The Principals’ Partnership’s compass document—Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution—now is available as a “field guide” to improve learning through Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform.

   Published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), this follow-up document “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,” according to NASSP. While the first Breaking Ranks offered a vision of the effective high school for the 21st century, Breaking Ranks II outlines “tested strategies for positive change that have proven successful in all types of high school settings.”

This new document focuses on three areas:

• collaborative leadership, professional learning
   communities, and the strategic use of data;
• personalizing the school environment; and
• curriculum, instruction and assessment.

     The first area presents ideas on developing a professional learning community, where school leaders focus on work that will successfully support every student. The personalization segment looks at how schools can provide every student with meaningful adult relationships that can best support every student and lead to the development of personalized learning, where students see their learning as meaningful and relevant. The final set presents ways to create stronger relationships with students through challenging curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

    “Breaking Ranks II is intended to assist principals by providing strategies for implementing the recommendations; illustrating possible entry points or areas in which to begin reform; and profiling the successes, challenges, and results of schools implementing the recommendations,” according to NASSP. “”It 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."

     The strategies provided in Breaking Ranks II are suitable for urban, suburban and rural communities with examples from each in the report.

    All high school principals in the United States have received a copy of Breaking Ranks II. Further information about the document, including an executive summary and ordering information, can be found on the NASSP Web site,

http://www.principals.org/s_nassp/sec.asp?CID=563&DID=48223

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