0. A New School Improvement Model
Jan Vesely, Ed.D, Vice President, School Achievement Services, Pearson
Walt Gibson, General Manager, School Achievement Services, Pearson

1. Building SIM – What the research says about school turnaround:
Turning a school around requires a comprehensive approach (MassInsight Turnaround Report, Calkins et al., 2007; Bryk et al.2010)
Turnaround requires an external Lead Partner who deeply embeds support within the school (MassInsight Report, Calkins et al., 2007)
One size does NOT fit all! – Strategies must be comprehensive, flexible, adaptable, and sustainable (Brookings Institute, 2002; Century, 2009; Center on Education Policy, 2009)
Turnaround requires dramatic academic and non academic change (MassInsight Turnaround Report, Calkins et al., 2007)
Fidelity of Implementation matters (Borman et al., 2003)
Districts must support the change with system-wide commitment, effective professional development, and a plan for sustainability. (Supovitz, 2007)

2. Pearson Schoolwide Improvement Model (SIM)
Comprehensive
Flexible
Evidence-based
Affordable
Sustainable
This slide has animation beginning with Standards…, then Leadership, then High achievement, followed by Data-driven culture, and finally the outer ring of Sustainability.
— concept of each half of the wheel being matched by its complementary half and the halves of the inner wheel providing the connective tissue. Then the outer ring is the foundation – less a set of tasks or actions than a way of supporting implementation that provides capacity building to support implementation.
Custom built for each grade span
Focus is on Tier 1 (our interventions are now optional additions) — this is not to suggest that interventions are not important. They are, but we understand that many schools have already invested in interventions.
The idea underpinning Response to Intervention (RTI) is that the vast majority of students should be able to be accommodated within the Tier 1 program; that is, the school’s core instructional program. If we are to take seriously the related idea of high standards for all students, then we need to focus on how to organize instruction and learning within the core program (Tier 1) so that it can meet the needs of a majority of students. When we do that, the numbers of students requiring Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions is likely to be reduced because more students’ learning needs are being met within the regular classroom.
The school may add the Navigator programs to its CIM implementation to provide support for students requiring Tier 2 intervention. Similarly, the school may add the Ramp-Up programs to its CIM implementation to support the needs of students who require Tier 3 implementation. Alternatively the school may continue to use existing Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions or select others as it chooses.
Regardless of the specific Tier 2 and Tier 3 programs in place, the CIM implementation process includes careful monitoring of all students’ progress and monitoring of the quality of the Tier 1 program and instruction with the goal of maximizing the effectiveness of “first” instruction and limiting the need for Tier 2 and tier 3 interventions to students whose learning needs are not met by high quality “first” instruction.
The watchwords for our model roll along the bottom:
Comprehensive — capacity to impact change across the school; not only in specific content areas, and in all aspects of the school’s culture and operations
Flexible — capable of flexing to meet schools’ individual needs
Evidence-based — continuing to rest on the foundations of research on the model (by CPRE and others) that show positive results for student achievement
Affordable — establishing a foundation model that can support comprehensive improvement and yet is within reach of schools during hard financial times
Sustainable — including specific, targeted supports to build schools’ capacity for sustained school improvement

3. SIMply results Prepare your students to be college and career ready
Help your students achieve the Common Core
Provide high quality instruction for all students
Reach every student, every subject, every year
Implement a data-driven approach
Provide academic support beyond the school day

4. In literacy, the Common Core State Standards:
Dramatically increase text complexity at every grade level – “The ability to read and comprehend complex text is the best predictor of college success.”
Emphasize informational text at ever-increasing levels across the grades
Require increasingly complex academic vocabulary
Are measured by students’ ability to reason and justify an argument
Will assess students’ literacy in both science and social studies
Are aligned to the expectations for entering college or the workforce without remediation

5. In math, the Common Core State Standards:
Are organized, K to 12, around key topics in mathematics
Emphasize focus and coherence
Focus on key topics at each grade level.
Define coherent progressions across grade levels.
Balance concepts and skills
Require both conceptual understanding and procedural fluency
Foster reasoning and sense-making in mathematics.
Are aligned to the expectations for entering college or the workforce without remediation

6. Schoolwide Improvement Model (SIM) Why will it work in Hawaii?
The Pearson Schoolwide Improvement Model:
Can stand on its own as an effective and comprehensive solution
Is custom-designed for each grade span
Can bring a schoolwide focus to disparate programs and initiatives
Can serve as a single school model — does not depend on a cohort
Does not depend on having coaches
Is repeatable so it can be researched
Is not dependent on on-site professional development
SIM may be flexed in two ways:
Through optional additions, such as math and literacy interventions
By varying the intensity of support for implementation

7. Component 1: Standards-Aligned Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment
Schoolwide Instructional Focus
Professional Development for all teachers
Emphasis on
Academic Language
Reasoning and Justification
Collaboration
Independent Learning
Content Area Concentrations
English language arts
Mathematics

8. Component 2: High Performance Leadership, Management, and Organization
Implementation Elements
Highly focused Leadership Team with distributed responsibilities
Leadership Team responsible for:
Driving implementation process, including workgroup facilitation; building tight linkages among settings
Assuring school organization and support for implementation goals
Systematic monitoring of implementation and adjusting plans and strategies to address improvement needs

