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School Improvement Plans
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Articles on Assessing SIP's
Coherent school improvement: Integrating outcomes-based assessment and trauma-informed practice.
This literature review tests a framework for coherent implementation of school improvement initiatives. Often in education, initiatives are introduced as disparate, isolated approaches towards improved student learning. As a result, teachers, school-based administration and school districts frequently change their focus, contributing to fragmentation, stagnation and initiative fatigue. Robinson et al. offer 'five domains of organizational activity' as key areas of focus for coherent school improvement. We investigate application of Robinson et al.'s five domains to two seemingly disparate school improvement initiatives: outcomes-based assessment (OBA) and trauma-informed practice (TIP) as both represent significant areas of focus in our context. We construct our literature review around the central question: Can two divergent aspects of school improvement: outcomes-based assessment and trauma-informed practice, be aligned through Robinson et al.'s five domains, to coherently support their integration in schools? We found that Robinson et al.'s five domains were a useful tool for alignment of these initiatives and were able to extrapolate beyond application to OBA and TIP, to other school improvement initiatives. Coherence benefits administration, teachers, and most importantly, promotes student achievement. When all elements of school improvement are part of a cohesive whole, all members the school community are better able to understand their role in driving student achievement.
How aspiring principals applied course-based learning to develop school improvement plans.
Purpose: School improvement planning and implementation is one organizational process by which principals may positively impact school and student outcomes. Limited research, however, has explored how principal preparation programs prepare aspiring leaders for this common school leadership activity. This study examined aspiring principals engaged in the school improvement process by evaluating what they included in their school improvement plans (SIPs) that were developed as part of their field experience. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examined SIPs aspiring principals collaboratively developed as part of their field experience. Using an abductive analysis method, combining both deductive and inductive coding methods, authors examined 77 SIPs in which aspiring principals used school level data in planning. Findings: Each aspiring principal's SIP was contextually specific. No two plans were identical relative to who was targeted for improvement and how the plan was to be implemented, indicating aspiring principals can apply course-based learning and implement important data-driven decision-making skills in field-based school improvement projects. Research limitations/implications: Findings are exploratory and limited to SIPs developed by aspiring principals in one university program in one large urban school district context. The findings that specific requirements and program structures affected the aspiring principal's school improvement planning process as did the overall school context adds to current understandings of how course-based learning is applied. However, further investigations are needed. Practical implications: Findings provide evidence of how school leadership preparation programs may impact leadership development relative to skills associated with school improvement planning. The findings also suggest the importance of detailed analysis of aspiring principals school improvement planning as a program evaluation process. Originality/value: This study was the first to document the content of aspiring principals' field-based SIPS and how skills in data-driven decision-making were applied in a SIP field-based activity.
The Design of School Improvement in Schools on Probation: A Comparative Content Analysis of School Improvement Plans in Three Accountability Systems.
Accountability systems target effective school management among other key aspects of the school-improvement process that impact teacher performance. In treating this aspect of accountability, it asks, "What do school improvement plans reveal about schools' responses to accountability and probation?" The school-improvement plan (SIP)--usually required to codify a school's envisioned improvement design-- is a common feature among accountability systems in Maryland, Kentucky, and the city of San Francisco. This comparative analysis links specific patterns of schools' plans to specific design features of the accountability system. All three systems bring performance accountability to schools via external imposition but differ in the way they use different performance indicators, selection criteria for probation, and capacity building measures. The report also explores whether differences in the accountability systems (the presence or absence of specific design features) can be associated with differential patterns in school-improvement plans.
Soliciting, vetting, monitoring, and evaluating: A study of state education agencies' use of external providers for school improvement efforts.
Recent United States (U.S.) educational policies—especially the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015—have challenged state education agencies (SEAs) to take greater responsibility for and leadership over improving underperforming schools. SEA capacity to accomplish this charge varies, so many SEAs contract with third-party, external providers in the school improvement industry. Yet, little systematic consideration has been given to the processes that SEAs use to work with appropriate, high-quality external providers. In this study, a substantial dataset consisting of publicly-available documents and survey responses permitted the analysis of how 51 SEAs solicited, vetted, monitored, and evaluated external providers that offered school improvement services. Results, which highlight how various U.S. states are responding to a seemingly ever-changing U.S. educational policy context, suggested more SEAs solicited and vetted, but approaches and procedures often differed. Far fewer SEAs, however, monitored and evaluated external providers. The paper closes with a discussion of each stage of the SEA external provider procurement process along with recommendations for future research on the school improvement industry.
Articles on Developing SIP's
(In)effective leadership? Exploring the interplay of challenges, goals and measures in the context of school improvement.
