Transcript Restructuring: What We Know About the NCLB Options

Statewide Systems of
Support
And School Turnarounds
Incentives / Capacity / Opportunity
Definition of Statewide System of Support
An effective statewide system of support offers
incentives, builds capacity, and provides
opportunity for the people in districts and
schools so that they might continuously
improve the performance of their coordinated
roles toward the end of all students meeting
or exceeding learning standards.
The Big Picture
1. ESEA defines statewide systems of support, but we
propose that definition should be the floor not the ceiling
of state’s role in improving schools.
2. State boards, legislatures, and governors can create
incentives and opportunities.
3. State departments of education are primarily charged with
building systemic and local capacity, but they can also
create incentives and opportunities.
4. Besides technical capacity, a key role for SEA should be to
establish “reform press;” a strong sense of urgency that
change must occur.
The Big Picture
5. Strategic approach may require state-level policy changes and
advocacy and a reconsideration of the “givens” (e.g., state laws
and policies, and distribution of human capital).
6. Efforts to improve schools should be driven by school and
district needs (diagnosis of operations and performance) rather
than expediency given existing structures/systems.
7. Critical goal is to implement systems that move beyond existing
SEA/LEA improvement efforts and serve as a catalyst for
meaningful change that alters the educational opportunities for
children in low-performing schools.
8. Strengthening the SSOS requires full description and
assessment of current system and careful planning for change.
ESEA and Statewide Systems of Support
ESEA and Statewide Systems of Support
ESEA requires that SEAs provide technical
assistance to schools identified as in need
of improvement
1. Reserve and allocate Title 1, Part A funds (4%
in 2007) for school improvement activities
2. Create and sustain a statewide system of
support that provides technical assistance to
schools (LEA and School Improvement: Non-Regulatory Guidance, Revised 7/21/06)
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ESEA and Support Priorities
Technical Assistance Priorities (i.e., triage
approach)
1. LEAs in corrective action and schools for which
LEA has not fulfilled responsibilities related to
corrective action
2. LEAs identified as in need of improvement
3. Title I LEAs and schools that need support and
assistance
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ESEA-Prescribed Components of SSOS
– Create school support teams: Teams work in schools
throughout the state and SEA must provide adequate
support for teams to be effective
– Designate and engage distinguished teachers and
principals: Select successful professionals from existing
Title I schools that have a track record of success
– Develop additional TA approaches: Draw on external
resources (e.g., colleges/universities, education service
agencies, private providers of proven TA, and USDOE
funded comprehensive centers and regional education
laboratories) to assist districts
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The System of Support
and the State Education Agency
The Statewide System of Support
• Operates within the functions of the SEA
• Includes partners outside the SEA
• Supports the improvement of the functions of
the district and school
A Big Change for the State
“This transition in the state role from oversight to
capacity building requires states to redesign existing
support systems or create new ways to ensure that
districts and schools have the resources needed to
bring all students to proficiency” (CCSSO Policy Brief
9-06).
Compliance Model
Funding Streams
Rules and Regulations
Compliance Monitoring
State
District
School
Teacher
Student
Support Model
Community
Student
Teacher
School
District
State
Parents
Functions of the SEA
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
provide information
set standards
distribute resources
monitor compliance
assist with improvement
intervene to correct deficiencies
SEA Functions, Processes, and Supports
Shaded Areas Represent Statewide System of Support
Degree of Shading Symbolizes Intensity and Duration of Support
SEA Function
Process
District
Information
Notification
Expectation
Announcement
Enrichment
Standards
Certification
Programming
Assessment
Resource Distribution
Prioritization
Conditioning
Allocation
Compliance
Assurance
Documentation
Confirmation
Improvement
Status Assessment
Gap Analysis
Planning
Organizational
Development
Training / Prof.
Development
Intervention
Remediation
Corrective Action
Restructuring
Safe Zone
School
Caution Zone
District
School
Danger Zone
District
School
The Framework
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The SSOS Framework
• Incentives
• Capacity
• Opportunity
• And Evaluate the Process and Results
Providing Incentives for Change
• Public disclosure: standards, accountability
and information about results
• Negative incentives: consequences of low
school performance
• Positive incentives: contingent funding,
reward, autonomy, and recognition
• Market-oriented incentives: changing the
“market” structure of public schooling
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Building Capacity for Change
Building Capacity at Two Levels
• Systemic Capacity (the State system of education)
Create and disseminate knowledge
Enhance supply of personnel equipped for
improvement
Provide strong data system to support improvement
• Local Capacity (the district and school)
Coordinate SSOS services, components, personnel
Differentiate support to districts and schools
Deliver services to districts and schools (provide and
allocate resources for support)
Providing Opportunity for Change
The State provides opportunity for improvement by –
1. Removing barriers to innovation and improvement
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Waivers
Exemptions
Alternate routes to certification
2. Creating new space for schools to innovate
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Charter schools
Pilot schools, lighthouse schools, demonstrations
Schools within a School
Evaluation
• Goals, objectives, benchmarks
• Monitor and report progress
• Evaluate and improve the system
Theory of Action
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Interplay of the Framework Components
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How?
