Re-energizing Schoolwide
Programs
Effective Schools
Particular factors that are present or associated
with effective schools are consistent across
research and years of study.
Anything less than
excellence by
all students is not
acceptable!
“P eop le w ill ride the fence until they find
w here the gates are.”
People will ride the fence until
E . T ong
they find where the gates are. E.
Tong
Factors Associated with Effective Schools
• Clearly stated goals/objectives
• High expectations for all students
• Strong leadership with vision and expertise
• Emphasis on academics
• Systems for monitoring and assessment
• Maximized active learning time
• Variety of instructional methods/groupings
• Safe/orderly school climate
• High levels of parental involvement
Ron Edmonds
Reinventing Chapter I
Students in high-poverty schools were held
to lower expectations than were students in
low-poverty schools. When measured on a
common test an “A” student in a high
poverty school would be about a “C”
student in a low-poverty school.
U.S. Department of Education, 1993
The focus of schoolwide
reform efforts is on the
identification of effective,
proven, and
research-based practices.
Special Strategies for Educating
Disadvantaged Children
This study reported that:
• At-risk children are capable of
achieving to high standards.
• Targeting early grades and utilizing
externally developed, whole school
restructuring designs can lead to high
achievement.
U.S. Department of Education
SPECIAL STRATEGIES STUDIES FOR
EDUCATING DISADVANTAGED
CHILDREN:
• Where:
– Technical assistance and staff development
were continuous and
– Targeted to specific issues and problems
• Where:
– The curriculum was demanding
Special Strategies for Educating
Disadvantaged Children
Student achievement was positive where:
• Faculty and administration considered diverse
options and chose a program matched to local
needs.
• Principals are central administrators
who sustained a focus on full
implementation with intelligent local
adaptation.
Special Strategies for Educating
Disadvantaged Children
• Special strategies can succeed if they are
implemented well.
Early Implementation of the
Comprehensive School Reform
Demonstration Program
States and districts must focus and collaborate on:
• Using data for school improvement,
• Assessing and aligning reform models,
• Cultivating strong and stable leadership, and
• Clarify roles of external technical assistance
providers in the school reform process.
U.S. Department of Education, 2000
School is in Session
Please Plan Carefully
A reform program by any other
name would be as sweet.
• Components of • Components and
Comprehensive Elements of a
School Reform Schoolwide
Program Program
– Comprehensive – Comprehensive needs
design with assessment of the
entire school.
aligned
components
Components of Comprehensive School
Reform Program and Components and
Elements of a Schoolwide Program
• Components of Comprehensive • Components and Elements of a
School Reform Program Schoolwide Program
– School reform designs are based on effective
– Effective, research-based means of improving achievement using
methods and strategies effective instructional strategies, etc.
– Strategies to increase parental involvement
– Professional Development such as family literacy
–
– Parental and community Professional development to help students
meet high standards
Involvement – State standards, assessments, and
accountability including adequate yearly
– Measurable goals and progress and school profiles
benchmarks – Support from a State System of Support teams,
LEA, and other technical assistance providers
– External technical support and – State standards, assessment, and accountability
assistance as required by Title I is used for schoolwide
programs
– Evaluation strategies – Schoolwide programs combine almost all
– Coordination of resources Federal education $$$ along with state and
local resources
– Support within the school – A schoolwide plan must be developed with the
involvement of the community, teachers,
principals and other staff.
A reform program by any other
name would be as sweet.
• Components and Elements of a Schoolwide Plan
– Instruction by highly qualified staff
– Transition of preschool children to school
– Measures to include teachers in decisions regarding
assessment
– Activities to ensure students not mastering state
standards receive additional assistance
A required component of a
schoolwide program is to provide
“activities to ensure hat students who experience
difficulty mastering state standards shall be
provided with timely, effective additional
assistance.”
Title I, Part A, 1114(b)(1)(H)
A reform program by any other
name would be as sweet.
• Title I Program
• Comprehensive School Reform
Demonstration Project
• Reading Excellence Program
• 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Program
Accountability
Title I requires states to develop standards
and assessments that will challenge students
served by Title I to perform to higher levels.
Research suggests that high standards, when
coupled with valid and reliable assessment
and aligned support, can exert a powerful
influence over what children are taught and
how much they learn.
Accountability
The inclusion of all children in
appropriate assessments is intended to
hold school systems accountable for
all children, whether or not they have
limited-English-proficiency or
disabilities.
Accountability
State Education Agencies are required to
identify schools in need of improvement
and take corrective actions for continuously
low performing schools and districts whose
students fail to make adequate progress
toward meeting challenging State standards.
Wake Up Call
• “We can whenever and wherever we
choose, successfully teach all children
whose schooling
is of interest to us. We already
know more than we need to do that.
Whether or not we do it must finally depend
on how we feel about the fact that we
haven’t so far.”
Ron Edmonds