Planning for Increased Achievement under NCLB: Schoolwide Reform Strategies and Resources

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Planning for Increased Achievement under NCLB
Schoolwide Reform Strategies and Resources

• The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and
  Improvement

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Background

• ESEA, Title I, 1111 requires that all state
  education agencies (SEAs) have a plan to address
  the requirements of the law, including a state
  system of support for districts and schools
  identified for improvement.
• ESEA, Title I, 1112 requires that all local
  education agencies (LEAs) submit a plan that
  addresses the requirements of the law, including
  the actions the LEA will take to assist its
  low-achieving schools identified as being in need
  of improvement. LEAs also must revise these plans
  and take further steps with schools that enter
  corrective action or restructuring.
• ESEA, Title I, 1116 requires that all schools
  identified as being in need of improvement submit
  a plan to address the specific academic issues
  that must be improved. The LEA must provide
  technical assistance to each school in need of
  improvement.

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Background

• NCLB requires proficiency in reading and
  mathematics for all students by 2013-14.
• State education agencies (SEAs) establish
  Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks that
  must be attained to reach the 2013-14
  requirement.
• Schools that do not make AYP for five consecutive
  years must engage in restructuring.

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Background

• As of 200304, approximately 5,600 schools were
  identified as in need of improvement. Two thirds
  of them were in large, urban districts.

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What is The Center?

• Based in DC, we are federally funded
• We were connected with the federal CSR program
• We are neutral
• All materials and activities are research-based
• All supports are provided at no-cost
• Learning Point Associates (LPA), based in
  Naperville, IL, is our host organization

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Who is eligible to work with The Center?

• Our first priority is schools and districts that
  are not making Adequate Yearly Progress
• We do offer supports to other schools/districts
  but those supports are less intensive in nature
• States are also welcome to seek Center support
  with improvement efforts
• University faculty and parents also utilize The
  Center

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Our Mission

• The Centers mission is to help
• schools organize, plan, implement,
• and sustain improvement.

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Our Products and Services

• Our Ask-the-Expert service
• Our research-based materials
• Our on-the-ground technical assistance

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Ask-the-Expert

• From LA Im looking forresearch or dataon (1)
  the number of and (2) the success rates related
  to school performance/improvement of charter
  schools that are run by local organizations/person
  s compared to charter school that are operated by
  national organizations (Edison schools, KIPP,
  etc.).

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Ask-the-Expert

• From CA Do you have specific studies about STEM
  schools?
• From PA Were searching for a comprehensive
  middle school reading program that is flexible
  enough to use with all levels. Of course it must
  be researched based. I'm not finding any out
  there. Do you know of any?

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Our materials

• Newsletters
• Issue Briefs
• Research Briefs
• Policy Briefs
• Podcasts
• Webcasts and DVDs of those webcasts

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Our newsletters

• Very practitioner-friendly
• About 1500 words
• Useful for a school-based professional
  development session, PLC-based conversation, or

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A few newsletters topics

• Getting to "Got It! Helping Mathematics Students
  Reach Deep Understanding
• Serving Recent Immigrant Students Through
  School-Community Partnerships
• Maximizing the Impact of Teacher Collaboration
• Using Positive Student Engagement to Increase
  Student Achievement

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The Centers algebra webcast
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The Centers webcast on algebra
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The Centers webcast

• Yes, I found the webcast usefulMany of the
  topics that you hit are areas which have been big
  discussion topics in my workshopsThis was good
  because it reinforces what I am working on in
  northern MichiganThank you again for the time
  you put into the webcast. It allows access to
  quality discussions for people like me that are
  somewhat isolated.
• Teacher, Michigan

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Technical assistance examples

• Supporting an urban school district in corrective
  action with a group of schools in restructuring
• Supporting a school system that is struggling to
  appropriately serve Native American Students
• Supporting several school districts whose
  demographics have changed leading to an increased
  number of culturally or linguistically diverse
  students
• Supporting turn-around leaders who have assumed
  the leadership of struggling schools

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Technical assistance examples

• Presentations at district-level and state-level
  meetings, national and state-level conferences,
  etc.
• The Centers self-administered school review tool

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School Review Process
The process helped the school staff all come
together to make an effective school. Principal,
Gary Indiana
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What is the School Review Process?

• A research-based guide for school improvement
• An easy-to-follow, systematic process for schools
  to collect and analyze data and plan for school
  improvement without having to employ consultants

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Based on six research-supported quality
indicators for successful schools

• Strong curriculum
• Effective instructional practices
• Effective use of student performance data
• Positive school culture focused on achievement
• Effective school leadership
• Parental involvement

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Quality Indicator I Aligned and Rigorous
Curriculum

• The curriculum is aligned with state standards.
• Bruner, D. Y., Greenlee, B. J. (2002). Bring
  standards from the state house to the
  schoolhouse. Principal, 81(3), 23-25.
• Billig, Shelley H. (2005) Closing the Achievement
  Gap Lessons from successful schools. Washington,
  DC. U.S. Department of Education
• A process is in place for monitoring, evaluating,
  and reviewing the curriculum.
• Roach, A. T., Niebling, B. C., Kurz, A. (2008).
  Evaluating the alignment among curriculum,
  instruction, and assessments Implications and
  applications for research and practice.
  Psychology in the Schools, 45(2), 158-176.

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But before we continue

• Does the school reform world need another school
  review tool or school review process?

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Whats included?

• Divided into four parts
• Part I is step by step instructions
• Convene a leadership team
• Develop a mission and vision
• Plan the school improvement process

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More on whats included

• Part II contains templates and surveys for
  collecting data
• An Excel-based matrix for collecting and
  analyzing achievement data
• Instructions and tools for gathering and using
  program data, such as curriculum evaluations,
  school climate data, and instructional data
• Surveys for gathering perception data from school
  and community stakeholders

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More on whats included

• Part III is a simple form for analyzing and
  interpreting data
• A grid for interpreting program data based on the
  research-based quality indicators
• Simple analytical methods of compiling the
  perception data surveys
• Simple, non-evaluative framework for observing
  classroom instruction

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And lastly

• Part IV is step by step process for planning for
  implementation
• A guide for conducting small group and large
  group data interpretation sessions
• Ways to include all stakeholders in the planning
  process
• List of components for a strong implementation
  plan
• Sample school improvement plan template

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More about this guide

• Use all or some of it combine it with what
  youre doing already
• Tell us what works and does not work
• Volunteers for field-testing?
• Call us if you need assistance

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And its free

• The School Review Process Guide is for
  distribution to schools at no cost
• Ready this fall, in electronic format and hard
  copy

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Any questions or comments?
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at Learning Point Associates
E-Mail Stephanie Wood-Garnett_at_learningpt.org 11
00 17th St NW, Suite 500 Washington, D.C.
20036 202-223-6725 General Information
877-277-2744
www.centerforcsri.org