Use the School Improvement Plan and a strategic orientation to attack program incoherence¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

Principals use the School Improvement Plan mandated under the 1988 reform to unite parents, community members, and teachers around a coherent plan with annual goals, strategies in five areas, a monitoring process, and benchmarks. A strategic orientation helps a school resist incoherence: "In improving schools, teachers are more likely to say that, once a program has begun, there is follow-up to make sure it is working, and that you can see real continuity from one program to another." The article contrasts these with "Christmas tree schools," where many showcase programs were uncoordinated, philosophically inconsistent, and hung on unattended basic operations.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• The School Improvement Plan lays out annual goals, a monitoring process, and benchmarks by which progress will be measured

Constraints¶

• Without a strategic orientation, new programs risk becoming dazzling ornaments while basic school operations remain unattended

Target Learners¶

• Elementary school teachers, parents, and community members in Chicago public schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• Ensuring plans for new learning standards and strengthened teaching strategies actually reach the classroom

Affordances¶

• Support And Pressure Principal Leadership Framework

Claims¶

• In bottom-quartile schools the School Improvement Plan is largely not implemented, with most teachers negative or mixed [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Begin reform with quick hits on highly visible problems to build collective agency, then sustain a long-term focus on the instructional core
• Structured and Sustained Family Engagement Programs

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Penny Bender Sebring and Anthony S. Bryk. (2000). School Leadership and the Bottom Line in Chicago. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/school-leadership-and-bottom-line-chicago