This document provides state education agencies (SEAs) and districts with guidance about how to assess a district’s readiness to support school turnaround initiatives. First published in 2013, the guide has been updated in this edition to highlight how its approach to assessing district readiness embeds and reflects key components of Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement, a framework developed by the Center on School Turnaround (CST, 2017).
Accountability & Assessment
School Quality Indicators Scan
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to reconsider their accountability systems for schools and districts. Many of the accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act are continued under ESSA, including judging schools by such academic measures as students’ proficiency on annual assessments, graduation rates, and English learners’ progress toward attaining English proficiency. But ESSA also requires states to adopt at least one additional indicator of school quality or student success, and it gives states flexibility in choosing that indicator.
In meeting this new requirement, states may choose non-traditional indicators, adding to their accountability system one or more measures of student engagement, educator engagement, student access to and completion of advanced coursework, postsecondary readiness, school climate and safety, or any other indicator they choose. The selected measure(s) must meaningfully differentiate between and among schools, based on performance, and be valid, reliable, comparable, and available for schools statewide.
These alternate indicators attempt to measure the learning conditions, supports, and/or opportunities for students. Included are a number of possible indicators states may consider as they revise and reconstruct their state accountability system.
The State Role in School Turnaround: Emerging Best Practices
With chapters written by leading researchers and practitioners actively engaged in the work, this Edited Volume examines the role of the state education agency in school turnaround efforts. An emphasis is placed on practical application of research and best practice related to the State Education Agency’s (SEA’s) critical leadership role in driving and supporting successful school turnaround efforts.
The Edited Volume is organized around the Center on School Turnaround’s four objectives, with sections devoted to each:
- Create a Pro-Turnaround Statutory and Regulatory Environment
- Administer and Manage Turnaround Efforts Effectively
- Provide Targeted and Timely Technical Assistance to Local Educational Agencies and Schools
- Advocate and Lead to Build Support for Local Turnaround Efforts
Chapters include: a) brief literature review, b) examples from SEAs (and/or concrete examples of proposed SEA practices), and c) action principles for the SEA.
Thought Leadership Forum Brief: Evidence-Based Improvement Under ESSA
The Center on School Turnaround (CST) at WestEd is hosting a series of online Thought Leadership Forums for state education agency (SEA) officials who are members of the Leadership Council of the Network of State Turnaround and Improvement Leaders. The forums are intended to highlight the major considerations of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for students in chronically low-performing schools and explore how turnaround plans impact SEAs’ broader improvement efforts and ESSA implementation efforts.
The initial forum, held on December 19, 2016, focused on the definition and application of evidence-based criteria within the context of ESSA. The forum featured presentations from Sylvie Hale, Director of Program Development and Strategic Planning for WestEd’s Innovation Studies program, and Rebecca Herman, Senior Policy Researcher and Distinguished Chair in Education Policy at the RAND Corporation (RAND).
This brief describes the resources shared during the December 19 forum, summarizes key ideas, and concludes with recommendations to help inform the ongoing work of SEA officials on identifying evidence-based strategies and interventions in compliance with ESSA evidence requirements.
Thought Leadership Forum Brief: Multiple-Measures Accountability: California’s Progress and Lessons Learned
The Center on School Turnaround (CST) at WestEd is hosting a series of online Thought Leadership Forums for state education agency (SEA) officials who are members of the Leadership Council of the Network of State Turnaround and Improvement Leaders. The forums are intended to highlight the major considerations of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for students in chronically low-performing schools and explore how turnaround plans impact SEAs’ broader improvement efforts and ESSA implementation efforts.
The initial forum, held on December 19, 2016, focused on the definition and application of evidence-based criteria within the context of ESSA. The forum featured presentations from Sylvie Hale, Director of Program Development and Strategic Planning for WestEd’s Innovation Studies program, and Rebecca Herman, Senior Policy Researcher and Distinguished Chair in Education Policy at the RAND Corporation (RAND).
This brief summarizes the key ideas from the April 10 forum regarding multiple-measures accountability for schools and local education agencies (LEAs) in California.
A Rubric for Assessing Schools; Plans for Rapid Improvement
School improvement planning has become more prevalent and important due to increased calls from federal and state governments, state education agencies (SEAs), and the general public for more accountability in education. In many cases, the school principal is responsible for conceptualizing, drafting, and submitting the plan. However, there are very few publicly available tools that assess the content and quality of school improvement plans (SIPs). This new publication is designed for use by schools, districts, and state education agencies (SEAs). Schools can use the rubric to help create, organize, and assess their improvement plans and efforts; districts can use it to facilitate and coach co-creation of effective SIPs; and SEAs can use it to better conceptualize how they support districts — especially those with low-performing schools — in analyzing their SIPs. Although this rubric is useful for all types of schools, we feel it is especially valuable for low-performing schools because it can help them better jump start the process of planning for success, building momentum, and, ultimately, turning themselves around.