Purpose: This study aims to explore the extent to which schools principals serving disadvantaged communities in Germany are able to set appropriate goals and choose suitable measures for improving their schools according to the specific challenges they face. The authors determine whether principals are able to identify their schools' challenges or whether they merely follow "universal recipes" of the school effectiveness research paradigm regardless of their particular school context. This effectiveness-driven accountability approach requires an in-depth evaluation of the school and its stakeholders and might lead to a new attitude toward failure that sees it as an essential part of developing effective school improvement plans. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted descriptive and correlative analyses as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using longitudinal data of 164 school principals. Through cross-sectional analyses, the authors investigated the connection among challenges, goals and measures and how they correlated with (self-reported) improvements. Findings: From a leadership perspective, priorities for school improvement should be aligned with the school-specific challenges they identify and the goals they set to address them. Research limitations/implications: The extent to which legislation concerning individual school quality development programs can translate into feasible and effective actions is unclear. Caution should be taken when interpreting the findings of this study, as they reflect school principals' self-selected evaluation measures and therefore might be biased. Practical implications: In future research, emphasis should be placed on school management processes, in particular, the development of strategic decision-making, structuring of target perspectives and derivation of steps in school improvement and instructional development. The authors recommend the government offer school principals appropriate and adequate training and support services to prevent them from overburdening their staff. Originality/value: This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of processes concerning strategic leadership, as opposed to operative management, of schools by revealing context-sensitive considerations.
Planning for what? An analysis of root cause quality and content in school improvement plans.
Purpose: Limited research on root cause analysis exists in educational leadership. Accurately diagnosing and detailing root causes—the why—of organizational failure, as is relatively common in other fields, could improve principals' ability to devise situationally- and contextually-responsive solutions in their improvement plans. In this study, the authors analyze school improvement plans to provide insight into how principals use root cause analysis to identify their and their school's failures as a way to respond strategically with goals and action steps. Design/methodology/approach: In this exploratory qualitative study, the authors develop coding schemes and leverage an existing rubric of school improvement plan quality to assess what principals identify as root causes for 216 priorities across 111 school improvement plans. Findings: The overall quality of root causes submitted by principals was low, typically between "beginning" and "developing" stages. The majority of root causes aligned with priorities and desired outcomes, but fewer than one-third had a systems focus. Moreover, less than half of root causes suggested that school leaders played a part in the organizational failures. The vast majority of plans instead identified teachers as the root cause, foundational fault or "why" of the problem. Originality/value: An increased understanding of root cause analysis conceptualization and development seems necessary if improvement planning is to be a strategic response to a school's most serious organizational challenges. The predominant approach to school improvement planning has focused almost exclusively on how to succeed or become better with little investment in identifying root causes of organizational decline or failure. This initial study of root cause quality in school improvement planning is a key first step in critically thinking about how improvement is to be achieved when failure is unconceived.
How aspiring principals applied course-based learning to develop school improvement plans.
Purpose: School improvement planning and implementation is one organizational process by which principals may positively impact school and student outcomes. Limited research, however, has explored how principal preparation programs prepare aspiring leaders for this common school leadership activity. This study examined aspiring principals engaged in the school improvement process by evaluating what they included in their school improvement plans (SIPs) that were developed as part of their field experience. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examined SIPs aspiring principals collaboratively developed as part of their field experience. Using an abductive analysis method, combining both deductive and inductive coding methods, authors examined 77 SIPs in which aspiring principals used school level data in planning. Findings: Each aspiring principal's SIP was contextually specific. No two plans were identical relative to who was targeted for improvement and how the plan was to be implemented, indicating aspiring principals can apply course-based learning and implement important data-driven decision-making skills in field-based school improvement projects. Research limitations/implications: Findings are exploratory and limited to SIPs developed by aspiring principals in one university program in one large urban school district context. The findings that specific requirements and program structures affected the aspiring principal's school improvement planning process as did the overall school context adds to current understandings of how course-based learning is applied. However, further investigations are needed. Practical implications: Findings provide evidence of how school leadership preparation programs may impact leadership development relative to skills associated with school improvement planning. The findings also suggest the importance of detailed analysis of aspiring principals school improvement planning as a program evaluation process. Originality/value: This study was the first to document the content of aspiring principals' field-based SIPS and how skills in data-driven decision-making were applied in a SIP field-based activity.
Articles within the last 5 years!
The Best-Laid Plans Can Succeed.
The article discusses tips for effective school improvement planning that need to be acknowledged by school principals. Topics explored include the implementation of regulatory changes that would contribute to student achievement, the assessment of short-cycle plan quality, objectives, and execution, and the collaboration between principals and teachers in the planning process.
ROLE CALL: Increasing Family Engagement: One School’s Story.
he article focuses on family engagement is one of the strongest predictors of children's school success, according to 40 years of steadily accumulating evidence. Topics include the Ogden High School (OHS) administrators and the college and career readiness coordinator saw a clear need to address engagement, and the family and community participation in back-to-school activities, parent teacher conferences, and other events was low.
Exploring School Leaders Communities of Practice and School Improvement.
This case study describes a pilot professional development project in which school leaders met regularly in a community of practice to clarify each other's identification of a problem of practice followed by development and implementation of a school improvement plan. Findings indicated positive perceptions of and engagement in the community of practice, revealing this process provided a platform for authentic feedback, reflective practice, and means to share ideas. Participants reported improved leadership behaviors associated with school improvement planning and implementation.
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