Helping

New and Diverse

Students

Some urban school systems resemble a veritable United Nations with 100 languages and dialects spoken. As the number of nontraditional and diverse students steadily grows, schools are struggling to help them improve their academic achievement. The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory has just published a manual that offers schools a systematic plan for school improvement that meets the needs of these students.

Assessing School Preparation for New and Diverse Students provides a step-by-step guide to implementing the School-PASS (School Practices for All Students' Success) Survey and planning process. Both the survey and the planning process are designed to help schools learn more about their new and diverse students, along with the students' current level of school engagement and achievement. The process also helps schools to analyze how well they're currently supporting these students and to set priorities among areas for improvement.

Co-authors Gary Nave and Lena Ko note that there are other schoolwide assessments that focus on English language learners, student motivation, and equity. However, the School-PASS assessment brings all those issues together. "We attempted to create something that didn't compete with school improvement processes that schools are already doing," says Nave.

The publication covers steps to obtaining staff member buy-in to the process; collecting and analyzing student data; completing the Student-PASS Survey; discussing and analyzing survey results; and developing action items with schoolwide consensus.

The survey—with 87 items that address key areas of student development and influence—is included in the manual, along with sample results from field test sites.

"Staff members want their voices heard," observes Ko, "and everyone can have a voice in the survey, which is a quick, 20-minute exercise. It provides a framework to talk about the data, what you do with it, and how to find resources."

Ko and Nave tested the survey and planning process at several Northwest schools, including Riverside Middle School. The Billings, Montana, school has a higher enrollment of American Indian and Hispanic students than other middle schools in the community and struggles with poverty and high mobility. "As a result of the survey, teachers realized they wanted to learn more about individualized instruction and they decided to get sheltered observation training," says Nave.

In addition to the survey, the manual offers research background on the educational challenges faced by new and diverse students and how to address the academic achievement gap. Annotated resources are included so teachers can delve further into the subject. You can purchase a copy of Assessing School Preparation for New and Diverse Students online at our Products Catalog Online.