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

This calls for a new kind of decision making in many schools. It also requires better approaches to developing human resources, and better incentives for performance -- all hitched to the same star: helping every child in each school achieve high academic standards.

Your community and schools will want to ask: What are we doing to continuously improve the governance, accountability, and management of our schools?

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

• Decisions In Schools. Does each school make its own decisions about whom to hire as teachers, how to use its budget, what professional development is needed, how to group students, and other issues? Are these decisions guided by a comprehensive plan to move all students toward high academic standards? Was the plan developed by the entire school staff, parents, students and members of the community, and are they all helping make it happen? Do laws, regulations, and policies -- at the state and school district levels -- encourage decisions to be made closest to the learners? Are all decisions made with one question in mind: Will it improve student learning?

• Leadership In Schools. Does each school have strong leadership -- ideally, from a dynamic, visionary principal working in partnership with an active school-based decision-making council or steering committee? Do administrators, teachers, and all school staff -- as well as students, parents, and others from the community -- share a vision of what teaching and learning in the school will look like when it is most effective? Are we providing training in team-building, problem solving, and technology use, so that broad-based decision making will continue to improve in each school, and so that leadership and support will continue to improve at the school district level? Is each school increasing the proportion of state and local funding spent where the kids are: in classrooms, for direct instruction?

• Human Resource Development. Are we developing a coherent approach to attracting, recruiting, preparing and licensing, evaluating, rewarding, retaining, and supporting teachers, administrators, and other school staff? Are college and university programs that prepare our teachers and school administrators designed to help them learn what they must know and be able to do to move all students toward high academic standards? Are the teaching standards for experienced teachers similar to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards? Do teachers in our schools seek certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards? Are we making special efforts to recruit minorities into teaching -- efforts that may include providing scholarships, recruiting from the military, and offering alternative routes to certification? Is "continuous learning and improvement" part of each employee's job? Are we offering advanced strategies for the professional development of individuals and groups -- strategies such as school-based coaches, mentoring and peer coaching, internships and apprenticeships, loaned executives, special assignments and uses of technologies? Is our evaluation system grounded in professional standards, and does it provide feedback that employees can use for their continuous improvement efforts? Do teacher and administrator preparation programs -- as well as state licensing and certification requirements -- support high academic standards, as well as quality curricula and instruction?

• Incentives For High Performance. Do we provide incentives for students, teachers, and schools to work hard and reach high levels of performance? For students, do we provide challenging and engaging work? Do we offer choices in the content, timing, and nature of their learning activities? Is what they're studying important to them? Do we ensure multiple opportunities for students to succeed? Do we offer students plenty of support and assistance, and alternative learning environments when needed? Do employers of high school graduates look at transcripts in making hiring decisions? Do we require students to demonstrate that they've reached certain standards of performance in order to earn a diploma from our schools? Do our colleges and universities set rigorous requirements for students to meet in order to be accepted? Do colleges and universities accept, as evidence of student performance, portfolios and other alternative assessment results? For teachers, do we offer promotions and career paths, formal recognition, and other incentives for high performance? Do we encourage teachers to participate in high-quality professional development? Do we encourage teachers to continuously seek to improve their teaching? Do we offer a group bonus program for a whole school or department where teachers are helping students make outstanding progress? For schools, do we involve all stakeholders in establishing expectations for school performance and in developing, implementing, and evaluating instructional programs? Do we revise funding and resources to reward success and turn around failure? Do we offer students and families choices among instructional providers? Do we enable schools to purchase services only from the central office, or from other suppliers?

• Information on Performance, Consequences For Results. Are parents given regular and clear information on how students are doing and how to help? Do we collect information on the performance of schools? Do we report information on school performance to the public? Do schools use such information to improve their performance? How do we help every school to do so? What do we do when a school is "stuck" -- when students are not learning what they need to know and be able to do, year after year?

[Use of Technology] [Parent and Community Support and Involvement]