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    Adelman and Taylor

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    Jakaria Ahmed
    The document discusses the importance of evaluating systemic changes related to school improvement through collecting data on short-term and intermediate outcomes. It provides examples of benchmarks and intermediate outcomes that can be used to evaluate progress and determine if systemic changes are effective in enhancing long-term student outcomes. It also discusses how demonstration projects aimed at school improvement must work to produce systemic changes in order to sustain their work once funding ends, such as by embedding functions into broader school improvement initiatives and decision-making processes. There is a need for more research and training to advance understanding of how to design, implement, and sustain systemic changes in schools.

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    Adelman and Taylor

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    Jakaria Ahmed
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    The document discusses the importance of evaluating systemic changes related to school improvement through collecting data on short-term and intermediate outcomes. It provides examples of benchmarks and intermediate outcomes that can be used to evaluate progress and determine if systemic changes are effective in enhancing long-term student outcomes. It also discusses how demonstration projects aimed at school improvement must work to produce systemic changes in order to sustain their work once funding ends, such as by embedding functions into broader school improvement initiatives and decision-making processes. There is a need for more research and training to advance understanding of how to design, implement, and sustain systemic changes in schools.

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    The document discusses the importance of evaluating systemic changes related to school improvement through collecting data on short-term and intermediate outcomes. It provides examples of benchmarks and intermediate outcomes that can be used to evaluate progress and determine if systemic changes are effective in enhancing long-term student outcomes. It also discusses how demonstration projects aimed at school improvement must work to produce systemic changes in order to sustain their work once funding ends, such as by embedding functions into broader school improvement initiatives and decision-making processes. There is a need for more research and training to advance understanding of how to design, implement, and sustain systemic changes in schools.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    41 views2 pages

    Adelman and Taylor

    Uploaded by

    Jakaria Ahmed
    The document discusses the importance of evaluating systemic changes related to school improvement through collecting data on short-term and intermediate outcomes. It provides examples of benchmarks and intermediate outcomes that can be used to evaluate progress and determine if systemic changes are effective in enhancing long-term student outcomes. It also discusses how demonstration projects aimed at school improvement must work to produce systemic changes in order to sustain their work once funding ends, such as by embedding functions into broader school improvement initiatives and decision-making processes. There is a need for more research and training to advance understanding of how to design, implement, and sustain systemic changes in schools.

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    of 2

    70 ADELMAN AND TAYLOR

    school improvements. As a result, short-term and intermediate outcomes


    that are critical benchmark and progress indicators related to such con-
    cerns are not gathered.
    As indicated already, the frameworks outlined above provide a tem-
    plate for establishing subsets of benchmarks (short-term outcomes) and in-
    termediate outcomes for purposes of formative evaluation in pursuing
    systemic changes. In addition, there are a variety of benchmarks directly
    related to school improvement efforts designed to address barriers to
    learning and teaching (Adelman & Taylor, 2006a). Examples include in-
    creased attendance, reduced tardiness, reduced misbehavior, less bullying
    and sexual harassment, increased family involvement with child and
    schooling, fewer inappropriate referrals for specialized assistance and for
    special education, fewer pregnancies, and fewer suspensions and drop-
    outs; additional long-term results stem from school improvement efforts to
    enhance social and personal functioning (e.g., measures of social learning
    and behavior, character/values, civility, healthy and safe behavior).
    Clearly, it is the long-term outcomes that indicate whether systemic
    changes related to school improvement are effective. Equally evident is the
    need to evaluate systemic change with respect to the processes being used
    to get from here to there. This means gathering data on short-term and in-
    termediate outcomes that allow for formative evaluation of processes as
    well as progress. Only after systemic changes have been well established
    can one really determine whether the school improvements are effective in
    enhancing long-term student outcomes.

    PROJECTS AS CATALYSTS FOR SYSTEMIC CHANGE

    With a view to sustaining valued functions, most demonstration projects


    and initiatives can be a catalyst for systemic change. More to the point, it is
    frequently the case that such projects must produce systemic changes or
    much of what they have developed is unlikely to be sustained. Federally
    funded projects, such as those established through the Safe Schools/
    Healthy Students initiative (U.S. Departments of Education, Health and
    Human Services, and Justice, n.d.), illustrate both the need and opportu-
    nity for being a catalytic force. These projects are funded with the aim of
    coalescing school and community collaboration for violence prevention.
    As the first cohort of projects entered their 3rd and final year of federal sup-
    port, the scramble began to find another grant to sustain threatened func-
    tions. Much earlier, a few projects realized that sustainability should not be
    thought about in terms of hopefully finding more grant money. Rather,
    they understood the necessity of taking steps each year to move policy in
    SYSTEM CHANGE 71

    ways that would sustain the valued functions established through the pro-
    ject’s work. Moreover, they understood the importance of embedding such
    functions in a broader context to enhance their status in the eyes of
    policymakers.
    Because the categorical agenda was to improve violence prevention,
    most Safe Schools/Healthy Students’ projects took the tack of adding on
    some services and programs. Although local policymakers were pleased
    that such projects brought in added resources, they also viewed the work
    in terms of the limited categorical emphasis and seldom integrated the
    project’s services and programs into school improvement planning. This
    contributed to the fragmentation and marginalization that characterizes
    school and community efforts to address the many barriers to learning and
    teaching, and usually worked against sustaining the innovations when the
    project ended.
    To counter the tendency toward viewing project functions as having lim-
    ited value, project staff must view their special funding as an opportunity to
    leverage systemic changes to ensure sustainability of valuable school im-
    provements. To this end, they must strive to reframe the work into a broader
    context and find their way to key decision-making tables. For example, the
    activity can be braided into other school improvement initiatives and pre-
    sented as an integral part of a comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive
    approach that enhances the school’s ability to meet its mission for many, not
    just a few, students and families. At the same time, it is important for staff to
    negotiate for inclusion into prevailing decision making, capacity building,
    and operational infrastructures. Being at decision-making tables enables di-
    rect and ongoing discussion about sustainability and even about replicating
    the work on a large scale. By moving in these directions, project staff position
    themselves to be a catalytic force.

    POLICY IMPLICATIONS

    Given that systemic change is of central importance in efforts to improve


    schools and schooling, we suggest policy decision makers must recognize
    and support a growing research and training agenda to advance under-
    standing and capability for designing, implementing, and sustaining pro-
    totypes and taking them to scale.

    Research
    As noted above, the nation’s research agenda does not include major initia-
    tives to delineate and test models for widespread replication of education

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