An Invitation to Your Community -- Opportunity-to-Learn Standards or Strategies, and Program Improvement and Accountability

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

Opportunity-to-Learn Standards or Strategies, and Program Improvement and Accountability

If all children are to reach high academic standards, all children must have high-quality instruction. But what constitutes "high- quality" instruction? And how can your community make sure that every child receives it?

Your community and schools will want to keep these questions in mind as you think about each element of your GOALS 2000 plan.

You'll probably also want to examine:

Safe and Disciplined Environment. Are our schools safe and secure places for teaching and learning? To what extent are drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or weapons a problem in our schools? Is student discipline or misbehavior a problem in our schools?
Quality Instruction for All Students. Do all our children have access to high-quality curricula, instructional materials, and technologies? Are our teachers offering high-quality instruction in each subject area? Does that instruction meet the diverse learning needs of our students? Do we analyze data from student assessments to make sure that low-performing students are making progress toward high standards? Do we provide additional learning time for students who need it?
Access to Professional Development. Do all our teachers, principals, and other school staff have easy -- and ongoing -- access to professional development opportunities? Are these opportunities built on the best available knowledge about teaching, learning, discipline, and school improvement? Are these opportunities tied to high standards and to the comprehensive effort of the schools and community to help all children reach those standards? Is time provided throughout the school year for teachers to learn from each other, plan together, and take advantage of professional development opportunities?
Adequate Instructional Tools. Do our schools have adequate libraries, science equipment, and other instructional resources for teaching and learning?
Inadequate Performance. Are we identifying schools where students are not meeting high academic standards? What are we doing to help those schools improve their performance? What are we doing about low-performing schools not making progress -- schools where student performance continues to be low, year after year?

[Teaching and Learning]

[Use of Technology]