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

Implementing Schoolwide Projects - May 1994

Key Features of Successful Schoolwide Projects

Evidence of School and Student Progress

Following one of the tenets of effective schooling--that student achievement must be closely monitored--teachers and program managers link evaluation to instruction. Site-based management teams track multiple indicators of student progress and combine assessment strategies, including teacher-designed tests, standardized criterion- and norm-referenced tests, portfolios of students' work, and mastery skills checklists. Teachers regularly monitor students' level of project completion, the books they read, and their capacity to demonstrate in writing their understanding of the core content areas of math, science, and social studies. They also notice behavior problems, absenteeism, and the growth of supportive interpersonal relationships among children. In addition, parents learn to look beyond report card information to recognize improvements in their children's reading, writing, and mathematics skills. Often, grade-level and schoolwide planning teams survey colleagues, parents, and students to learn about program effects from many vantage points.

Under current federal law, schoolwide projects must demonstrate after three years that they are more effective than traditional Chapter 1 programs. To meet this accountability standard, schoolwide projects track students' annual standardized test achievement and other indicators to show a "preponderance of evidence" that their program is successful. Typically, successful schoolwide projects demonstrate increases in aggregate tested achievement ranges and the number of students performing at or above the 50th percentile on nationally normed reading and mathematics tests; the best schools go well beyond relying on standardized test measures. It is their attentiveness to multiple signs of educational need and accomplishment that drives project success.

Schools that have a broad orientation toward achievement for every student establish an assessment-based standard of early success. These projects intensify academic intervention in prekindergarten through third grade, using diagnostic assessments in reading and mathematics to ensure that children develop an implicit understanding of the information they need to learn. By maintaining portfolios of student work--when possible, on computers--and displaying evidence of student accomplishments throughout the school, teachers quickly see signs of academic success and risk.

Attentiveness to student progress on multiple dimensions increases promotion rates, reduces student mobility and absenteeism, and decreases discipline problems. As one schoolwide project principal observed, smaller class size and the elimination of pullout programs yield "a tremendous decrease in the number of referrals. Before, with packed classes, teachers didn't have time to stop and resolve problems--maybe even to involve the whole class in discussion about what was happening in their classroom. Every problem was sent to me."

A successful schoolwide project often reduces mobility and absenteeism among teachers and staff. As faculty take control over planning and decision making, they invest deeply in the student and school's success and are far less likely to seek transfers to less demanding school settings. In fact, the innovation and faculty collaboration that characterize schoolwide projects draw teachers from other, more affluent schools who seek out the schoolwide project because it enables them to participate in teaching partnerships or because it affords professional growth opportunities. Teachers have new responsibilities, including positions as team leaders, curriculum coordinators, or parent- community liaisons; they often can return to school to add specialized skills in bilingual education, English as a Second Language, science, mathematics, or reading curriculum supplements. Schoolwide projects also provide more opportunities for teachers to combine their regular classroom responsibilities with new roles as diagnosticians or staff development leaders.

Successful schoolwide projects show substantial parent and community involvement, with measurable increases in participation at parent meetings and in parent education programs, and a range of collaborations with business partners and community agencies. Parents assist in classrooms, attend parent nights, and participate in classes or programs to strengthen their parenting skills. At a school in South Carolina, a 32-person "Family Council" coordinates services that community agencies and businesses can provide to the school, and the council has begun to seek foundation grants to finance a new community center at the school. With the assistance of social workers and interpreters, a school in Houston attracted 130 parent volunteers--most of whom are part of a migrant community--who planned to open a new parent center. Community leaders from several of another school's business partnerships meet at least once a month to identify and explain promising technologies and explore ways to install them at the school.

Many of the schoolwide projects we studied have received substantial recognition for their achievements. Ganado, a primary school located on a Navajo reservation that has had a schoolwide project since 1985, regularly receives Arizona's annual Quality Program Award for excellence in academics and administration. Its programs also have been recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English and by the Arizona Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Site-based planning strategies and an innovative instructional focus in their schoolwide projects enabled Snively and New Stanley elementary schools to receive additional funding from RJR Nabisco.
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[Parent and Community Involvement] [Table of Contents] [Chapter 4 - Challenges and Opportunities for Schoolwide Projects]