A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Background

Special Strategies is a three-year project that is collecting case study data on 10 different strategies that were identified as holding promise for educating disadvantaged children. The study is being conducted in 25 sites located in urban and suburban/rural areas. The selection of participating schools was limited to those that had Chapter 1 programs or were eligible to participate in Chapter 1. The sample includes students in the first, fourth, and ninth grades in the 1990-91 school year; these students will be followed for a period of three years. The strategies examined include Reading Recovery, computer-assisted instruction, METRA and other peer tutoring, extended-day and extended-year projects, schoolwide projects, Success for All projects, Comer School Development projects, Paideia projects, and Re:Learning/Coalition of Essential Schools projects. The Special Strategies study accompanies Prospects, the Congressionally mandated longitudinal study of Chapter 1, and supplements the large amount of quantitative data collected by that study with observational and interview data in order to obtain an in-depth picture of what goes on in classrooms.

Data collected for the Special Strategies study include observations of classroom instruction and student-teacher and student-student interactions; interviews with school-related staff appropriate to each of the program types; and surveys of parents, teachers, principals, district coordinators, and children in the third grade and above using instruments developed for the Prospects study. A standardized test is administered to third-graders, who are also asked to complete a writing sample. Students in ninth grade and above complete an additional standardized test to assess their ability to perform basic activities such as completing a job application or reading a bus schedule. In addition, three children in each school are followed throughout their school day in order to provide a close look at what school is like for these children.

Selected First-Year Findings

• The selection of a curricular program or an organizational process to improve the performance of students is often chosen by administrators and/or teaching staff with little consideration of educational options that provide alternatives to traditional approaches.

• Strategies affecting the entire school day, such as schoolwide programs with site-based management, Comer projects, and Sizer projects, typically result in a higher incidence of coordination and integration of skills and processes for teaching disadvantaged students in the regular classroom instead of in pull-out settings. This appears to be true because these programs focus on process as well as content--as teachers learn the process, they utilize these skills across classes. On the other hand, when the strategy is a project that is adjunct to the regular school program, such as Reading Recovery and computer-assisted instruction, there is often little application of the strategy in students' other classes.

• The extent to which a strategy is easily and effectively implemented varies by how extensive a change is required in the behaviors of teachers and administrators, and the level of expertise of the teacher in both content matter and instructional delivery. Models that require restructuring school authority and decision-making are harder to implement because staff must perceive their roles and responsibilities differently and the results may be less tangible. Curriculum based approaches are easier to implement because the goals are more immediate and the results are easier to measure.

• The implementation of each school reform strategy examined requires additional funding. Over and above the cost required to purchase the materials or hardware necessary to implement the programs, a large cost for all the programs is staff development. To be effective, programs require not only high levels of initial technical assistance and staff development, but on-going staff development as well.

• The active leadership of the principal or a lead teacher is crucial to program implementation. Key personnel must be committed to the program to be able to motivate the staff and make organizational and operational changes, such as scheduling for common planning periods.

• Contextual variables such as fiscal base, demographic shifts, and staff stability, may impede or facilitate implementation. Schools experiencing the greatest difficulties initiating special strategies usually displayed other serious problems such as severe fiscal constraints, racial tensions, and inadequate school- and district-level leadership.

Next Steps

In years two and three of the study, greater efforts will be made to link special strategies with regular classroom practice and student outcomes. Successful implementation of innovative programs will continue to be examined at both original implementation sites and at some additional sites in order to provide information about conditions and steps required to implement programs and strategies that work.

This report is the first in a series of (3) volumes. Copies of the report are available by writing to the Planning and Evaluation Service, Office Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 4165, Washington, DC 20202; or by phoning (202) 401-0590.

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Last update September 1996 (swz).