School Improvement
We are very fortunate to live in a state that provides so many resources to support schools and districts in a variety of school improvement initiatives. However as the graphic to the right illustrates, those supports are coming from a variety of agencies and each initiative is tied to a mandated process and requirements. It is feasible that one individual school building would have multiple action plans created by multiple teams within the building. This can fracture already taxed systems.... How do you use a single staff development day? Which initiatives are the priority? Which materials should we purchase? etc...
We may not be able to change the requirements, but we can change how we approach the requirements. Instead of seeing each mandate as a separate event, we could choose to align all efforts. For example:
We may not be able to change the requirements, but we can change how we approach the requirements. Instead of seeing each mandate as a separate event, we could choose to align all efforts. For example:
- One school improvement team with cross representation from the faculty including special ed, regular ed, and related service providers.
- One team with work with all support providers e.g. DEs, LRE, DSL, IU personnel etc...
- Have one action plan…. Use other documents as needs assessments, but represent an integration of needs in a single action plan that is implemented and monitored. This could include overall building goals, school improvement plans, LRE action plan, DE action plans etc.....
Comments
And that brings us to leadership — the bridge that can bring together all the required elements of school reform into a coherent whole." It is exciting to work with teams in our schools consisting of administrative leaders and teacher leaders. They will make a difference. We need to keep delivering the message that they must build bridges between all the different reform resources to truly impact student learning. (http://www.wallacefoundation.org/)