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To implement project activities, one or more of the following generally was provided: planning or release time, training, matching talent and experience of participants to project needs, and technical support or content assistance. Although providing content or technical support and assistance was the best predictor of implementation in the projects studied, combining matching expertise to project needs and content and technical assistance was particularly effective. In no case was full implementation achieved without it. For projects concerned with systemic reform, including curriculum and instructional improvement or site-based decisionmaking, staff development is especially important because without training and support it is difficult for teachers to initiate and maintain any meaningful change in practice. Additionally, when existing staff have skills and expertise to implement project activities, institutionalization is more likely. Those projects failing to institutionalize project activities also failed to provide staff development.
Staff development can help build the partnership organization, as well as aid in program implementation and institutionalization. In-services regarding a project, project services, and communication and collegial work strategies can help staff plan and adapt to best meet each client's needs. Developing a common language and understanding each partner's roles and responsibilities can facilitate teamwork and negotiation of conflict.
The following describes three projects' use of staff development to: train across agencies to facilitate problem solving, train tutors and teachers to improve classroom learning, and establish a school-based professional development program to enhance systemic reform.
Cross-agency training for personnel from partner organizations provided a forum for building understanding and trust and facilitating problem solving. Represented organizations differed in structure and procedures, yet shared space and equipment at school sites. Workshops focused on familiarizing personnel with program services and facilitating teamwork. A case study approach used in one session demonstrated how teamwork can help solve client problems. Participants believed the sessions increased their knowledge of project services and community-school collaboration, as well as enhanced relationship-building.
Personnel from partner organizations interacted regarding basic issues involved in working together. Thirty-six people received training before the project began, and over 71 people participated in follow-up workshops. Participants reported increased knowledge about the project and project services. Participants also reported increasing comfort discussing work-related issues and expressing work space needs. A foundation expressed interest in this component of the partnership.
The Human Services Collaborative (HSC) partnership provided for school-based delivery of different types of health and social services to students placed at risk and their families. Partner organizations included the local public schools, the state social service agency, a university-based medical center, and two nonprofit agencies that work with conflict resolution and youth placed at risk. Parents and the community participated in most aspects of service delivery, from identifying targeted needs to assisting with services. Because partner organizations shared space yet differed widely in their mode of operation, cross-agency training was considered essential for congenial relations among staff and coordination and smooth delivery of services.
Three workshops were conducted before the project began, followed by three more training sessions spaced over the next six months. At the request of participants, workshops were scheduled in this way rather than all occurring before the project started. School district instructional support staff provided the training. Later workshops were structured so that participants interacted and discussed such work-related issues as sharing space, confidentiality, equipment, security, and privacy. One workshop featured case conferencing and debriefing to demonstrate how teamwork and cross-agency referral could solve client problems.
The goals of the cross-agency training were to train personnel in program services, facilitate identification and referrals, and to facilitate teamwork. Personnel from all partner organizations, as well as the evaluators, attended. Participants were positive about the workshop experiences, reporting increased: knowledge of the project, available services, and community and school collaboration. Additionally, participants appreciated the opportunity to meet and build relationships with personnel from other organizations.
When partners are bureaucratic organizations with established rules and procedures, but personnel must share space and equipment, teamwork training can help to facilitate problem solving. Early identification of client needs and client referral processes also can improve. For instance, one principal who received a frantic call from a stranded parent found he was able to refer her to an agency that could help her find transportation because he had been through the cross-agency training.
The primary partner was the local school district, which was involved in several educational reform activities including implementing site-based management strategies. This is a large school district, serving over 90,000 students in 124 schools in urban, suburban, rural, and inner-city settings. All three schools involved in the collaborative (elementary, middle, and high school) are located in poor and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. The schools volunteered for participation because "faculty and administration understood the need for expanded services for students and their families as a critical unmet need that affects the educational potential of their students." Even though the school site had to find space and resources to house the additional services, commitment to the collaborative was strong.
The elementary school had an existing relationship with a children's health center, and a school-based health clinic was already successfully in place at the high school.
Agency cross-training workshop materials are available.
