Chapter+10+-+Effective+School+Improvement

Data-Driven Decisions and School Leadership: Best Practices for School Improvement By Theodore J. Kowalski, Thomas J. Lasley, II, and James W. Mahoney

Chapter 10

Effective School Improvement (p219-238)

Chapter Outline

Chapter Focus:

Highly effective schools have similar characteristics. They:


 * Rely on data to diagnose problems and prescribe solutions.
 * Set challenging, realistic, and measurable goals.
 * Require periodic assessments.
 * Prescribe continuous evaluation that is both formative and summative.

This chapter:


 * Identifies basic characteristics of effective models and describes two paradigms possessing them.
 * Attention is given to seven components considered fundamental to effective school improvement.
 * Examines leadership in relation to school improvement.

Effective Paradigms

Basic Characteristics of Effective School Improvement Models In order to be effective school-improvement models must not be complex, esoteric, or lengthy. Instead, they should: • Be simple. • Be the result of three types of teacher activity. • Be rooted in the conviction that both technical and adaptive solutions are essential.

The PDCA Cycle (Good Place for an Activity) This acronym represents four essential stages that span diagnostics, innovative experimentation, evaluation, and eventually institutionalization

• PLAN-Diagnose problem and plan activities to eradicate problem. • DO-Implementation of planned activities on an experimental basis. • CHECK-Assess, evaluate, and monitor changes to determine if they are producing intended results. • ACT-If desired results are attained, implementation should take place on a larger scale.

Five School-Level Factors Model Marzano (2003) identified five school-level factors that can dramatically influence student achievement, they are: • A guaranteed and viable curriculum that is aligned with state standards. • Challenging goals and effective feedback that is timely, substantive and formative. • Parent and community involvement, allowing and encouraging participation in the day to day instructional activities and school governance. • Safe and orderly environment where rules, expectations and consequences are consistent. • Collegiality and professionalism involving both process and accountability.

Fundamental Components of School Improvement Models Effective school improvement models share the following seven components: • Results-Driven Goals that are clear, concise, measurable, and understandable (May be good place for example). • Data that is quantitative, qualitative, summative and formative and used to make decisions (Activity to test prior knowledge from chapter 8). • Data Systems that provide a process for entering data and accessing information (Activity to test prior knowledge from chapter 8). . • Instruction Connected to Learning, according to Newmann and Wehlage (1995) produce high performing schools that have professional learning communities, they focus on student work through assessment and they have altered instructional practices that produce better results. • Professional Development that, according to the National Staff Development Council should be results-driven, standards-based and job-embedded. • Organizational Learning in a community of collaboration that focuses of results and gives attention to whether children are learning. • Collaborative Teams that drive the school improvement process are, according to Little (1990) engaged in frequent, continuous, and increasingly concrete and precise talk about their practice.

Knowing versus Doing

Standing alone, understanding school-improvement models is insufficient to ensure authentic reform. A school must also have the capacity to change. School employees must have the knowledge and skills to apply a change model as intended, and they must have supplies, equipment, and time to ensure proper application.

School Improvement and Leadership

Vision, core values, and strategic plans provide a general framework but not a daily and continuous script. School improvement is a journey and not a road map. Educators, including classroom teachers, must continuously make decisions about the improvement voyage – a responsibility that is far more complex and risky than following a map. Accessing, analyzing, and applying data are characteristics of effective school leadership.

Summary/Conclusion