Quality School Reform step1.html

WHAT IS THE VISION? What is it you would like to see your students be able to do? Sit down and shut up Create professional and/or exemplary products

Four Basic Steps for Decision Making Laying the groundwork. Evaluating your current situation. Profiling an ideal approach. Deciding on a model.

STEPS 1.Laying the Groundwork. You decide who will be involved in the process, what kind of outside help you need, and what sort of timeline to set. 2.Evaluating Your Current Situation. Your school takes a look at where you stand in three categories: your students' learning and accomplishments, your current school program, and the support for school improvement in your external environment. 3.Profiling. You create a profile of an ideal comprehensive school reform approach for your school. 4.Deciding. Based on your profile, you conduct research on a variety of comprehensive school reform models and make a decision about what to pursue.

(1)ESTABLISH GOALS Focus your data collection efforts on the information that is most relevant and important to your goals. In the Quality School Reform Model, goals describe what it is you want students to know, think, believe, value, achieve, or be able to do.

GOALS SHOULD BE: Meaningful Realistic Complementary Given Clear Priorities Agreed to by all Stakeholders Measureable Adapted from Steiner and Hauser 1992

(2) IDENTIFY RELATED OUTCOMES, PRACTICES, AND INPUTS By identifying specific outcomes and related practices and inputs, you will establish a sound performance indicator system that provides a rich source of information for monitoring your school's performance and diagnosing why you are or are not making progress.

A MODEL of the SCHOOLING PROCESS SCHOOL PRACTICES STUDENT OUTCOMES SCHOOL INPUTS

(3)DETERMINE DATA SOURCES & INDICATORS At Your Fingertips emphasizes using existing data where possible and developing valid, reliable, and fair indicators. The model helps school personnel identify corresponding performance indicators and priority data sources for the outcomes, practices, and inputs developed in Step 2.Step 2

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS SHOULD….. BE VALID BE RELIABLE – Grades should reflect benchmarks…benchmarks should reflect TAKS & TEKS…grades should not predict success when success is not possible. BE FAIR AVOID CREATING UNINTENDED INCENTIVES

(4) EXAMINE THE DATA Once the data are in hand, it's time to interpret the information. Know simple guidelines and techniques for reading data, avoiding pitfalls, and choosing methods for presenting your findings.

EXAMPLE Pioneer High School Average Daily Attendance DayRate Monday95% Tuesday97% Wednesday94% Thursday92% Friday82%

(5) SET PERFORMANCE TARGETS Setting targets involves deciding how satisfied you are with your current performance, specifying the specific and measurable levels of performance you want to achieve, and then devising strategies to achieve them. Step 5 explains how to seek input from multiple sources for setting these performance targets.

(6) MONITOR PERFORMANCE OVER TIME The final step in the model helps users establish a system for collecting data on an ongoing basis, interpreting trends in performance, and continuing improvement efforts.

EXAMPLES What are ways you collect data on an ongoing basis? How does data affect your decision making in your classroom? What evidence do you have that data has changed teaching practices? What evidence do you have that the changes were effective?

REMEMBER Replace hunches and hypotheses with facts Identify the root causes of problems Measure progress towards continuous school improvement Effectively gather and USE data to make decision.

WHAT YOU MUST HAVE CLEAR VISION of what school improvement looks like, sounds like, and acts like. OVERWHELMING DESIRE (heart-felt) for EFFECTIVE CHANGE, GROWTH, and HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR all Students and all Faculty Members MATURE SENSE OF PROFESSIONALISM that is demonstrated in every day decisions.

WHAT YOU MUST COORDINATE Strategies That Improve Academic Achievement: "Has been found to significantly improve the academic achievement of students or demonstrates strong evidence that it will improve the academic achievement of students." Proven Methods and Strategies Based on Scientifically Based Research: "Employs proven methods and strategies based on scientifically based research." Coordinating: Curriculum Instruction Assessment Governance and management

WHAT YOU MUST DO Participate in Professional Development: "Provides ongoing, high-level skills, evaluation skills, and analytical skills. Enlist Parent and Community Involvement: "Provide for meaningful parent and community involvement in planning, implementing, and evaluating school improvement activities."

WHAT MUST BE AVAILABLE Coordination of Resources: "Identify resources to support and sustain the school's comprehensive reform effort." Evaluation Strategies: "Plan for the evaluation of strategies for the implementation of school reforms and for student results achieved, annually."