Volunteer tutors from local businesses and teachers received simultaneous training in classroom roles and responsibilities, communication strategies, and multiple intelligences theory. Training materials developed for the program included mathematics and language arts activities for the tutors to use with elementary school students. Local businesses contributed tutor time and on-site coordinators who worked cooperatively with the project coordinators. Teacher-tutor logs ensured regular and frequent communication regarding students, and training materials supported program continuance.
Over the course of the four-year project, approximately 80 teachers and 100 tutors participated in training designed to support their work with students placed at risk. Teachers reported that the tutor-student partnership affected students positively as attitudes toward school improved and students reported increased self-confidence and awareness of their own strengths. Teachers also reported that communication with tutors regarding their students was insightful and effective. Tutors reported experiencing satisfaction with their partnerships, increased multicultural awareness, and a better understanding of the problems facing students and schools. In addition, tutors found their knowledge of multiple intelligences theory and effective tutoring strategies beneficial to their performance at their regular jobs.
The Team Tutoring Project combined public elementary schools, high schools, and three nonprofit educational organizations to provide tutoring assistance based on multiple intelligences theory records for students, particularly students placed at risk. Tutors were recruited from local businesses, many of which provided the volunteers' time as an in-kind contribution and paid for parking and special events. The tutors were trained along with the teachers in classroom roles and responsibilities, multiple intelligences research, and various activities and strategies geared to different types of learning states. Project goals included the infusion of multiple intelligences theory teaching strategies into classrooms; the primary project activity was the tutoring program.
A major outcome of this project was the development of a tutor training program and materials; specifically, two manuals and four videotapes. One partner educational organization helped develop the manuals and conduct the training. The training manual focused on communication strategies for use with students and teachers and research on multiple intelligences, including assessment instruments and study suggestions. The manual also contained activities for mathematics and language arts, catalogued according to grade levels, and a grammar and vocabulary reference section. Although project plans originally involved training teachers who then would train tutors, the teachers preferred that teachers and tutors participate in the training together.
Because the project did not start until mid-school year, only two training sessions were conducted during the first year. The first session had 13 participants and explored communication strategies and cultural learning styles. The second session involved 27 participants and provided training in learning styles and related strategies to use with students. Participants believed the workshops were relevant and provided useful ideas and hands-on experiences.
A part-time tutoring coordinator at the school assisted with communication and scheduling. Both teachers and tutors signed agreements specifying their separate responsibilities. Tutors committed to tutoring at least once a week for an hour and attending the training sessions, and teachers agreed to provide weekly feedback to tutors regarding the tutored students. Written accounts of tutoring activities and tutors' comments keyed to the teachers' lesson plans were detailed in weekly communication logs. In addition, teachers and tutors discussed students' progress in person or by phone once a month.
Use of standard communication forms ensured regular and frequent communication between teachers and tutors and established a common set of terms to describe student progress. This eased the tension of inserting dual innovations in classrooms: multiple intelligences research and use of tutors. Having training manuals and tutoring materials available supported program continuance regardless of outside funding for project staff and training, and aided in institutionalization of team tutoring efforts.
This project was located in an urban school district with more than 53 percent minority students. At least 75 languages are spoken in the city, which recently has experienced a large influx of Asian immigrants. Although it is operating under a desegregation order, the city passed a referendum calling for elimination of busing. The mayor, an African American elected in a city with a small African American population in the same election as the referendum vote, put a hold on action on the antibusing measure. He argued that a more thorough study of the system was needed. School people supported this move because they feared the loss of federal and state funds. The city was beginning to feel the recession strongly.
The elementary school has the second highest percentage of students placed at risk of any elementary school in the district. More than 56 percent of the students receive free or reduced price lunch, and over 56 percent are learning English as a second language. School personnel may have been more open to the research because an informal study was conducted at the school during the previous year.
The Team Tutoring Project developed a Multiple Intelligences Home Learning Manual kit and tutoring training manuals, School Tutor Program ABC's: An Administrators' and Teachers' Guide for Your Team Tutoring Program and School Tutor Program ABC's: A Tutor's Guide for Your Team Tutoring Program. The Multiple Intelligences Home Learning Manual was designed for parents to use at home to support and enhance their children's learning. It includes a video, an instructional booklet, and 40 activity cards. Based on Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, this kit uses a variety of approaches respectful of the different ways parents and children learn. The tutoring training manuals were designed to train teachers, parents, and community tutors in the theory of multiple intelligences as well as help tutors understand their role in schools. The manuals include a detailed elementary curriculum section and forms and instruction needed to operate and manage a tutoring program in a school. The kit and manuals are available through the Citizens Education Center.
