Characteristics of Successful Schools

CHAPTER ONE
What are the characteristics of Successful Schools?

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS

Definition

Evidence of success is found in the data related to student achievement, behaviors, demographics, programs, and staff perceptions. It facilitates decision making leading to the improvement of teaching and learning.

Rationale

Successful schools gather and use a variety of information (data) to improve teaching and learning. Data gathered becomes a basis for identifying areas of excellence and areas of need.

Key Ideas

1. Evidence both shapes a school's goals and documents progress.
2. Quality evidence uses multiple indicators to identify strengths or needs within a school.
3. Evaluate the quality of evidence according to recognized standards: reliability, validity, and generalizability.
4. While maintaining high standards for all students, monitoring achievement gaps for historically underserved students should be a primary goal; this gap should narrow significantly year after year. Closely monitoring disaggregated data and analysis are key to reducing gaps in students' achievement.

Successful Schools Have Professional Development That:

1. is directly related to preset goals and objectives.
2. is recent and relevant.
3. includes academic as well as other student behavior-related information (for example, truancy, attendance, dropout rates, and discipline referrals).
4. is derived from multiple sources.
5. brings about improved achievement results for all students.
6. is communicated in an easily understood way to the learning community.
7. is disaggregated and identifies achievement gaps relative to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, or income.

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For questions about this information, contact Molly A. Garner (608) 266-3983

Last updated on 4/2/2009 8:59:53 AM