schools for High Performance: Strategies for Improving the Use of Educational Resources (Jossey Bass, 1998) with Carolyn Busch; Educational Leadership for America’s Schools (McGraw Hill, 1995); Rethinking School Finance: An Agenda for the 1990s (Jossey-Bass, 1992); Education Policy Implementation (State University of New York Press, 1991); and School Finance and School Improvement: Linkages for the 1980s (Ballinger, 1983).

He was a mathematics teacher and curriculum developer in New York City’s East Harlem for five years. He received his PhD and MA degrees from Columbia University, a Masters of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary and his BS in aerospace engineering from Brown University.