Make General Senior High Schools Attractive
After the realization of standardized development， schools will head for individual characteristic development. The “Standardized development” is for schools to reach the government's standards and meet common needs of students for their general development， while the “individual characteristic development” is to promote the development of school features and meet students’ personalized needs for a diverse development.
The feature development of Senior high schools has been an important theme in the past 30 years of senior secondary education development. Especially in 2010， China unveiled the Outline of the National Medium and Long-term Plan for Education Reform and Development（2010—2020年）， in which the central government explicitly proposed the policy of “promoting the diverse development of general senior high schools” and “encouraging the characteristic development of general senior high schools”. Then， a top-level design of senior secondary education has been formed in the provincial and municipal medium and long-term plans for education reform and development， and a series of initiatives have been promulgated at the same time. It can be said that senior high school feature development is an important strategic layout of senior high school development in China. It aims at facilitating the diversification of cultivation modes at the senior secondary stage and meeting the development needs of different students， so that it can serve the need of diverse talents for the national political and economic development and the individualized needs of school development. However， both theoretical and practical issues have emerged， such as， how we understand the feature development of senior high schools； how we plan the senior high school feature development （for a region and a school）； how we evaluate/assess senior high school feature development， etc. These issues need our prompt practice-oriented theoretical research so as to lead the direction of senior high school feature development in a region and in a school and solve relevant concrete problems， provide diverse top-level designs and reference cases for regional senior high school feature development， and offer thinking patterns and tools for school principals to think about school feature development. As a result， we can improve the scientificity， feasibility and effectiveness of school feature development.
As for the understanding of senior high school feature development， this book makes an analysis from three aspects which are national policies， international policies and academic research， and understanding of the nature， in order to help readers understand the national and international policy background and research findings， connotations and extensions， and the thinking frameworks of senior high school feature development.
Chapter One， the Source of Senior High School Feature Development： National Drive and Regional Promotion （author： Chai Chunqing）， analyzes a series of policies driving the feature development of senior high schools in China. Based on an analysis of the policies relevant to senior high school characteristic development since 1985， the author summarizes several basic features： national policies is a main driver of senior high school characteristic development； regional education authorities play an important role； the values of senior high school feature development evolves from a national “need of talents” to the development need of “human beings”； absorbing more social forces is a basic work of the diverse development of senior high schools； “autonomy in running school” is always a core issue that constrains senior high school feature development； the improvement of research methods is very important for senior high school feature development. The chapter proposes several policy suggestions for improving senior high school feature development， that is， giving the “autonomy in running school” back to schools； encouraging schools to build mechanism and content for students to make choices； and designing the policies to help general senior high schools realize a true connotative development.
Chapter Two， the Nature of Senior High School Feature Development： Profound Understanding and Extended Analyses （author： Hu Rongkun）， first introduces relevant national policies and measures of England， America， Japan and Sweden and points out several common features， that is， an emphasis on the fundamental aim of student personalized development， a dominant role of the government， schools’ autonomy in operation and development， the participation of a third party， subject-based feature development. Then， the chapter takes the research into “specialist schools program” in England as an example to analyze main features of the research on school feature development in other countries. The main features include a focus on policy effects， specific research questions， empirical research orientated， and multiparty participation. On this basis， the chapter suggests that Chinese senior high school feature development be based on the development of students； the government set up a supportive policy system； empirical research be strengthened to support school feature development； school-based strategies be used in practice； and a cooperative partnership be encouraged to establish.
Chapter Three， the Nature of Senior High School Feature Development： Profound Understanding and Extended Analyses （author： Chen Li）， differentiates between the concept of school features and the concept of featured schools through analyzing common and particular features of the education and management in general senior high schools. The author points out that “the feature development of general senior high schools” is a process of planning， implementing and assessing “features of general senior high schools” and “featured general senior high schools”. Therefore， school principals have to fully understand its values， resources and the subject role students play in the process. At the same time， the author elaborates different types of senior high school feature development via systematics research and proposes six-dimensional thinking model of school feature development （i.e.， subject， type， structure， stage， pathway， procedure）， which provides a framework for principals to systematically think about school feature development.
For the planning of senior high school feature development， national policy promotion is a macro appeal； regional planning is a systematic design at a local level of administration， and school planning is a specific micro design based on a comprehension of national policies and regional planning and a deep understanding of the school's development basis and demards.