1. Provide Incentives
People
2. Build Capacity
3. Provide Opportunity
Differentiate Coordinated Services
to Meet Assessed Needs
Assess – Plan – Implement – Monitor
1. Leadership and Decision Making
Functions
2. Curriculum and Instruction
3. Human Capital (Personnel)
4. Student Support
District and School Functions
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Assignment
Millard Fillmore School
Scores on State Assessment
Year 1
Year 4
Year 7
Year 9
What happened about Year 7?
List 3 actions that most contributed to Millard Fillmore’s improvement.
Change of principals doesn’t count.
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Year 12
Actions That Changed
In functions of district or school
Leadership and Decision Making
1.
Allocation of resources to address learning goals
2.
Decision-making structures and processes
3.
Information and data systems
Curriculum and Instruction
1.
Alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to standards
2.
Curriculum - content
3.
Formative and periodic assessment of student learning
4.
Instructional delivery (teaching and classroom management)
5.
Instructional planning by teachers
6.
Instructional time and scheduling
Human Capital (Personnel)
1.
Personnel Policies and Procedures (hiring, placing, evaluating, promoting, retaining, re-assigning, replacing)
2.
Professional development processes and procedures
3.
Performance Incentives for Personnel
Student Support
1.
Programs and services for English Language Learners
2.
Extended learning time (supplemental educational services, after-school programs, summer school, for example)
3.
Parental involvement, communication, and options
4.
Special education programs and procedures
5.
Student support services (tutoring, counseling, placement, for example)
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Building Local Capacity
Assess (Diagnose)-Plan-Implement-Monitor
Point of Impact = Functional Components (Systems) of School
Leadership and Decision Making
1.
Allocation of resources to address learning goals
2.
Decision-making structures and processes
3.
Information and data systems
Curriculum and Instruction
1.
Alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to standards
2.
Curriculum - content
3.
Formative and periodic assessment of student learning
4.
Instructional delivery (teaching and classroom management)
5.
Instructional planning by teachers
6.
Instructional time and scheduling
Human Capital (Personnel)
1.
Personnel Policies and Procedures (hiring, placing, evaluating, promoting, retaining, re-assigning, replacing)
2.
Professional development processes and procedures
3.
Performance Incentives for Personnel
Student Support
1.
Programs and services for English Language Learners
2.
Extended learning time (supplemental educational services, after-school programs, summer school, for example)
3.
Parental involvement, communication, and options
4.
Special education programs and procedures
5.
Student support services (tutoring, counseling, placement, for example)
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Indicators of Effective Practice
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Guideposts for effective practice
Plain language, behavioral indicators
Aligned with research base
Drivers of planning and improvement
• Necessary in a Culture of Candor
Strengthening the Statewide System of Support
Technical Assistance from CII and RCCs
1. Improving a system must include an analysis of the
system as a whole, its subsystems, their parts, and
the way in which all function in an efficient and
coordinated fashion to achieve the system’s goals.
2. Analyzing and improving a system begins with an
appraisal of the system as it currently exists, but
must also include a consideration of what it could
be.
