'This is a timely and thought-provoking book. Fullan, Hill, and Crevola address the complexity of teaching and leading, and offer a compelling way forward that focuses on learning for all students through personalization, precision teaching, and professional learning for educators. By connecting assessment with learning, leading with teaching and learning, and classrooms instruction with district and government roles and responsibilities, the authors present an integrated approach that promises to 'breakthrough' the sterile standardization that plagues contemporary education' - Dean Fink, Professor, OISE//University of Toronto , and author of Leadership for Mortals (Paul Chapman Publishing, 2005) 'An outstanding book for educators to transform classroom practice and learning strategies. It builds important perspectives on personalizing learning that will inform current practice. Highly recommended' - Brent Davies, Professor, University of Hull, and author of The Essentials of School Leadership (Paul Chapman Publishing, 2005) Redesign classroom instruction to transform learning for both students and teachers! Breakthrough presents a revolutionary new approach to educational reform, breaking away from the conventional paradigm to help educators create focused instruction, transform the classroom experience, and dramatically raise and sustain performance levels for students and teachers alike. This book provides the breakthrough concepts needed for developing precise, validated, data-driven instruction personalized to each and every student. Synthesizing the best of current instructional models, this framework focuses on the Triple P Core Breakthrough Components: Personalization - meaningful, student-centered classroom interactions; Precision - using formative assessments to monitor individual student progress; and Professional Learning - daily, ongoing learning for all educators. Helping educators create expert instructional systems, while breaking through the "prescription trap," the authors introduce unique elements of the Breakthrough model, including: * improvement by design * assessment for learning * critical learning instructional paths * mapping instructional paths * smart use of data to drive instruction * locking in ongoing improvement. Breakthrough establishes the tipping point for moving toward personalized, high-quality instruction and learning in the classroom to ensure continuous improvement and ongoing academic success.

Table of Contents

Foreword Preface Acknowledgements About the Authors 1. The New Mission for School Systems A System Stalled The Prescription Trap 2. Breakthrough Components The Triple P Core Components 3. Transforming Classroom Instruction The Current Model The Crux of the Problem A Basis in Learning Theory The Breakthrough 4. Creating Expert Instructional Systems A Focus on Improvement by Design Expert Instructional Systems Assessment for Learning Lessons From Health Care 5. Building a Critical Learning Instructional Path Mapping the Instructional Path Measuring and Monitoring Learning Using the Data to Drive Instruction Classroom Organization Loops and Detours in the Critical Learning Instructional Path Beyond Early Literacy Locking In Ongoing Improvement Building the System 6. Breakthrough Leadership: A Way Forward What Is Needed Using Change Knowledge The Breakthrough Framework Breakthrough Leadership Conclusion References Index

Accolades

Winner of American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Writing & Research Awards: Outstanding Book 2007.

Author Biography

Peter Hill retired as secretary general of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) on December 14, 2007. He has held numerous senior positions in school administration and educational research in Australia and the USA, including as head of the school system in the State of Victoria, Australia, and as professor of leadership and management in the faculty of education of The University of Melbourne. More recently he was director of research and development at the National Center on Education and the Economy in the USA. Over the past decade he has directed and assisted in a number of large-scale, comprehensive school improvement projects. His research interests are in the fields of assessment, school effectiveness and improvement, and instructional leadership. Carmel Crevola is currently an independent international literacy consultant, author, and researcher who works extensively in Australia, Canada, UK, and the US. Her focus is on assisting systems to align their assessment processes, instructional practices, and instructional leadership. Crevola has pioneered new approaches to data-driven literacy instruction and has led several large-scale school reform initiatives in both Australia and the USA. Formerly a school principal in Victoria, Australia, she has 22 years of K--9 classroom teaching experience. Michael Fullan is professor emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and is special adviser on education to Dalton McGuinty, the premier of Ontario. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and from Nipissing University in Canada. Fullan served as dean of the faculty of education at the University of Toronto from 1988 to 2003, leading two major organizational transformations, including a merger of two large schools of education. He is currently working as adviser and consultant on several major education reform initiatives around the world. He bases his work on research and practice on both the public and private sectors, finding an increasing convergence in this literature. He has written several bestsellers on leadership and change that have been translated into several languages.