| Unlocking the 11 Components - Comprehensive Approach |
According to the CSR program legislation and guidance, having a comprehensive approach means creating a coherent, high-quality learning environment by aligning all of the components. Start with making sure that each component helps the school reach its ultimate goal — an educational program that enables all students to meet state content and performance standards. Next, consider relationships among the components.
One way to achieve a comprehensive approach to improvement is to create a diverse planning team that represents your school community. A representative planning team leads to an inclusive plan and provides people with opportunities to explore how they, or their organizations, could work together to better integrate the educational program. In Making Good Choices, the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) recommends including all of the following representatives:
- School and district administrators
- Teachers representing various grades, content areas and teams
- Other professional staff
- Parents
- Community representatives
- Business people
- Higher education representatives
- Students
The full report, which has many great suggestions for CSR planning and implementation, is available at
http://www.ncrel.org/csri/choices/makegood/mgc.pdf.
Once the comprehensive approach has been planned, a strategy for implementing and sustaining the schoolwide improvements must also be developed. Develop a comprehensive plan, but don't try to implement it all at once. Think big, and then take one step at a time. With an implementation plan that has a series of incremental changes, teachers and other staff will have time to learn, experiment with and reflect on new practices. As a research summary on professional development and comprehensive change produced by the Knowledge Loom explains (http://knowledgeloom.org/index.jsp), the greater the change that an organization is undertaking, the less likely that the change will be successful. This does not mean that CSR cannot be achieved; it means that the reform plan should be broken into manageable pieces. These pieces, however, need to be examined so that they are implemented in a logical sequence that preserves the internal coherence of the comprehensive approach.
Resources
- In the CSR Self-Assessment Tool developed by NWREL, the comprehensive approach component is broken into the following objectives:
- Improvement efforts encompass the whole school rather than focusing on particular grade levels, subjects, students or teachers.
- The school staff and administrators clearly and centrally focus on improved teaching and learning.
- The curriculum, standards, assessments, teaching and professional development strategies are integrated and aligned.
- Instruction is guided by state standards and benchmarks.
- The school staff (site council) conducted a thorough needs assessment within the last 18 months.
http://www.nwrel.org/csrdp/tools2.html
- NCREL has also developed a Self-Evaluation Tool that helps school staff members break down what it means to have a comprehensive approach by asking the following questions:
- To what extent do teachers, administrators and staff have a shared vision for the school?
- To what extent does school improvement encompass the whole school rather than focusing on particular grade levels, subjects, students or teachers?
- To what extent is the quality of your school improvement efforts consistent across issues, goals and focus?
- How well aligned are your school improvement efforts with your vision?
NCREL's Tool is available in Appendix A of Making Good Choices.
http://www.ncrel.org/csri/choices/makegood/mgc.pdf
- Implementing Schoolwide Programs: An Idea Book on Planning by the U.S. Department of Education outlines the following six steps for schools to take in developing a comprehensive school reform plan: establishing a planning team; conducting a comprehensive needs assessment; clarifying needs and finding research-based strategies; setting schoolwide program goals; writing the schoolwide plan; and finalizing the schoolwide plan.
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Idea_Planning/index.html
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