Northwest Regional Comprehensive Center

The GAO recently released a report focusing on schools that have implemented restructuring programs to meet adequate yearly progress under NCLB. Based on the report's results, the GAO recommends a number of actions:

1. Secretary of ED should inform schools in corrective action when they may continue this corrective action rather than employ a new method
2. States should report information on corrective action activities taken by each school
3. ED should take additional steps to ascertain whether states are ensuring that districts provide the required assistance to schools

On December 7, 2009, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) held a forum in Washington, D.C. to discuss their five-year study of schools in restructuring under NCLB. The event included a discussion of CEP's research on schools in restructuring under NCLB in six states—California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New York, and Ohio—and in 23 districts and 48 schools within those states. Panelist included an official from the U.S. Department of Education, as well as education leaders from states and school districts, and principals of successfully restructured schools. This report summarizes the presentations and discussion at that meeting.

This report examines five schools that successfully restructured. By current accountability standards, these schools had long-documented histories of poor performance and failed efforts to improve. At each of these schools, multiple factors enabled them to kick the low-performance habit. The report looks at what these schools have done differently from the thousands of schools that languish in improvement status as well as what actors intervened to catalyze, change, or create an environment conducive to improvement.

The purposes of this Handbook are to survey the research related to statewide systems of support, to present the experience and insights of educational leaders in how such support can best be conducted, and to derive actionable principles for improving schools. It is intended for use not only by the staff of the U.S. Department of Education-sponsored Regional Centers that serve state department staff, but also by the staff of school districts and schools.

The Center on Innovation and Improvement (CII) recently released a report that draws on some of the lessons learned and best practices from the center’s work with various comprehensive centers striving to help states improve the functioning of their systems of support for districts and schools.

The report also uses the results from a national survey of school improvement directors conducted by CCSSO and CII across all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Finally, a case study of Ohio's decade-long efforts to develop a coherent, streamlined, and efficient system of support provides a firsthand account of work one state is carrying out to support student learning.

The Mid-Atlantic Equity Center has released a report examining the reasons districts close schools and the assumptions behind this strategy. It reviews the research on whether closing schools is likely to cause educational harm, exploring the potential benefits and harms of school closures on students, teachers, and the learning environment. It concludes with recommendations on the factors a district should consider when closing schools and suggestions on the measures school administrators can implement to mitigate the negative effects of changing schools.

The Center on Innovation and Improvement recently published a practice guide built on rubrics that assists states in evaluating their statewide system of support. The guide is targeted at states that have used, or are using, the Center's previously released resources: Handbook on Statewide System of Support, and Strengthening the Statewide System of Support: A Manual for the Comprehensive Center and State Education Agency.

This report by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) describes how districts are identified for improvement, and what happens when they are as specified in the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Center on Innovation and Improvement's report describing a framework for district capacity building and improvement is now available. Through the use of two illustrative case stories, the publication explores how districts can engage in rapid and sustainable improvement efforts. Included in the report is a summary of issues for consideration by states and districts focused on creating the conditions necessary to catalyze rapid and sustainable district improvement.