Introducing the Theory and Practice of CSI

The theory and practice of continuous school improvement has many roots. The most fundamental of these is the recognition that rapid change in the influences on organizational effectiveness and the resulting uncertainty about effective practice requires that most public and private organizations become “learning organizations” capable of constant adaptation and continuing progress. The process of continuous improvement in schools focuses attention on discovering and successfully implementing ways to achieve core goals related to student learning. Because students vary so much in their learning needs and are greatly but unpredictably influenced by forces external to the school, effective educational practice is always problematic. This, in turn, means that the persistent and collaborative analysis of the reasons for differences between goals for student learning and actual student performance is the engine that drives coherent collective action in very good schools. It also means that change in effective schools is a constant. Organizations of all kinds are being urged to master the processes associated with the phrase “continuous improvement.” The phrase is meant to suggest that organizations work in steady, systematic fashion to improve their results. Typically, this emphasis also includes greater attention to distinct measures or indicators of outcomes, so there is renewed interest in developing good indicators that not only signal to external audiences how well the organization is doing but also supply information to members that help them make improvements in teaching and learning.

Some recent research on school effectiveness has essentially equated school effectiveness with continuous school improvement. This is not just a change in terminology, it reflects a growing awareness that schools that are effective, especially schools that serve low income students, are schools that engage in positive change overtime, that is, in continuous improvement. For example, the term "Learning Organizations" has gained increasing currency in examinations of effective schools. This change in the way effective schools are described by some researchers borrows from research on effective businesses. As you review readings about continuous improvement, you will see that the core ideas are related to research on school effectiveness.

Change and innovation are often seen as desirable goals by advocates of school improvement. However, how and why change and innovation occur may be more important than change itself or particular innovations. Much of the research on organizational change, whether it focuses on schools or other types of organizations, is based on the fundamental idea that effective organizations engage in collaborative problem solving focused on the systematic analysis of the gap between organizational goals and organizational performance. This means that effective organizations must continually call into question what is being accomplished and how the organization does its work.

•    Suzanne M. Stiegelbauer, Change has changed: Implementation for Implementation of Assessments from the Organizational Change Literature. Available at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/SysReforms/stiegel1.html. This study has been published by the U.S. Department of Education in the 1990's before NCLB but it emphasizes the role of assessment in facilitating change. It summarizes the relevant thinking over three decades and traces the evolution of different theories. By the early 1990's, consensus was building among experts that systemic approaches to change like the approach KEYS reflects are most effective.

•    Willis D. Hawley, Professor of Education and Public Policy, University of Maryland . Willis Hawley discusses the role data plays in inducing cognitive dissonance that can motivate continuous school improvement.

•    Recent thinking on the characteristics of schools capable of continuous improvement is examined by Kenneth Leithwood in Chapter 9 of The Keys to Effective Schools book.

Schools as Learning Organizations

The process of examining student performance and the conditions that influence effective teaching and learning, (e.g. as does the KEYS process) creates dissonance or disequilibrium that must be resolved. Effective organizations use the stress and tension that derives from continually reexamining both processes and goals in positive ways. Schools that effectively manage the tension and stress around the need to improve do so by fostering continuous learning for both school staff members and students. Hence the term "Learning Organizations".  The concept of Learning Organizations was popularized by Peter Senge, a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Senge's ideas from his seminal book, The Fifth Discipline, are summarized in an article entitled "Creating Learning Organizations", in NEA's, Doubts and Certainties published in 1992. To examine this resource, CLICK HERE.

    Can we scan this and use it as a resource?


How Much to Take On, How Soon?

In deciding what issues to engage in initiating a school improvement effort the choice of  objectives depends on many things. One of these, of course, is how serious the problem is. Some times severe problems demand resolution and need to be tackled even if they are very difficult. And, external demands may dictate particular actions that are very challenging. In other cases, it makes sense to pursue less challenging concerns that offer opportunities for success that will give people confidence in their ability to make improvements. Leaders who have to foster change, especially when the goal is to create conditions for continuous improvement, need to assess the disposition and capabilities of the people they work with, both in a school and among those outside the school who can influence change, in deciding on actions they propose be the focus of improvement efforts.

Earlier in this Step, the issue of readiness to change was discussed and tools for assessing readiness were identified.  The level of readiness may provide some guidance about how hard to push at the outset and what challenges will need to be addressed as you move forward. To return to the discussion of readiness, CLICK HERE.  [Link back to what will probably be page 3 of this Step]


•    Sam Stringfield, Professor of Education, University of Louisville. Sam Stringfield outlines several aspects of the change process that educators should keep in mind.

Leadership and Continuous School Improvement

•    The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory has a website with useful information about school improvement and leadership. www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le5dynam.htm
Among resources in the NCREL site is a one page summary of lessons learned about change by Michael Fullan, who is among the most prominent scholars studying educational change.
 
•    A useful source of insight about how leaders can foster school improvement that is particularly relevant to KEYS-CSI is a review of research, by Michael Knapp and his colleagues called Leading for Learning, commissioned by The Wallace Foundation. This review is applicable to district administrators, principals, and teacher leaders. The report, prepared in 2003, can also be viewed on line at: http://www.wallacefoundation.org/WF/KnowledgeCenter/KnowledgeTopics/EducationLeadership/LeadingforLearningTools.htm
There are other very useful reports available from the Wallace Foundation web site. In particular, "How Leadership Influences Student Learning" by Leithwood and Louis is worth reading.

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Research on Effective Schools


There are hundreds of studies on the characteristics of schools where students achieve at much higher levels than one would expect, given the social and economic conditions in students' lives. These studies tend to use different terms to describe the characteristics of effective schools but once one gets behind the differences in terminology, there is remarkable agreement about the essentials of school effectiveness. These essentials almost always include all or most of the conditions assesses by the KEYS survey and reflected in the KEYS-CSI process.

•    Larry Lezotte, a leader of the "effective schools movement" has written an overview of research on effective schools entitled "Revolutionary and Evolutionary: The Effective Schools Movement".

•    One of the most important studies of effective schools, which examined school reform efforts nationally, is summarized by Fred Newmann and Gary Wehlage, Successful School Restructuring: Executive Summary, Wisconsin Center for Educational Research, 1995. This study is available at http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cors/Successful_School_Restruct.html