Factors That Inhibit the Implementation of High-Achieving Learning Environments

Changes in urban schools can be addressed on several fronts, and many different, overlapping efforts will need to be coordinated. Williams and Newcombe (1994, pp. 77-78) list several factors that may inhibit the implementation of high-achieving learning environments in urban schools:

1. Belief systems about culture, intelligence, and the abilities of urban learners and about the teacher's role in learning need to be addressed and changed.

2. Highly rigid and inflexible district, state, and federal guidelines should be relaxed or waived to encourage new approaches to teaching and learning.

3. Reforms should have a clear and coordinated focus - with multiple reforms, coordination can become fragmented.

4. Staff need sufficient time to learn about urban learners and participate in professional development activities to redesign curriculum and instruction and reshape teaching.

References