Strengthening the Statewide System of Support
State Case Studies by CII
• Alabama
• Kentucky
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee
• Washington
CII-RCC Intensive Consultation
• Michigan (Great Lakes East)
• Missouri (MC3)
• Puerto Rico (FLICC)
• New York (New York CC)
• PREL CC in Pacific Region
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Self-Assessment Facilitated by Regional
Comprehensive Center
• Alaska (Alaska CC)
• Arkansas (MC3)
• Delaware (MACC)
• Idaho (Northwest CC)
• Illinois (Great Lakes West)
• Mississippi (Southeast CC)
• New Hampshire (New England CC)
• North Dakota (North Central CC)
• South Dakota (North Central CC)
Beginning in Fall of 2009
• Arizona (Southwest CC)
• Nebraska (North Central CC)
School Turnarounds
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Restructuring
• Business Concept – in business turnarounds and
bankruptcy
• NCLB Restructuring (change in governance)
1. State Take-Over
2. Turnaround – usually change in leadership and
other change
Fresh Starts
3. Reopen as Charter School
4. Contract to an Education Management
Organization (EMO)
5. Other (96%)
Turnaround – Evolving Definition
• President Obama – Turnaround 5,000 schools
• 1,000 a year for 5 years
• 5% of all schools
• Secretary Duncan – 4 Ways to Turn Schools Around
1. Kids Stay, Adults Go
2. Replace staff and leadership and reopen as Charter
School or contract to EMO
3. Keep most staff, dramatically change culture
4. Close the school—send students to better schools
Secretary Duncan on Principals
“America needs to find 5000 high-energy, hero
principals to take over these struggling schools – and
they will need a quarter of a million great teachers
who are willing to do the toughest work in public
education. We will find them in the union ranks and
the charter community, the business world and the
non-profit sectors. We won't find them overnight. I
don't expect a thousand to show up next fall. We
can start with one or two hundred in the fall of 2010
and steadily build until we are doing 1000 per year.”
Secretary Duncan on Option 3
Replace some staff and dramatically change culture
Especially for rural schools
What changes?
• Establish a rigorous performance evaluation system along
with more support, training and mentoring.
• Change and strengthen the curriculum and instructional
program.
• Increase learning time for kids during afternoons,
weekends, and in the summer -- and provide more time for
teachers to collaborate, plan and strategize.
• Principals and leadership teams must be given more
flexibility around budgeting, staffing and calendar.
Questions
1. Have some low-performing schools turned
around?
2. Do we understand why they turned around?
3. Can the turnaround variables be reduced to a
set of practical steps?
4. Can we apply this set of practical steps to
intentionally turn a school around?
5. Which schools, under what conditions?
Terminology
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Effective School
Beat-the-Odds School
Reconstitution
Restructuring
Turnaround
Fresh Start
Continuous Improvement Trajectory
Rapid Improvement Trajectory
The IES Turnaround Report
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Institute of Education Sciences
Released in May 2008
Panel and staff worked for almost a year prior
Goal: formulate specific and coherent
evidence-based recommendations for use by
educators aiming to quickly and dramatically
improve student achievement in lowperforming schools.
IES Definition of Turnaround
• School began as chronically poor performers—with a high
proportion of their students failing to meet state standards
of proficiency in mathematics or reading over two or more
consecutive years.
• School showed substantial gains in student achievement in
a short time (no more than three years). Examples:
– reducing by at least 10 percentage points the proportion of
students failing to meet state standards for proficiency in
mathematics or reading
– showing similarly large improvements in other measures of
academic performance (such as lowering the dropout rate by 10
percentage points or more), or improving overall performance
on standardized mathematics or reading tests by an average of
10 percentage points (or about 0.25 standard deviations).
4 Recommendations
1. Signal the need for dramatic change with
strong leadership.
2. Maintain a consistent focus on improving
instruction.
3. Make visible improvements early in the
school turnaround process (quick wins).
4. Build a committed staff.
Turnaround: Evidence and Actions
from CII Evidence Review
Cross-Sector Evidence
– Environmental Context
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Timetable—Planning, Implementing, Sustaining
Freedom to Act
Support and Aligned Systems
Performance Monitoring
Community Engagement
– Turnaround Leadership
• Leader Actions
• Leader Capabilities
Leader Actions:
Initial Analysis and Problem Solving
• Collect & Analyze Data
• Make Action Plan Based on Data
Leader Actions:
Driving for Results
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Concentrate on Big, Fast Payoffs in Year One
Implement Practices Even if Require Deviation
Require All Staff to Change
Make Necessary Staff Replacements
Focus on Successful Tactics; Halt Others
Do Not Tout Progress as Ultimate Success
Leader Actions:
Influencing Inside and Outside the
Organization
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Communicate a Positive Vision
Help Staff Personally Feel Problems
Gain Support of Key Influencers
Silence Critics with Speedy Success
Leader Actions:
Measuring, Reporting (and Improving)
• Measure and Report Progress Frequently
• Require all Decision Makers to Share Data and
Problem Solve
Turnaround, Terminate, or Reinvent?
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Turnaround vs. Fresh Start
Closing schools – to reopen, or forever?
Toxic communities
Reinvent schooling?
What would it look like?
Questions
• Do you know of schools that have turned
around?
• Do you know why they turned around?
• Could you apply these same practices to turn
around another school?
• When is a school a candidate for turnaround?
• If you doubt a turnaround will succeed, then
what?
• What harm results from failed turnaround
attempts?
Additional Resources
Center on Innovation & Improvement
www.centerii.org
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