Aligned for system improvements.

The Warden School District, with 977 students, sees itself as a district ready to address the challenges of rapidly changing demographics. Warden sits in a remote agricultural community in central Washington. Over the past decade, the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch has grown from 50 percent to 72 percent. Nearly three-quarters of the students are Hispanic with most of them identified as transitional bilingual.

Superintendent Larry Blades and his staff recognized that the students needed intense, focused and individual attention. They were seeking a systemic approach.

The ethnically diverse district found a useful framework for its work in the "School System Improvement Resource Guide," which was produced in the last year by the Washington Association of School Administrators in partnership with Washington state's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

A Model Process

Warden is one of several school districts applying the resource guide to effect systemwide change for better student outcomes.

"The School System Improvement Resource Guide" provides districts with a model planning process for systemic change that aligns district practices and individual school improvement plans. The process acknowledges the vital role of district and school ownership in the success of district improvement efforts and provides for an environment that promotes strong communication.

School districts are encouraged to form a diverse team to oversee implementation of the process--one that includes central-office administrators, representatives from each school, parents and community opinion leaders. Step-by-step planning, timelines, agendas, sample guides and worksheets are laid out as districts move through each stage of the improvement process.

Unique features of the system improvement guide are rubrics and guiding questions that are aligned to a district adaptation of the Nine Characteristics of High Performing Schools, which provide districts with a strong idea of their existing profile in relationship to the ideal profile of systemwide coherence. The resulting data along with student performance and perceptual data and contextual information then are used to guide the team in a meaningful goal and action-planning process that supports student learning in every classroom throughout the district.

As the federal AYP net widened to include districts, it became clear that supports were necessary to assist districts in fulfilling the requirements imposed following notification of district-level improvement status. As a result, care was taken to make certain the process, while being developed to ensure all students would meet Washington state's academic standards, also had the capacity to meet initial district-level requirements of No Child Left Behind.

In 2003, a committee chaired by state Assistant Superintendent Rob MacGregor began to consider ways to address the issue of working with districts that soon would be identified as not meeting AYP. The Washington Association of School Administrators was asked by the state education agency to become the lead organization in developing the school system improvement model for statewide use by districts. A design team chaired by WASA's executive director and composed of superintendents, central-office administrators and state agency staff produced the "School System Improvement Resource Guide." A draft was reviewed by more than 150 superintendents whose input was incorporated into the document and published in summer 2004 in a format that could be easily revised as the process was piloted across the state.

In fall 2004, 29 districts identified as being in district improvement status through NCLB were invited to work with the state education agency and WASA to develop district-level improvement plans using the system improvement process as a resource. All 29 invited districts chose to become part of the cadre, and a limited amount of grant funding was provided to support their work. The cadre included large and small districts, rural and suburban districts and districts from every section of the state. Notably, these districts were, in many cases, doing excellent work with students in most of the categories defined in the NCLB grid.

An Adaptable Plan

The system improvement guide provided strong support for districts regardless of their size or the status of existing (or nonexisting) strategic plans.

All the districts used the resources to more effectively align district- and site-level goals. Some used the entire eight-stage planning process, others used only parts of the guide to extend or strengthen existing district plans.

Three school districts using the guide to meet their own unique needs were South Kitsap, Kennewick and Warden. Although each district found the guide to be of value, implementation of the model varied.

In Warden, a 20-member leadership team that included two monolingual Spanish speakers used the guide's rubrics to identify three areas for concentrated work: (1) high standards and expectations for all students, (2) a supportive learning environment and (3) alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment.

The language barrier was a particular challenge, due to the need for Spanish/English translation as well as the formality of the process's educational language itself. Lois Davies, coordinator for school/district improvement in Warden, worked with the team to create goals using what she called "Warden language." The effort to simplify and clarify "will translate well to the general public," she believes, when the Warden School District shares its planning with the community.

The system improvement guide offers districts a usable, research-based framework for district planning, but the sense of urgency and the readiness were a product of Warden's own team effort. One middle school teacher found the recommendations promoted teamwork. "We know where we need to go.... We are working together, and it is making a difference," she said. The result is a more pervasive ownership for the school and district, allowing Warden to implement real, sustainable change.

On Washington's Olympic Peninsula, the 10,000-student South Kitsap School District used the eight-stage process in the system improvement guide to bring together 60 district and school leaders to develop systemwide ownership in a plan that aligns instructional goals and resources to meet the learning needs of every child.

To ensure the planning truly reflected school and district perspectives, the South Kitsap leadership team members consisted solely of educators who had previously served on a school leadership team. Superintendent Beverly Cheney said the process let South Kitsap "hit the ground running.... The agendas were clear and concise and, perhaps most important, the process was flexible."

Linda Munson, South Kitsap's director of special programs, said her greatest concern about implementing the guide's model was that "to meet the required planning timeline as defined by NCLB, the district had to skim over some areas they felt needed in-depth work," such as additional data collection and analysis. Now that the initial planning requirements for NCLB have been met, the team is revisiting the process and expanding its work in these areas.

Kennewick School District, a suburban district of 14,500 students in southwest Washington, has been deeply involved in reform for nine years. Superintendent Paul Rosier used the guide to analyze the work the district already had been doing. He said that filters such as the rubrics and guiding questions were used throughout the process of developing Kennewick's improvement plan.

The self-assessment tools confirmed that Kennewick had satisfied the criteria for the first five stages of the process and had a strong foundation for stages six through eight. Rosier believes one of the most important aspects of the system improvement model was the affirmation that Kennewick's past efforts have been productive and worthwhile and much of the district's previous work to improve student learning and achievement was aligned with the guidelines and assessment rubrics.

"While we did not use the guide in its entirety, and we made adaptations to the process that best fit our unique needs, we did not have to reinvent the wheel or spend time to create our own process," Rosier said. "The guide significantly reduced preparation time for the team and particularly for the team leader."

Making Strides

The challenges faced by Washington districts are similar to those being faced by school districts across the country. The rigidity of the NCLB standards has resulted in districts and schools being identified as failing when, in reality, many are making tremendous strides in student learning.

The value of the school system improvement process is that it provides a complete profile that identifies and celebrates the strengths of the work being done in each district and builds on those strengths. It also offers a roadmap in those areas districts identify as needing additional growth.

In summer 2005, the guide was revised to incorporate changes recommended by the participating districts. A supplemental section was added to expand resources to support special education and English language learning.

The power of the "School System Improvement Resource Guide" is that school district administrators developed it together. The unique partnership between the state education agency and the local districts reinforces the idea that improved student learning for every child is a shared value. The joint project is one more step in eliminating many of the barriers that traditionally exist between state agencies and the local districts they both regulate and support.

The guide created through this partnership is a quality research-based product that reflects the state's commitment to meet the educational needs of Washington's students and recognize the great work being done by local districts.

Finding the Guide

"The School System Improvement Resource Guide" can be downloaded from the website of the state education agency in Washington at www.k12. wa.us /SchoolImprovement/SSIRG.aspx.

The following reports are included:

* An analysis of how the research on high-performing districts aligns with Washington state's Nine Characteristics of High Performing Schools. It also can be viewed online at www. wasa-oly .org/ssirg/alignment.htm.

* "Characteristics of Improved School Districts: Themes from Research" by G. Sue Shannon and Pete Bylsma is a meta review of more than 80 research reports and articles that defines and explains themes found in districts that are making substantial progress on various student indicators.

Jill Jacoby is executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators, 825 Fifth Ave. S.E., Olympia, WA 98501. E-mail: [e-mail]