DEVELOPING YOUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN

1
DEVELOPING YOUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Illinois North Central Association University of
Illinois 616 East Green St., Suite 201 Champaign,
IL 61820 217-333-1120
2
Dick Spohr NCA Ambassador 21712 Oak Road Atwater,
IL 62572 [phone] dspohr_at_motion.net
3
Greetings From

• Susie Morrison, State Director
• Illinois NCA CASI State Office
• University of Illinois
• Smorriso_at_uillinois.edu
• Dick Spohr, NCA Ambassador
• 21712 Oak Road
• Atwater, IL 62572
• dspohr_at_motion.net
• Mark Elgart, CEO
• AdvancED
• Decatur, Georgia
• 
  

4
Housekeeping Matters

• Creature comforts
• Adult Learning Experience
• Audience participation required
• Relax, learn, and enjoy

5
Todays Conversation

• What is NCA?
• How are NCA member schools different?
• What makes school improvement planning effective?
• How can an effective school improvement plan be
  developed?
• Other??????

6
AGENDA

• 900-1015 NCA, SIP, Profile
• 1015-1030 Break
• 1030-1145 Profile, Environ. Scan and Goals
• 1145-100 Lunch (working)
• SIP Elements
• 100-110 Break
• 110-200 Logistics and Process Recomm
  ended Next Steps Evaluation

7
AdvanceED
8
Advancing Excellence in Education

• Unification of NCA CASI, SACS CASI, NSSE
• Together We
• Represent 23,000 public and non-public schools
• 30 States
• Navajo Nation
• Latin America
• Department of Defense
• 65 Countries
• Serve 15 million students
• Create the Worlds Largest Educational Community

9
Unification SACS CASI and NCA CASI
ND
North Central
MN
SD
WI
WY
MI
DoDEA
NE
IA
IND.
IL
OH
IN
CO
NN
WV
KS
MO
OK
AR
AZ
NM
AZ
KY
VA
TN
NC
Southern
SC
GA
AL
MS
LA
TX
FL
Latin America

10
Advancing Excellence in Education

• Together we share a commitment to help schools
  and districts improve on behalf of their students
• Accreditation and school improvement services
  will
• Maximize student success
• Build school and system capacity
• Bring together research, best practices and
  resources
• Together we can and will serve as a leader for
  educational quality
• Powerful advocate with a national voice and
  international presence

11
Advancing Excellence in Education

• Core Services
• Accreditation (NCA, SACS)
• Pillars of Accreditation (High Standards,
  Continuous Improvement, Quality Assurance)
• Accreditation Process
• Professional Services (NCA, SACS, NSSE)
• Professional Development, Technical Assistance,
  Conferences, Consulting
• Research (NSSE)
• Publications, Resources, Tools, Education
  Research, Evaluation

12
Benefits of Accreditation

• Mark of Quality
• High Quality Standards
• Proven Improvement Processes
• Means to Meet Requirements (Local, State,
  Federal)
• Professional Services
• Technical Assistance
• Peer Review and Support
• Research-Based Products and Services
• Publications, Resources, Tools, Websites
• Reciprocity and Access
• Resources and Best Practices Network

13
NCA CASI - SACS CASI - NSSE

• Regional to Global

14
Think and Interpret

• Accreditation is an activity, not a status.
  Schools are accredited because of the way they
  move, not the way they stand.
• John A. Stoops
• Former Middle States Executive Director
• Elementary Schools
• First Executive Director, CITA

15
Accreditation Process

• Beginning in 2007-2008 schools will be
  accredited on a
• Five Year Term
• On a continuous basis schools will
• Meet / exceed high quality standards
• Engage in continuous improvement
• Conduct periodic self - assessment
• Monitor standards, document results
• Receive and benefit from support and services
• Annual contact, expert assistance, resources,
  research, best practices, professional
  development
• Learn, share and network with colleagues
• Effective 2006-2007
• There is no annual on-line report

16
Accreditation Process

• Every Five Years
• School prepares for and hosts a Quality Assurance
  Review Team
• AdvancED schedules the visit and assigns a
  qualified chair
• School completes and submits a Standards
  Assessment Report (within 6 weeks to 6 months of
  the visit)
• Two Years Following the Visit
• School submits an on-line Progress Report on the
  Quality Assurance Review Teams recommendations
• Five Years After the Visit
• School prepares for and hosts a Quality Assurance
  Review Team

