Table Of ContentThe School Improvement
Planning Handbook
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Praise for The School Improvement Planning Handbook
“Despite calls for school improvement coming from nearly all directions, school leaders
often struggle to find practical guidance for facilitating the process. Duke, Carr, and Sterrett
have helped fill that important gap with this important, hands-on approach. Leaders truly
committed to authentic, meaningful and sustainable school improvement will benefit from
this practical and accessible book.”—Nicholas J. Pace, EdD, author of The Principal’s Hot
Seat: Observing Real-World Dilemmas
“Attaining genuine and meaningful school improvement is an exceedingly difficult process,
and not for the faint of heart. Dan Duke, Marsha Carr, and Bill Sterrett have provided an
instrument that all school leaders can relate to and appreciate. The thought provoking case-
studies are immensely valuable and ‘spot on’ in terms of applying multiple data sources and
a process orientation, to the heavy work associated with school improvement. The School
Improvement Planning Handbook is a breath of fresh air within a misguided environment
that seeks quick fixes and easy solutions to very difficult problems.”—David C. Jeck, su-
perintendent, Greene County Public Schools, Stanardsville, Virginia
“The school improvement process is an annual necessity for schools, yet it often remains a
difficult process for school leaders and staff. This book will help you get beyond the lengthy
discussions about school problems, and enable teams to focus on actions that will lead to
tangible improvements for students. This is a book that will help plans become meaningful
actions.”—Curt Rees, elementary school principal in Wisconsin
“If developing a plan to school improvement has distressed your organization in the past, this
book has the roadmap to success, guiding the pathway to raising student achievement. I am
recommending this book to every colleague who genuinely is in search of the cause of low
performing schools in their communities.”—Kevin J. Baker, Title I program coordinator
“With authentic scenarios, intentional step-by-step guides, and high-quality planning tools,
this handbook serves as a powerful reference for change agents looking to root their school
improvement plan in a balanced system of instruction, assessment and accountability.”—
Nader Imad Twal, Milken National Educator, California 2003; Linked Learning project
director, Long Beach Unified School District
“School turnaround is the most difficult and complex task for school leaders. Having a guide
like The School Improvement Planning Handbook to provide concrete solutions for imple-
menting change has already benefited my practice as a school leader. The tactics in this
book create artifacts that truly measure improvements to student achievement and school
climate.”—Thomas W. Taylor, principal of Charlottesville High School, Charlottesville,
Virginia, adjunct professor of educational leadership at the University of Virginia
“This step-by-step guide for principals and their school leaderships teams is chock full of
specific strategies for developing a meaningful school improvement plan that can truly be a
guiding document for the school. A distinguishing feature of this book is the acknowledg-
ment of the importance of differentiated school improvement planning aligned to the need
for school turnaround, school transformation or continuous improvement. Specific and au-
thentic examples of real school scenarios and strategies are shared to address reading, math,
English language learned, students with special needs and student indicators of success such
as student attendance and school culture.”—Ann Blakeney Clark, deputy superintendent,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
“Education, like anything else, requires effective leadership to be successful. Schools need
the high performance only planning can provide. This book uses effective leadership to guide
schools in planning for success.”—Martin Cain, retired professor of financial management
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The School Improvement
Planning Handbook
Getting Focused for
Turnaround and Transition
Daniel L. Duke, Marsha Carr,
and William Sterrett
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD EDUCATION
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
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Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2013 by Daniel L. Duke, Marsha Carr, and William Sterrett
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a
reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duke, Daniel Linden
The school improvement planning handbook : getting focused for turnaround
and transition / Daniel L. Duke, Marsha Carr, and William Sterrett.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61048-631-6 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-61048-632-3
(pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-61048-633-0 (electronic) 1. School
improvement programs. I. Carr, Marsha, 1957– II. Sterrett, William. III. Title.
LB2822.8.D85 2013
371.2'07—dc23 2012041354
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Section I: P aving the Way to Better School
Improvement Plans 13
1 Seven Steps to Good Planning 15
2 Finding a Focus for School Improvement 43
3 Planning and Implementation Problems 63
Section II: S chool Improvement Scenarios:
Key Concerns for Planners 81
4 Reading Improvement: Raising Reading Achievement at
Lincoln Elementary School 83
5 Math Improvement: Overcoming the Middle School
Math Dilemma 113
6 Improving School Culture: A New Principal,
A New Culture 135
7 Improving Instruction: Moving out of the Comfort Zone 155
8 Reaching English Language Learners: Ensuring Academic
Achievement for All 179
v
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vi CONTENTS
9 Addressing the Special Needs of At-Risk Students:
At-Risk Student Intervention 197
10 Improving Attendance: Achievement Gaps
Due to Absenteeism 217
Section III: The Importance of Differentiated Planning 235
11 Planning School Turnarounds 237
12 Planning to Sustain Success 251
13 Planning for Educational Excellence 265
Index 279
About the Authors 285
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to extend gratitude and acknowledgments to
the following for their insights and contributions to this work: Corrie
Kelly, Kristen Williams, David Bittner, Pete Fiddner, Chandra Lynn
Roughton, Eric Sheninger, Salena Rabidoux, Thomas Taylor, N. Eleni
Pappamihiel, Janna Siegel Robertson, Martin Wasserberg, Bethany
Meighen, and The Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA.
vii
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Introduction
If you are a school principal or a veteran teacher, the odds are that you
have participated in the process of planning for school improvement.
Do you have strong feelings about school improvement planning? Many
educators do. Some look at the process as a colossal waste of time. Oth-
ers acknowledge that planning has the potential to improve teaching
and learning, but their experiences with the process have been largely
unproductive. Still others consider planning to be an important and es-
sential professional responsibility that leads to demonstrable gains in
student achievement. We believe that significant and sustained school
improvement is impossible without careful and continuous planning.
We also believe that planning, in and of itself, is no guarantee of
success. As with anything else educators undertake, planning can be
done poorly or planning can be done well. This School Improvement
Planning Handbook is designed for principals and teachers who are
committed to high-quality planning and who are motivated to get better
at the planning process.
The subtitle of our book—“Getting Focused for Turnaround and
Transition”—provides some important clues about its contents. “Getting
focused” refers to what is arguably the primary reason for planning. Few
educators leave school at the end of the day without feeling that more
could have been done to help students. The peculiar curse of education is
that there is always more to do than time available to do it. Without “fo-
cus,” there is no way to ensure that the most important things get done.
Planning provides the opportunity to determine what are the most im-
portant things and to develop the means for ensuring that they get done.
1
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