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

Section III
Planning Schoolwide Program Change

Step 4:
Setting Schoolwide Program Goals

Goals are the roadmap for schoolwide improvement—the basis for implementing solutions and evaluating their effectiveness. Clear, unambiguous program goals are essential, but to be effective, they should be:

• Few in number—between five and 10

• Focused on student academic achievement

• Include some that target core curriculum areas

• Unambiguous, realistic, and measurable

• Built on strengths as the basis of improvement

• Achievable within a reasonable time frame

A schoolwide program's goals focus improvement efforts on helping students achieve challenging state and local standards. They should address the educational needs of the entire student population, especially those children who are educationally disadvantaged, migrant, talented and gifted, or bilingual; have limited English proficiency; require special education strategies; or belong to historically underserved populations, including girls and women.

It is a common mistake to set goals that are too vague or too broad. Teams should keep the following principles in mind as they define their goals (Oregon Department of Education/RMC Research Corporation, 1997): A student goal is a statement or measurable objective that focuses on what students will learn or accomplish as a result of their participation in the schoolwide program. A program goal is a measurable objective that focuses on program areas that will be improved in order to enhance student achievement.

Understanding New Requirements for Schoolwide Programs

Although ESEA does not require any specific program components, the reauthorized law [Section 1114(b)(1)(B) of Title I] does require schoolwide programs to identify in their plans effective strategies that:

• Give all students in the school the opportunity to meet the state's proficient and advanced levels of student performance—for example, by providing an extended school year, before- and after-school programs, and summer programs

• Provide an enriched and accelerated curriculum

• Meet the educational needs of historically underserved populations, including girls and women

• Provide instruction by a highly qualified professional staff

• Support continuing, intensive professional development for teachers, support staff, administrators, paraprofessionals, and, when appropriate, parents

• Implement strategies to increase parent involvement⁽¹⁰⁾

• Develop plans to help children with the transition from early childhood programs to elementary school

• Involve teachers in decisions about assessments

• Provide timely assistance to students who experience difficulties mastering the state's standards

Connecting Goals and Implementation Plans

After the planning team and subcommittees have reviewed information on possible strategies for addressing priority needs, it is time to formulate an action plan. The team should begin by conferring with the faculty as a whole to verify widespread commitment to the recommended schoolwide program goals and to ensure that the goals directly address the problems identified earlier.

Tool #6: Summary of Projected Schoolwide Program Goals is a worksheet on which teams may record the goals they have identified as priorities for the initial schoolwide plan. Tool #7: Goal Implementation Worksheet guides teams in fleshing out plans for reaching the goals, using the following questions:

• Is the goal for this focus area clear and measurable?

• How will the goal be achieved for all students in the school, especially those who are the beneficiaries for the ESEA programs included in the schoolwide program?

• What are the achievement benchmarks that will be expected in years 1 and 3 of the schoolwide program?

• What professional development will be implemented to achieve the indicated goal?

• What technical assistance providers will be called on to offer or support the professional development associated with meeting this goal?

• What additional resources—human and fiscal—will be needed to meet this goal (e.g., teaching specialists, textbooks, tools, technology, software), and what funding is available to obtain these resources?

• What are the timelines for implementing activities to meet this goal?

• What role(s) will parents and the community play in achieving this goal?

This is a good time to recheck the connections between identified problems, goals, and plans for action. For example, if reading scores are low across the school, is the proposed goal sufficiently comprehensive to address many components of the reading problem? Are all students' reading needs considered, especially those who are the targets of the ESEA programs included in the schoolwide plan? If scores for African American boys are especially low, how will professional development for everyone in the school address that issue? How are parents and the community part of the implementation plan for achieving that goal? Are African American families part of the planning teams? Are mentors from the community part of the proposed implementation plan?

think about this. . .

Setting Goals and Aligning Them with Strategies

In the early 1990s, student scores on state tests at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky, "were at rock bottom on everything," recalled former principal Jacqueline Austin. In collaboration with the National Alliance, one of the New American Schools design teams, Kennedy staff began planning a schoolwide program. A major goal was improving student achievement. "At that time, student achievement was at the center of our thoughts. When we planned anything, the first question was, How is this going to help student achievement?" Austin says.

The school abandoned programs and activities that didn't advance the goal of improving achievement. "Eliminating the add-ons can cause separation anxiety," Austin notes. "But my job as principal was to help people focus on the big picture. We had to let go of something. We did it together and through conversation." Now, all successes at Kennedy relate in some way to high achievement standards. According to Austin, "We talk to children about our expectations. We show them the rubric (scoring guide). We say, "If you want an A, then this is what's required."

The alignment of goals and strategies is paying off. By 1996, scores on the state's mid-point exams were 11 points ahead of the school's goal, and three students had been awarded recognition as Kentucky Scholars—placing them among the top 2 percent of the 140,000 fourth-graders who took the test. In just a few years, the school rose from among the lowest-scoring schools to the top 10 percent.

Because Kennedy students have many personal challenges—many come from families who are in distress or who move frequently, and some live in homeless shelters—the school hired a family resource coordinator to help keep the focus on academic performance. "We can be sympathetic, but we've got to keep academic expectations high. We can give these children extra hugs and love and let them know we care. But when it comes to academic performance, there can be no excuses," Austin concludes.

New American Schools, 1997

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[Step 3-Clarifying Needs and Finding Research-Based Strategies] [Step 5-Writing the Schoolwide Plan]