17
Accreditation Process

• Ongoing
• Formative Assessment Learning and
  Continuous Improvement
• Self-assessments are conducted
• Feedback from assistance, coaching and contact is
  received
• Every Five Years
• High Stakes Summative Evaluation (QAR)
• Commendations and recommendations are received
• Accreditation status is determined

18
Accreditation Process
Submit Progress Report Two Years After the Visit

• Assess
• Learn
• Improve

Submit Standards Assessment Report 6 Weeks 6
Months Prior to the Visit
Every Five Years, Host a Quality Assurance
Review Team
19
Three Pillars of Accreditation

• Accredited Schools Must
• Meet high standards
• Engage in continuous improvement
• Demonstrate quality assurance

20
AdvancED Standards for Quality Schools

• Comprehensive statements
• of quality practices and conditions
• that research and best practice indicate
• are necessary for schools to achieve
• quality student performance and
• organizational effectiveness
• Standards are based on research and systemically
  connected

21
7 Standards 56 Indicators (07-08)

• Vision and Purpose
• Governance and Leadership
• Teaching and Learning
• Documenting and Using Results
• Resources and Support Systems
• Stakeholder Communications Relationships
• Commitment to Continuous Improvement

22
High Standards

• Standard and Criteria
• Achievement of criterion
• Commitment to the Spirit and Intent

23
Quality Assurance

• External Peer Review Visit At end of an
  improvement cycle. Documentation of successes.
• Assurance Review (QAR) Once every 5
  years. Anytime during continuous improvement.

24
QUALITY ASSURANCE Purpose for all NCA CASI
Visits

• Purpose 1
• Assist the school in improving the performance
  and success of its students!

• Purpose 2
• Assist NCA CASI in ensuring the publics trust by
  verifying that
• Standards are met
• A quality improvement process is in place
• Students are receiving a quality education

25
Continuous Improvement

• An accredited school
• makes the commitment and demonstrates the
  capacity to engage in ongoing improvement
• Educators possess a can do attitude and
• have the competence and confidence to succeed
• are motivated by professional challenge and
  achievement
• have high expectations for themselves and
  students
• are willing to create, experiment, innovate, and
  try new things
• Educators build their capacity to improve
• develop knowledge, understanding and skills
• create a supportive organizational culture and
  conditions

26
Continuous Improvement

• An accredited school
• Has the responsibility and flexibility to
  identify and implement an improvement process
• The process should.
• meet the standards
• focus on improvement of student learning and
  school effectiveness
• satisfy local, state, federal improvement
  requirements
• allow the school to engage in one improvement
  initiative
• be implemented in a systematic and systemic
  manner
• be implemented in a culture of learning and
  collaboration
• be comprehensive
• address the four elements of continuous
  improvement

27
Continuous Improvement Process Elements
What future are you pursuing ?
What have you accomplished?

What is your current reality ?
Monitor and Adjust
PLAN
What actions will you take to improve ?

• I

28
Continuous Improvement

• Process Flexibility
• NSSE Breakthrough School Improvement
• NCA Performance Accreditation (8 phase)
• NSSE Focus On Student Performance
• NCA Transitions
• High Schools That Work
• Baldrige Integrated Management System
• Strategic Planning Models
• State Initiated Frameworks
• Etc.

29
Continuous Improvement

• An accredited school has the responsibility and
  flexibility to identify and implement an
  improvement process.

30
Elements of Continuous School Improvement

• Vision
• Profile
• Plan
• Results

31
(No Transcript)
32
Elements of Effective School Improvement

• Data Collection (Profiling and Scanning)
• Mission
• Goal Setting (Performance Targets)
• Interventions (Strategies)
• Assessments
• Professional Development
• Monitoring
• Documentation of Results

33
Steps to ImprovementSTUDY PLANACT
DO
34
PROFILING
35
School Improvement Concept

• Profile

A concise, stand-alone document which gives a
snapshot or picture of a school in data terms as
a cycle of school improvement begins.
36
Profiling Tasks
Step 1 Gather Data
Step 2 Sort Your Data into Categories
Step 3 Identify Implications
School Improvement Plan

Categories of Data
Compendium (Compilation of Data)

• Unique Local Insights
• Former Students
• Students
• Instruction
• Community

Goals Assessments Interventions Action Plan
37
Findings

• A simple presentation of the data without making
  judgments.

38
Analysis

• Collect Data
• Sort Data
• Present Data (Findings)
• Analyze Data
• Trying to determine and describe why.

