Office of Planning and Service Coordination
Regional Needs Assessment 2003
View the entire report as a PDF (29pp, 465k)
Executive Summary
No Child Left Behind Act Becomes Focus for Schools
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) appears to be the primary force driving the current and emerging needs of Northwest schools for educational research, development, technical assistance, and training. The law establishes a demanding timeline for schools to demonstrate full success in meeting academic standards—all students must be proficient in reading/language arts, mathematics, and science by the 2013—2014 school year.
Currently, more than one-fourth of the schools in the Northwest states are not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements, and for an increasing number it is their second consecutive year. Many of these schools are not impoverished Title I elementary buildings traditionally viewed as in need of improvement. For those that are, school improvement sanctions will take effect for a large percentage in 2004.
Most of these schools did not meet AYP because one or more subgroups of students did not meet the AYP performance objective, particularly special education and limited English proficient students. Given that schools must meet AYP objectives for subgroups between now and 2014, at the same time that targets for performance progressively rise, it is anticipated that a large and increasing number of schools will not be able to reach these targets in time and will enter improvement, corrective, or restructuring status.
Given the daunting performance objectives schools face, closing achievement gaps is likely to be the biggest hurdle in the region's efforts to achieve challenging standards for all learners. Other data sources suggest that this is an area of primary concern to educators as well. These data sources also provide guidance on what assistance educators need to help them address the challenge of bringing the performance of all students and the qualifications of all classroom educators up to standards.
One data source, the 2002 Educator survey, identified three areas that are special challenges to low-performing schools: fostering parental involvement, coming to agreement on responsibility for learning, and meeting diverse learner needs. In addition, there were other priorities that low-performing schools shared with their high-performing counterparts, including collaboration, professional development, using data for decisionmaking, and integrating technology into curriculum and instruction.
As part of its needs assessment effort, NWREL convenes an Advisory Committee Forum. In their review of the 2002 Regional Needs Assessment results, forum participants validated four priority areas identified in the 2002 study. These four areas indicate where NWREL's assistance is needed and is likely to be of the greatest benefit in helping schools to improve learning for all students. The areas include developing a vision and focus to address the learning needs of all students; using data and research to improve teaching and learning; supporting professional development and collaboration; and fostering school-parent-community partnerships to improve student learning. Forum participants further clarified what the priority assistance might look like.
Developing a Vision and Focus To Address the Learning Needs of All Students
The most obvious needs for NWREL research and development, technical assistance, and training are to address the problem areas that lead to school failure to achieve AYP in the Northwest. These include math, reading, and science instruction; English language acquisition; dropout prevention; regular attendance; and addressing the special learning needs of Hispanic, Native American/Alaska Native, urban black and low-income students.
More general areas of assistance recommended by the NWREL Advisory Forum participants include such things as developing a vision for student success that focuses on the whole child, learning from models of high-poverty/high-minority schools that are high-performing, addressing diverse learner needs, engaging students to take responsibility for their own learning, and creating smaller learning communities.
Using Data and Research To Improve Teaching and Learning
The use of data and research in school and classroom decisionmaking is essential to moving school improvement forward in more systematic ways. Comments from the Advisory Forum participants suggest that using data to drive instructional decisions is a recent paradigm shift for teachers. They said that many teachers are not enculturated in data use, and they need to see the benefit for their work and their students. They were also concerned that the current emphasis on evidence-based practices does not acknowledge the value of "practitioner wisdom" and the richness this wisdom can bring to classroom instruction.
Advisory Forum members identified a number of R&D, technical assistance, and training needs related to using data and research, for example: demonstrating how data and research can help improve teaching and learning; determining what factors contributed to not meeting AYP and how to address them; monitoring the process of improvement; and validating practitioner wisdom.
Given the number of schools that are expected to enter corrective and restructuring status under current AYP rules, states may welcome assistance in determining appropriate and effective corrective or restructuring actions, given a school's AYP needs and its unique contextual situation. Evaluating the outcomes of these actions will also be important.
Supporting Professional Development and Collaboration
It will take considerable leadership skill across schools and districts to make the kinds of changes required for all schools to achieve AYP. School leaders will need to be skilled in using data and research in decisionmaking, and in encouraging others to do so. They will require skill in leading change and in building collaborative relationships among staff and between the school, families, and the community. Forum participants suggested that principals and teachers in high-performing Title I schools should be recruited to help design and lead training sessions and seminars.
Forum participants indicated that two important elements for enhancing the quality of teaching and for moving necessary improvement efforts forward under NCLB were inservice professional development and collaboration. They said that effective collaboration requires a set of skills and processes with which many teachers have had little experience in their careers and, therefore, ongoing training and support to build these will be needed. They felt that collaboration should be recognized and legitimized as an effective professional development practice.
The main areas of R&D technical assistance and training recommended by forum participants and respondents to the Educator Survey include leadership for change; scientific-based strategies for teacher, administrator, and paraeducator professional development; monitoring the impact of professional development on student learning; effective collaboration skills; the implications of NCLB for the school and classroom; and integrating technology into teaching and learning. Forum participants suggested that online instruction and collaboration would increase access to professional development, especially for teachers and administrators in rural and remote areas.
Fostering School-Parent-Community Partnerships To Improve Student Learning
A large majority of survey respondents from low-performing schools said that increasing parents' involvement in their children's learning was an area where schools needed to focus much greater effort. NCLB acknowledges the important role of parents in supporting student learning, as well.
Survey respondents said that teachers and principals need to come to agreement on responsibility for encouraging and supporting school-parent partnerships, and be clear on what "effective parent involvement" looks like in supporting student success. They also said that the school, family, and community need to come to agreement on responsibilities for ensuring that students learn to high standards.
Specific areas for assistance with R&D, technical assistance, and training include implications of NCLB regarding parent involvement; successful models for outreach to families; clarifying what "good parent involvement" looks like; models for partnering with parents on ways to improve learning; effectively communicating expectations for student success; and helping parents interpret progress. In addition, schools that are in improvement status may benefit from assistance with establishing community supports to provide supplemental academic services for eligible students, including online services.