Chapter Four， the Design of Senior High School Feature Development： Regional Planning （author： Shi Yingde）， mainly points out the necessity， basic requirements and basic strategies of regional promotion of senior high school feature development. The purpose of promoting senior high school feature development in a region is to optimize the regional distribution of senior secondary education， expand quality education resources， and enhance the selectivity of senior secondary education， so that the overall quality of schooling can be improved and personalized needs of students can be met. Thus， in the development process， we should insist on scientificity， wholeness， systematicness， prospectiveness and appropriateness. Local governments and its education authorities should promote all senior high schools in the region to develop their features in a connotative way through scientific analysis， top-level design， system construction， multiparty participation and assessment guidance.
Chapter Five， the Methods of Senior High School Feature Development： Orientation and Implementation （author： He Yuping）， points out several common problems in feature orientation and argues that school features should be oriented according to the requirements of wholeness， prospectiveness， feasibility and stability， on the basis of analyzing the importance of feature orientation in senior high school feature development. In practice， schools need to make the decision via a thinking framework based on scientific investigations and analyses. In this connection， our team proposes a three-dimensional model of senior high school feature orientation， that is， schools comprehensively consider and choose reasonable and feasible school features and specify the development degree of the features from internal relative competitive advantages， external comparative competitive advantages， and development trends in future. Meanwhile， schools need to transform feature orientation to practical actions of school feature development. The chapter presents six operational strategies for implementing feature orientation. They are subliming to culture and values， internalizing in mechanism， embodying in curriculum， strengthening in classroom teaching， innovating in activity design， and materializing in environment building.
The feature development of senior high schools involves multiple subjects with different emphases on their roles. Chapter Six， the Subjects of Senior High School Feature Development： Roles and Shaping （author： Wang Xiaoling， Chen Li）， mainly explains the roles that principals， teachers and students respectively play in the feature development of senior high schools and how they play their roles from the perspective of principals and schools. Specifically speaking， the principal is a plan designer， a resources provider， a leading demonstrator， and an insister. Thus， principals should learn actively to improve their capabilities and soundly cope with the relationship between “realizing the ideal and considering the reality” to avoid replacing the feature development with personal favorites and collective wisdom with personal power. As a main force of senior high school feature development， teachers should recognize and spread the idea of school features and actively practice and innovate in the process of school feature development. Therefore， principals have to enhance teachers’ recognition and understanding of school feature development， advance their capability of implementing school feature development， and encourage them to innovate and exert their wisdom in the process. Students in senior high schools， who have already been capable of independent exploration， are the origin and embodiment of senior high school feature development， active participants of the feature design， and innovative practitioners of the feature development. Schools should respect students’ needs and let them fully exert their initiative and innovative spirit to build features which are favored by students and meet their needs.
Chapter Seven， the Effectiveness of Senior High School Feature Development： Evaluation and Improvement （author： Wang Hongjie）， analyzes five problems in the current evaluation of senior high school feature development based on relevant theories and practices. The problems are： for evaluation subjects， there is a lack of independent internal evaluation； for evaluation orientation， there is a lack of planning， systemization， and long-term effectiveness； for evaluation content， there is a lack of focus on realizing student cultivation goals in school feature development； for evaluation methods， there is a lack of attention to the degree to which schools have made efforts and made progress； for the use of evaluation results， there is a lack of transformation to policies and system and application and promotion， etc. With this understanding， the chapter probes into the connotation， values and key principles （i.e.， authenticity， systematicity， cooperativity， reactivity and reliability） of the evaluation on senior high school feature development， and constructs a set of reference standards for the evaluation （involving 26 indicators of 10 dimensions in 3 areas of the process， levels and achievements of senior high school feature development）. Considering the evaluation process of “Three stages and nine steps” （evaluation preparation： identify purposes， build the team， make a plan； evaluation implementation： communication and regulation， collect information， comments and grading； evaluation feedback： results analysis， results feedback， results application）， the author proposes six operational strategies to methodically and effectively conduct the evaluation on senior high school feature development （i.e.， development-oriented evaluation purposes， pluralistic evaluation subjects， diverse evaluation methods， profound evaluation reports， thorough application of results， and evaluation improvement based on meta-evaluation）， which aims to provide suggestions and references to school leaders， education administration and education supervision departments， and relevant professional organizations.
This book is one of the research achievements of “Auspicious Clouds Program”. The “Auspicious Clouds Program” is a project of implementing senior high school feature development in Beijing. The program targets all principals and vice principals at Beijing senior high schools. Staring from six years ago， the project team has made the program a platform of spreading Beijing senior secondary education policies， a platform of experience exchanging and problem solving， a platform of experience extracting and achievements disseminating， and a platform for principals’ professional development and school achievements exhibition. The program has become a well-known， branding project of the Capital basic education， which won the Second Prize of the Fourth Beijing Municipal Basic Education Teaching Achievement Award.
