Meets "the highest standard of evidence" for comprehensive school reforms that improve student achievement.
Review of Educational Research, 2003

"This Field Guide to Comer Schools in Action provides exactly what its title offers: guidelines to curricula, instruction, and educational development necessary to implementing the Comer process. . . . This handbook will help enormously to keep alive what James Comer and his colleagues have so carefully crafted over the years."
John I. Goodlad, President
Institute for Educational Inquiry

Schools are the only universally accessible institutions where there are enough adults to provide continuous support for children's growth, development, and success in life. Using the process pioneered by renowned child psychiatrist Dr. James P. Comer and his colleagues at the Yale School Development Program (SDP), this unique field guide offers school leaders, school staff, and teachers a comprehensive and effective framework for providing curriculum and instruction that help all children grow and develop along the pathways that support success both in school and in life.

Combining research; evidence-based best practices; essential tools for planning, data analysis, assessment, and program evaluation; and a generous collection of charts, tables, and graphics, Dynamic Instructional Leadership to Support Student Learning and Development offers educators a state-of-the-art guide to:

• Mobilizing all of the stakeholders in the learning community to support instructional excellence as a system responsibility
• Modeling of instructional excellence by school principals, district leaders, and university partners
• Aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment with standards and research-based best practices
• Linking child development to challenging and rigorous classroom instruction based on respect, trust, and high expectations for all students
• Teaching essentials of literacy, math, and science that provide positive developmental experiences for all learners
• Teachers helping teachers for professional development and school improvement

Dynamic Instructional Leadership to Support Student Learning and Development is the first-ever published field guide to the tried, tested, and true methods used by the Comer Process to promote academic achievement and life success for all children.

• The primary resource for all Comer schools and for all schools and districts that want to use Comer principles to improve student learning and development.
• A key training and administrative resource for urban schools and districts that must meet No Child Left Behind standards for "highly qualified" teachers
• A key resource for schools and districts considering school improvement and restructuring
• A key text for teacher education and educational administration courses on curriculum development, standards-based education, developmentally appropriate education, instructional leadership, literacy, math and science education, and program evaluation.
• Includes staff development activities, diagrams, forms, checklists, sidebar features, and sample presentations for students, staff, and parents