New Assistance for Schools in

Need of Improvement

A Guide for Change Facilitators

A growing number of schools are recognizing the need for and seeking external assistance in building capacity to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP). Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools placed in mandated "school improvement" are required to obtain outside help. NWREL has just published A Field Guide for Change Facilitators Working With Low-Performing Schools to help individuals working with schools in the improvement process maximize their effectiveness. The guide also gives personnel involved in school change a knowledge base for finding a facilitator with the skills and experience to meet their needs.

a field guide for change facilitators working with low-performing schools

View on catalog

The guide is organized into four sections:

The Change Process in School Settings
The Role of the Change Facilitator
Skills and Effectiveness of Change Facilitators
Capacity Building for Leadership and Improvement

Each section begins with a school story—examples of relevant experiences derived from NWREL's fieldwork with actual schools. These school stories are threaded throughout the section to give real-world context to the various concepts. The manual also provides skill-development activities, strategies, resources, and bibliographies.

Because state education agencies are required by law to provide a system of intense and sustained support to schools that have not been able to meet AYP on their own, the Oregon Deparment of Education partnered with NWREL and Willamette and Douglas ESDs to provide professional development and other assistance to new change facilitators. During a recent four-day training for Oregon's "school improvement coordinators," the field guide was perceived as a valuable reference by participants. "We need to understand our new roles and be aware that change is not an instant process. The guide helps us see multiple points of view and reinforces how difficult it is to make systemic changes," says Cathryn Gardner, education specialist from the Oregon Department of Education.

To order A Field Guide for Change Facilitators Working With Low-Performing Schools, see our online product catalog at www.nwrel.org/comm/catalog/ or call 1-800-547-6339, ext. 519. For information on professional development for change facilitators, contact Steve Nelson [nelsons@nwrel.org].

AYP Restructuring Looms in Northwest Title I Schools

When a Title I school has not made adequate yearly progress (AYP) for five consecutive years, it is required by federal law to take action that may include replacing staff and curriculum, employing an external expert, providing extended learning time, or changing the organizational structure. The school district must also prepare a plan for "restructuring" that includes one or more of the following:

Reopen as a charter school
Reconstitute (replace all or most staff)
Contract with a management company
Turn over operation of the school to the state
Restructure school governance in other ways consistent with NCLB

NWREL's December 2005 Topical Summary, an educational planning and policy report, explores options for chronically low-performing schools facing sanctions. The report addresses the challenge of designing a restructuring plan that fits with the school, district, and state needs. In addition to meeting federal demands, the school needs to adhere to state laws. For instance, charter school law exists in some states, but not in others. In some states, takeover by the state education agency is against the state constitution.

The report contains an overview of Title I school corrective action and restructuring in the Northwest states and poses key questions for districts considering their options. Download a copy of this report at www.nwrel.org/free/.

| »Next Article | Front Page | NW Report Index |