This paper, from The Aspen Institute, lays out a comprehensive picture of high school instructional reform in which the concept of "instructional infrastructure" is explored. Instructional infrastructure is a system of managed instruction that includes coordinated materials, benchmark assessments, professional development, and instructional leaders. In combination with instructional infrastructure, the paper's picture of reform includes a focus on teachers and the need for districts to attract and retain a teacher workforce comprised of individual teachers who can take leadership roles in the development of practices to improve learning. The paper focuses on the district as a key unit of instructional development, but states could initiate or support much of the strategies.
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Background and Context
Educational transformation requires changes at the state, district, school, and classroom levels. By supporting districts in their secondary school redesign efforts, state education agencies must not only provide direction, but also gain a deeper knowledge of the processes of redesign by learning from the experiences of individual districts. This in turn will facilitate stronger state leadership in support of future efforts.