39
Implications

• Student Performance Goals
• Did our analysis indicate a need for a goal that
  will increase student performance?
• Other Data To Be Collected
• Did our analysis indicate that we did not have
  enough data to make a decision? If so, what other
  data must we collect?
• Clarification of Goals
• Did our analysis provide us with specific areas
  of concern or was it too general?
• Identification of Intervention Groups
• Did our analysis identify specific groups of
  students in need of improvement?
• Other Actions Needed Did our analysis indicate
  other actions than those above are necessary?

40
Disaggregation Categories

• After data has been collected, determine
  categories for disaggregation. (NCLB plus?)

41
Disaggregation of Data
Disaggregations

• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Socio-economic status
• Quartiles
• Family Structures/Design
• Mobility Factors
• Title I
• ESL
• Rural vs. Urban

42
To be blind is bad, but worse it is to have eyes
and not to seeHellen Keller
43
Profile

• What is the MUST HAVE data that a school should
  collect for EACH category?

Table Activity
44
Environmental Scanning
45
Environmental Scanning

• Environmental scan data is information about
  society and the world that a faculty may use to
  determine what skills and knowledge students will
  need to be successful after leaving their school.

Current definition in NCA CASI material
46

• The scan helps us understand the world in which
  our school may exist at various times in the
  future, and how we may have to adapt to be
  successful in such a new world.

47
The Scan

• Pulls together key trends and predictions from
  good sources to give us a sense of the range of
  possible futures we may see.

48
Some Areas to Scan

• Demographic trends in population
• Employment
• Technology
• Human Resources
• Workforce
• Work Environment
• Health Care
• Legislation
• Socioeconomics
• Income Projections
• Public Attitudes

49
Some Sources of Scan Information

• Review current literature
• Search the internet
• Hold discussions with experts
• Interview major decision makers regarding their
  view of the most critical trends and developments
  that could affect the institution.

50
Environmental Scan The Key Question
What are the most important things we can
develop in our students, based upon the kind of
world in which they are likely to live?
51
Mission
52
Mission Statement

A statement that identifies the priorities and
educational beliefs of the school/district with
regard to what is to be developed within its
students.
53
Mission Statement Boiler Plate
1) General philosophical statement.
2) Support of the district mission. 3) Self
imposed duty regarding the preparation of
students. 4) What needs to be developed within
students. Think about the skills you
needed when you graduated from high school.
Contrast those with the skills your current
students will need when they graduate from
high school. What skills will they need?
54
From Eric Hoffer

• In times of change, learners inherit the earth,
  while the learned find themselves beautifully
  equipped to deal with a world that no longer
  exists.

55
Mission

• Share your schools mission statement with
  others.
• What is the most important thing that all schools
  must develop in all students?

Table Activity
56
Once the profile is completed and the mission is
written, it is time to write your student
performance goals.
"Bridging from Profile and Mission to Goal
Writing"
57
Student Performance Goals
58
School Improvement Concept Writing Goals

• Writing appropriate student performance goals is
  one of the most important steps in the
  development of the school improvement plan.

59
Whoever writes the goals owns the goals.
60
Understanding the Goal
Goal Types
Essence of the Goal
Student Performance Goals
Sources
Mission
Rubrics to Evaluate Goals
Profile
A Boiler Plate for Writing Goals
All students will increase ______________________
across the curriculum. clients will
improve across the school
in a variety of contexts.
61
Essence

• Before an intervention can be established the
  essence of the goal must be determined. Essence
  involves determining the dimensions of a concept
  on which the school wishes to focus.
• Example What does citizenship mean to your
  faculty?

62
Essence of Citizenship

• 1. Compliance with the rules
• 2. Understanding participative governance
• 3. Service to humanity
• The focus a school takes can drastically
  affect the interventions and assessments the
  school in the School Improvement Plan.

63
Goal Types

• Type I Knowledge
• Type II -- Ability to Apply Knowledge
• Type III --Habits/Patterns of Behavior
• Type IV -- Attitudes, Perceptions, Beliefs,
  Opinions, Feelings
• The Type of Goal Determines the Type of
  Assessment

64
Questions RE Student Performance Goals

• How many total goals?
• How many cognitive and affective goals?
• How are state and district goals addressed?
• How long does a school keep a goal?
• Does a school have non-student performance goals?

