Strategic Inquiry

Strategic Inquiry is an innovative model for promoting teacher collaboration around identifying specific "learning gaps" that keep struggling students from succeeding. Gaps may include anything from the proper use of commas and conjunctions to concepts such as "slope" in math. The authors argue that addressing these critical learning gaps can lead to big changes in student success, in teachers' sense of efficacy, and in school culture. As Common Core standards raise the bar for student learning ever higher, this proven approach promises to build teachers' capacity for closing the gap between where struggling students are and where they need to be. "Strategic Inquiry is a wonderful book that combines specific change processes with school and system improvement and ends up giving a clear picture of how change can be customized and accomplished. Rarely do we see such instructional precision in high school reform." -- From the foreword by Michael Fullan, OISE/University of Toronto "Practitioners and scholars alike have been waiting a long time for this excellent book. Not only do the authors provide teachers with practical tools to help struggling students, they show how building the capacity to close learning gaps transforms school culture from the bottom up. This book should be read by anyone interested in the deep work of supporting student success at scale." -- Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University "Strategic Inquiry documents New York City schools' success in raising student achievement by focusing on shifting teacher practice, distributing school leadership, and aligning systems. As with students, all teachers can learn, and teachers working in teams are empowered to lead change in their schools. The lessons learned through the real-world examples that fill this insightful book are valuable for districts across the country." -- Shael Polakow-Suransky, chief academic officer and senior deputy chancellor, New York City Department of Education Nell Scharff Panero is the director of the Center for Educational Leadership at Baruch College. Joan E. Talbert is a senior research scholar and codirector of the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching at Stanford University's School of Education.