Under the leadership of Professor Chen Li from Beijing Institute of Education， the project team focuses on the professionalization of principal training and extracting the experience of senior high school feature development. The team has invested much time and effort on compiling research work of principals and published one book almost every year. Books published are Exploring All the Way， Singing All the Way-The Journey of Curriculum Reform With The Capital Senior High School Principals， Folloing the Dream-The Journey of Curriculum Reform With The Capital Senior High School Principals， We Are All Different， We Are All Good-The Journey of School Characteristics Construction With the Capital Senior High School Principals， Constructing Characteristics， Pursuing Quality-The Journey of School Characteristics Construction With the Capital Senior High School Principals， and Let Schools find their own ways to success-Characteristics construction in Beijing High Schools. The program has centered around the main theme of senior high school feature development. In order to better lead the training， the team has undertaken theoretical research based on practice. This book is one of the major achievements of the research， which also includes a lot of research outcomes of the principals participating the training.
This book is also one of periodical research achievements of the key discipline of School Management， which is one of 17 key disciplines set by the Beijing Institute of Education. Nowadays， everybody is busy day and night with their work and less attention has been paid to academic research. Thus， ensuring the quality of discipline development is a big challenge for leaders of the key disciplines. As the leader of School Management and the director of the “Auspicious Clouds Program”， I have made full use of the advantages of the two roles and integrated the research on school feature development into the discipline development of School Management as one research area， which has been highly recognized and supported by our institute leaders and relevant experts. The research team has organized group discussions over 20 times for more than one year. With collective wisdom， we have constructed the framework and theoretical arguments and formed logical analyses and supportive cases. The research procedure had gradually been clear and improved. In the process， the team members worked together， collaborated with each other， appreciated one another's thoughts and work， and developed close personal friendships. As the discipline leader， I had to spend lots of rest time such as weekends and holidays revising drafts over and over again. However， I feel really happy from the hard work. Thanks for the time we have spent together working hard and happily！
Although there are plenty of research findings about school feature development， this study has its own “features”. First， it focuses on the research into the feature development of general senior high schools. Second， it tries to investigate the planning and implementation of senior high school feature development at national， regional and school levels， in which the center is placed on the planning and implementation of feature development at the school level and the probe into the planning of school feature development at the national and regional levels is for a better understanding of the former. Third， it studies the issue from principals’ perspective and pays more attention to investigating and solving the problems concerning principals in the feature development of senior high schools. Therefore， this book neither is entangled with logical debates of conceptional and theoretical frameworks nor just makes a simple summary of the relevant experience. Of course， there must be some superficial arguments and inadequate cases because of the limit of our research. Thus， any comments and criticisms from other researchers and principals are high appreciated.
During the process of research， the project team has gained a lot of supports from different levels of leaders， experts and administrators， for which we feel really grateful. Our big thanks go to， namely， Mr.Luo Jie and Mr.Li Yi， commissioners of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education， Mr.Ma Ke， deputy director of the second office of Basic Education， Beijing Municipal Commission of Education， Professor Yuan Guilin from Beijing Normal University， Mr.Fang Zhongxiong， president of Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， Mr.Meng Fanhua， vice president of Capital Normal University， Mr.Ma Xianping， chairman of the Party Committee of Beijing Institute of Education， Mr.Li Fang， president of Beijing Institute of Education， Mr.Yang Zhicheng and Mr.Zhong Zurong， vice presidents of Beijing Institute of Education， Mr.Zhang Ruihai，director of the Educational Supervisor Office， Education Supervision and Education Quality Evaluation Center of Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， Ms. Liu Pengzhi， principal of the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China， Mr.Li Xigui， principal of Beijing National Day School， Mr.Wang Zheng， principal of the Affiliated High School of Peking University， Mr.Wu Shen， principal of Beijing Guangqumen High School， Mr.Bai Hongkuan， principal of Beijing Jingyuan School， Mr.Lu Yunquan， principal of high School Affiliated to Beijing Institute of Technology， Ms. Chen Aiyu， principal of Beijing No.171 High School， Mr.Wu Weidong， principal of Beijing No.161 High School， Mr.Wang Zhijiang， principal of Beijing Fengtai No.2 Middle School. Our thanks also go to Mr.Zhang Zhou， Vice Dean of the Faculty of International Language and Culture， Beijing Institute of Education， and Dr.Hu Rongkun from the Faculty of School Leadership Training and Research， Beijing Institute of Education， who collaboratively did the English translation of the Foreword and Contents of this book. Last but not least， we would like to show our sincere gratitude to Beijing Normal University Press.
Chen Li
Beijing Institute of Education
July， 2014