65
School Improvement Plan(SIP)
66
SIP Components
Assessments that will be used to document
program improvement Interventions that will
be used to improve student performance Professi
onal Development needed to implement the
interventions Logistical/Action Plan that will
support the implementation of the assessments,
interventions and professional
development.
67

• Note
• The School Improvement Plan is comprised of the
  SIP Abstract (the basic design) and the
  Logistical/Action plan (which contains the
  details for implementation.)
• Available at Illinois website nca.uillinois.edu
• .

68
Assessments
69
Selecting Assessments

• Identify Assessments That Will Be Used To Show
  Improvement on Each Goal
• Match Assessment Type with Goal Type
• Align assessments with goals and interventions.
• Use multiple assessments.

70
TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS Used for Assessing Student
performance
Portfolios
Nationally Normed Tests
Surveys/Interviews
Criterion Referenced Tests
CURRICULUM
PARENT SURVEY
TEST
STUDENT SURVEY
STAFF SURVEY
Observational Data Collection
Authentic Assessment
Evaluate performance at a "real world task"
which involves higher order thinking
71
School Improvement Assessments

• Locally Developed Assessments
• Developed and used in specific schools or
  districts
• Usually classroom-based

• Standardized Assessments
• Widely administered
• Recognized and understood by the public

72
Selecting/Creating Assessments

• Standardized
• Advantages Greater possibility of validity and
  reliability
• Politically more
  acceptable to community
• Procedures are standardized
• Disadvantages Cost
• Less likely to match your educational
  program or curriculum
• Appropriate common metric to
  measure your goal may
  not exist

73
Selecting/Creating Assessments (continued)

• Locally Developed
• Advantages Better alignment to goal
• Improved match to curriculum and
  instruction
• Local control
• Disadvantages Validity and reliability
• Time/expertise to develop
• Standardization issues

74
Key Questions Assessments

• How many assessments are needed for each goal?
• Are we assessing the goal or the intervention?
• Must every intervention have an assessment?
• Must every assessment be given to every student
  every year?

75
ASSESSING OUR PERSONAL HEALTH

• How do we use the results of a physical
  examination?
• How do we use the results of an autopsy?
• Make an analogy to testing student performance.

Table Activity
76
Interventions
77
Definition

• An intervention is something that is done to or
  with students that develops something desired
  within the student. For schools involved in the
  NCA school improvement process the something
  desired should be the goal areas.

78
Interventions address the reasons why students
are not being successful.

• Cause Effect
• Symptom versus Cause
• Thorough Analysis of Data

79
How to Use Data to Create Powerful Interventions

• Start with Findings (facts).
• Analyze to explain why the facts are what they
  are
• intuitive analysis
• analysis using data
• research based
• For each explanation (or reason)
  identify/determine the Implications for
  interventions/strategies.

80
Keys for Interventions

• Use the experience of staff for intuitive
  analysis
• For every reason - identify an intervention
• Need to put data in the hands of the teachers
• Regularly assess and revisit

81
Good Interventions develop the goal area within
the student.

• They should do one of the following
• Develop Knowledge
• Apply Knowledge
• Develop Patterns of Behavior
• Develop Attitudes

82
Research Based Interventions

• Discuss the ways schools could locate
  research-based or best practice interventions.

R
83
Key Questions Interventions

• How many interventions needed for each goal?
• Can some interventions only address subgroups and
  not all students?
• How do we incorporate teacher stuff if we are
  to write interventions in student terms?
• Do all teachers have to do all interventions?
• Can some interventions cross over into other
  goals?

84
Intervention Questions Contd

• Where do we put parent-related pieces in our
  plan?
• Must all interventions be research-based?
• How do we get the faculty to select
  interventions?

85
Professional Development
86
Professional Development

• Helps faculty learn about the new interventions
  and how to implement them.
• Needs to be directly linked to the school
  improvement plan.

87
Questions . . .

• What is required to move faculty from awareness
  to actual transfer into the classroom?
• How will you know the plan is being implemented
  in classrooms?
• What is the plan to bring new people up to
  speed, and to advance skills of everyone?
• What

88
One purpose of staff development is to unite the
staffs of schools in studying ways of improving
the school and engagement in continuous programs
to make it better. Schools become outstanding
when school improvement is a prominent part of
the staff development activities. Bruce
Joyce and Beverly Showers
89
Action Plan
90
Action Plans

• For every intervention in a school improvement
  plan there is created at least one action plan
  page. This page contains all the details that go
  into the plan. The important word here is
  details. Always provide more information than
  you think necessary.