A school-based and practitioner-run professional development program was established in partnership with a university, as part of a large-scale systemic reform project. The master's degree program restructured course scheduling and delivery methods to attract practicing teachers and provide relevant on-site experiences. Teachers participated as members of school teams; 97 percent of the first cohort group completed the program.
One hundred and thirty-nine teachers (97 percent of the first cohort group) completed the program.
The Education for the 21st Century partnership brought together multiple organizations to transform one district's schools. Primary partners included the local public schools, city council, a major university, a university-based consortium of nine school districts, and two corporations. Project activities were three-pronged and large-scale to address change across the district. The district implemented an effective schools model of shared decisionmaking and long-term staff development to effect instructional reform, as well as assisting the university in developing a school-based structure for professional development.
As part of this latter effort, the university partner approved a school-based master's degree program built around the needs of school staff. Courses were scheduled to meet school staff requirements, were located on school sites, and taught, at least in part, by school staff experts. Because the majority of teachers in the district do not have a master's degree, staff planned the program to appeal to practicing teachers. The program restructured higher education to shape learning around the autonomy of teachers in the school environment. Six dimensions were addressed: selection processes, class structure, scheduling, staffing, pedagogy, and assessment.
Rather than recruiting individual teachers, the program recruited school teams that worked collaboratively, teaching and studying their teaching together. Formal class structures were changed so that half of the work required for the degree was spent in the classroom, applying research techniques learned in coursework to teaching practice. University professors spent time on site, monitoring and assisting their teacher-researcher students, and electronic mail systems were used to maintain communication between visits.
Although the program officially consisted of 10 courses or 30 credits, taken over a period of two years, some courses were shorter and more intensive, while others were longer and slower-paced. The program eliminated evening classes, and worked around school scheduling, including three additional summer workshops and Saturday meetings to meet equivalency requirements. Teams moved through as a group, taking all coursework together. This approach resulted in 97 percent of the first group of teachers completing the program (139 of the original 143 teachers).
Staffing was changed to accommodate the new emphasis. The university hired an outstanding practitioner with extensive "teacher-as-researcher" experience for a four-year tenure. Summer workshops were staffed by a combination of academics and practitioners, usually four practitioners with two or more university professors. These arrangements cultivated teaching partnerships between practitioners and academics.
Pedagogy involved an innovative instructional technique, the Presentation, Analysis, Strolling Critique, and Collaborative Argument (PASCA) method. During this time, teachers listened to presentations together, then divided into small groups for discussion, integrated by school and grade level. In their groups, they analyzed the presentation and discussed related problems and questions. Following this discussion, the teachers regrouped into school teams and strolled around, discussing and defining their agenda for the collaborative argument portion of their session together.
A new assessment system, incorporating ideas from Total Quality Management (TQM), was developed to assess teacher performance with this new model of instruction. The assessment system was based on rating teaching performance on five dimensions or desired outcomes. Each desired outcome was defined in terms of three performance levels.
The school-based master's degree program provided one mechanism for a small, financially strapped school district to upgrade staff education and skills. High completion rates suggest this type of approach is relevant to and feasible with practicing teachers.
The project was housed in a small school district of about 1,350 students in a working-class community. Although the school district was the lowest-achieving among the school districts in the region according to student test scores, student achievement improved since the implementation of the educational reform programs and activities under the partnership. The district, however, is fraught with financial problems; teachers' salaries are the lowest in the area and staffing is unstable with high turnover for both teachers and administrators. Salaries, on the average, are lower for all workers in this community and outsiders tend to perceive community members and those working in the community in a negative light.
Initial project start-up was difficult, following loss of the district superintendent and two of the proposed corporate partners. When project activities were implemented, the new superintendent's priorities determined which educational reform activities took precedence. Thus, project activities moved from a technology focus to improving curriculum and instruction, which might have provided an additional impetus for implementation of the school-based professional development program.
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[PartII: Section II: Student Support Services]