Changing for Good: Sustaining School Improvement
Contents:
Melissa Evans-Andris is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Louisville, Kentucky.
- Der Zauber der ersten Seite: Roman (German Edition).
- Messi. La grandeza de un pequeño (Colección Perfiles Pop) (Spanish Edition).
- POLICY PAPERS.
Her interests include the sociology of education, work and occupations, and qualitative research methodologies particularly as they relate to schools and teaching. Her research focuses on school reform, sustainability of school improvement, and teacher quality.
She authored a book in entitled An Apple for the Teacher: Computers and Work in Elementary Schools. She is active in local and statewide discussion forums related to improvement in Kentucky schools.
Sustaining school improvement: ten primary schools' journeys
She received her PhD in sociology at Indiana University in Subscribe to our Newsletter! Scan for your mobile. Corwin Press Year Publish: Bold leadership, sustained over time — and the coaching trees that help to ensure sustained leadership — matter. Leveraging Curriculum to Improve Student Learning.
A relatively nascent but powerful body of research suggests that content-rich, standards-aligned, and high-quality curricula exert a powerful influence on student achievement. There is also early evidence that switching to a high-quality curriculum may be a more cost-effective way to raise student achievement than several other school-level interventions. School systems throughout the country are working to establish avenues for teacher leadership, but often lack powerful models to guide action.
This policy brief from Chiefs for Change offers a view into some of the most promising efforts, and perspectives on how others can learn from those models.
It also lays out a five-stage continuum for meaningful teacher leader engagement. But what does it look like to use that freedom in the most strategic and effective ways?
State Chiefs are developing bold strategies to take advantage of the additional flexibility to use federal funding in more innovative and evidence-based ways. Leveraging this flexibility can be a powerful tool for leaders to meaningfully influence the work of schools and outcomes for students. The Every Student Succeeds Act ESSA includes a provision championed by Chiefs for Change that will address the access gaps that exist in far too many of our highest need schools and provide students and families with meaningful instructional choices to support their learning.
Changing for Good: Sustaining School Improvement, Nov/
When Congress passed ESSA in , it created a requirement that states report per-pupil spending levels at both the district and individual school levels, disaggregating federal, state, and local funds, as well as personnel and non-personnel expenditures. In the coming months of , states have an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and a commitment to equity and excellence by not just complying with the requirement, but by designing and implementing a methodology that will allow districts to use data to make strategic and smart decisions for the equitable distribution of resources.
Indicators of School Quality and Student Success. Before considering new indicators, states will want to critically examine the quality and validity of all the existing indicators in their systems, particularly with regard to any performance targets in their annual growth indicators and so as to ensure that these are consistent with their ESSA-required state-wide interim and longterm academic achievement targets. The Title II program under ESSA continues to focus on raising student achievement by improving the quality of teachers, principals, and other school leaders, and affords significant flexibility for states and districts to carry out a wide variety of activities, consistent with their specific needs.
This brief provides specific pathways for states and districts to develop and implement programming in a strategic and collaborative manner in order to better prepare, develop, recruit, retain, and ensure equitable access to our strongest educators.
Changing for Good: Sustaining School Improvement, Nov/2009
ESSA incentivizes states to use evidence-based programs and interventions in districts and schools. Doing so will lead to stronger student outcomes at reasonable cost; not doing so throws dollars after uncertain or even negative outcomes for students and schools. We clarify what ESSA requires in terms of the use of evidence-based policies, what each standard of evidence means, and how state Chiefs might create a climate in which research-based policies become the default choice for district interventions. Under ESSA, states have far greater flexibility to approach school improvement in fundamentally stronger ways, shifting decision-making from the federal government to SEAs and local education agencies LEAs.
Investing in Sustained School-Systems Leadership
This paper provides guidance for SEAs committed to advancing this newfound local flexibility and innovation, while also incentivizing LEAs to identify and implement evidence-based school improvement strategies and holding them accountable for results. These services encompass a wide range of individualized academic opportunities and build upon efforts several states have taken in recent years to expand parental choice options as a way to improve student academic achievement.
While nearly all funds designated for DSS must be awarded to districts, states have the opportunity to play a large role in creating a broader vision for how these resources can help leverage efforts of districts to increase school success and improve student outcomes — bringing value to teachers, families, students, and taxpayers.