91
LOGISTICAL ACTION PLAN

• Logistical Details what has to be done to
  implement the interventions
• Action Who will do what and when
• Plan . . . of mice and men . . .

92
Action Plan Template
93
Making Data Driven Decisions

• This is a very important lesson. You must never
  confuse faith that you will prevail in the end
  which you can never afford to lose with the
  discipline to confront the most brutal facts of
  your current reality, whatever they might be.

Collins, J. (2001), Good to Great, New York
HarperCollins Publishers, p. 85
94
Student Performance

• Michael Schmoker, Results, 1996
• The Importance of Data
• You cannot fight what you cannot see.
• Data makes the invisible visible.

95
Student Performance

• Why do we avoid data? FEAR!
• Of datas capacity to reveal strength and
  weakness, failure and success . . .
• Data almost always points to action.

96
Student Performance

• Data is the enemy of comfortable routines.
• Without data, youre just another person
  with an opinion.
• Michael Schmoker, Results, 1996

97
Assess Chart - Communicate

• Regularly assess student performance
• Chart growth on each goal.
• Communicate results.
• Review results, revise interventions, and
  update professional development.
• Prepare a documentation report on each of the
  student performance goals that have been
  implemented from the SIP.

98
Elephant in the Room DATA
In God We Trust.All others must bring data.
99
Baseline Data!!!!!!!

• Pre-test or PRE INTERVENTION
• Post-test or END OF CYCLE
• Same assessments
• Collect for each subgroup

100
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember,
amateurs built the ark and professionals built
the titanic.
101
Suggestions? Concerns? Questions?
102
NCA CASIandIllinois NCA CASIThank You for
Participating

• We are here to help you with your school
  improvement process.

103
APPENDIX
104
ASCD

• Association for Supervision and
• Curriculum Development
• 1703 North Beauregard Street
• Alexandria, Virginia 22311
• 1-800-933-2723
• www.ascd.org
• Magazine Educational Leadership

105
Education Research Service

• Will provide research to member schools on any
  topic requested.
• 2000 Clarendon Road
• Arlington, VA 22201
• 703-243-2100
• ers_at_access.digex.net

106
Northwest Regional Lab

• www.nwrel.org
• All regional labs available from this website

107

• Educational Best Practices
• www.ed.gov/inits/statelocal/sl-best.html

108
Preparing Students for Contemporary Work and
Society
109
Conventional AcademicSuccess has Involved

• Mastery of basic skills
• Largely solitary study
• Generally uninterrupted work
• Concentration on a single subject
• Much written work
• High analytical ability

110
Workplace Success Involves

• Mastery of basic skills
• Working with others
• Constant distractions
• Working at different levels across different
  disciplines
• Mainly verbal skills
• Problem-solving and decision-making

111
Does it have to be either or?

• No, it must be both. However workplace skills do
  not always come from academic skills.
• Academics are neither good at finding novel
  solutions, nor at synthesizing , nor at living
  with ambiguity, nor making difficult decisions.

112
Real Life Skills

• In a world of continuous change where creativity,
  personal responsibility and innovation are in
  ever greater demand, the ability of individuals
  to plan and implement their own ongoing learning
  without external direction has to be the key to
  success.

113
Here is the problem

• Society is recognizing the restrictive and
  unimaginative.
• Now television, video, linked with active
  technologies such as the computer, CD ROM systems
  and the Internet, provide an astonishing array of
  tools for constructive learning.

114
Documentation Report

• At end of the school improvement cycle, it is
  necessary to write a documentation report
  demonstrating student growth.

• Note Most schools also provide a yearly update
  during the cycle for faculty, parents, board
  members, and others.

115
Documentation Report

• A communication vehicle
• A report to entire school learning community
• A document used by NCA CASI as part of the
  total process of accreditation
• A transition piece in process of continuous
  improvement

116
Address the BIG Questions
Why? So What?

• What worked?
• What didnt work?
• What needs to be institutionalized?
• What needs to be discontinued?
• What capacities need to be developed?
• Whats next - where do we go from here?
• Keep your document short, concise, and to the
  point!!!

117
Be Ready to Discuss and Document

• Baseline
• Summary of baseline data
• Assessment tools used
• Major findings and conclusions
• Process
• Conclusion
• Data collected at end of the cycle
• Assessment tools used
• Major findings
• Evaluation of the differences between levels of
  student performance