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

Your community and schools will want to ask: How can we unleash and nurture high-quality teaching and learning from the bottom up - - in every school and classroom? How can we engage large numbers of parents, teachers, business people, civic leaders, and other citizens in helping to craft such exciting learning?

To answer this question, your community and schools may want to examine:

• Responsiveness. Does our district's comprehensive plan reflect and respond to the experiences and needs of individual schools, as well as to teachers, parents, students, and citizens? Are mechanisms being established for continuous input and feedback on the implementation and ongoing progress of the comprehensive plan? Are we planning to sit down with other change agents from all levels -- the state, as well as other communities and schools -- to talk about obstacles, opportunities, and how we can help each other?

• Support. Are we providing discretionary resources for teachers and schools to purchase professional development and other assistance from high-quality providers of their own choosing? Are we forming teacher and principal networks? Do teachers share ideas and practices for helping all children reach challenging academic standards? Are we facilitating communication among teachers, school staff, parents, and businesspeople in our own school district, as well as across districts, through telecommunications, site visits, and other means?

• Flexibility For Each School. Are we providing flexibility to our schools so that each may chart its own course for helping every child to reach high academic standards? What rules and regulations stand in the way of our community's or school's comprehensive plan? Are we seeking waivers from the state as well as from the federal government?

• Information and Assistance. What type of information, training, guidance, or expert assistance -- from the school district, state government, colleges or businesses, or others -- would help individual schools see the "range of options" they now have within current regulatory boundaries?

[Making Improvements System-Wide] [Dropout Prevention Strategies]