9. Component 3: Data-Driven Culture
Implementation Elements
Ties Standards-Aligned Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment together with High Performance Leadership, Management, and Organization
Systematic development of foundations for establishing school as data-driven culture, linking leadership, departments, classrooms, counseling & guidance
Student achievement data
Non-academic student data
Schoolwide systems data
Classroom observation data

10. Component 4: High Achievement and Engagement
Implementation Elements
Ties Aligned Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment together with High Performance Leadership, Management, and Organization
Focus on:
Engaging community in supporting high expectations
Connecting classroom culture of engagement to school culture of high expectations and support for achievement
Instituting early warning system connected to tiered supports for students’ social and emotional development
Student Services staff (including deans, counselors, social workers) form High Achievement and Engagement Workgroup for maintain continuing focus

11. Component 5: Building Capacity for Sustainability
Implementation Elements
Coherent school-wide approach to curriculum, instruction and assessment
Development of instructional leadership and distributed leadership with tight linkages to Aligned Instruction
Systems development
Data-driven culture
Early warning system with guidance on connected tiered supports
Connected system of Professional Development and Technical Assistance with support from Learning Teams
Monitoring and feedback protocols and resources coupled with systematic processes for monitoring and adjusting plans
School drives implementation from the beginning with:
Scaffolded support provided by the design of the Model
On site technical assistance by Pearson Field Specialists

12. Pearson Schoolwide Improvement Model Deliverables for Hawaii
Experienced, Embedded Local Team
60 days of on-site leadership, literacy, and mathematics assistance from highly-qualified and certified Pearson field specialists
10 days of Common Core professional development focused on:
Tier 1 instructional practices (Schoolwide Instructional Focus)
Leadership training,
Learning Teams training, and
CCSS curriculum alignment
Ongoing implementation support from Pearson’s National College for professional development and research

13. Pearson Schoolwide Improvement Model Deliverables for Hawaii
Robust tools for teachers, students, and parents
Galileo K-12 Online Comprehensive Assessment
Teacher Compass and Principal Compass
Cloud based teacher and principal enlightenment tools delivered via web or iPad
Developed at Johns Hopkins University to collect and aggregate observation data, track schoolwide trends, and support self assessment and professional learning
Built in feedback systems, social collaboration platform, and extensive library of 3,000+ professional development videos
At-Risk/Drop-out Prevention online monitoring tool
SmartThinking 24/7 online tutoring for students
Optional Digital and print tools available for student interventions

14. Pearson Schoolwide Improvement Model Deliverables for Hawaii
A Solid Research-Based Model
Aligns curriculum, instruction, and assessment
Prepares teachers and students for transition to the common core
Provides an instructional focus emphasizing academic language and independent learner competencies
Promotes Tier 1 instruction in every classroom through
Systematic teacher development,
Skilled technical assistance, and
Coaching from embedded Pearson staff
Expands classroom engagement to a culture of high expectations
Incorporates Learning Teams to establish regular settings for process-driven instructional collaboration and a data-driven approach to improvement
Includes SIOP support for ELL’s and additional support for special education students

15. Headlines of the SIM
Quality first instruction for all
Schoolwide instructional focus on college & career readiness
Complementary focus on students’ social & emotional readiness
Practical strategies for aligning curriculum & instruction to standards & assessments
Tight linkages between development settings — leadership, departments, classrooms, counseling & guidance
Capacity building for sustainability from Day One
Job-embedded professional development with online support
Onsite support from certified Field Specialists as needed
Model can be flexed to meet school needs

16. Customer Engagement Process
Pre-Contract
Engagement
SIM Implementation
Qualification
Requirements Conference
Planning Conference
Launch Institute
Continuing Implementation
Sales GM
Field Designee
Field Specialist
Principal
Assoc. Principals Deans
& small group including the scheduler and counselor
Pearson General Manager, West
Assigned Project Manager
Content Area Field Specialists
National Training Staff
Principal. AP’s and Deans
School Leadership Team
Key Content Area leaders
School Support Staff
Pearson General Manager, West
Assigned Project Manager
Content Area Field Specialists
National Training Staff
Principal. AP’s and Deans
School Leadership Team
Key Content Area leaders
School Support Staff
Sales GM
Field Designee
Field Specialist
Principal
Assoc. Principals Deans
& small group including the scheduler and counselor
Sales GM
Field Designee
Sales GM
Field Designee
Sales
Sales

17. SIMply results. SIMply results.
Pearson’s Schoolwide Improvement Model (SIM)
is an innovative standards-based system
of comprehensive school improvement.
Forged in collaborative partnerships
with more than a thousand schools,
SIM represents the culmination of two decades worth
of verifiable third-party research, experience and…simply…results.
Flexible and affordable, SIM meets
the unique needs of any individual school or group of schools,
helping you help all students become college and career ready.
Through a data-driven, technology-supported, customizable process,
SIM helps you turn the complexities of school improvement
into sustainable results.
SIMply results.
SIMply results is our guarantee that we can help you build sustainable student and educator success.