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99
individual school sites as they adopt and personalize the reform strategies to the culture
of their schools. Throughout the duration of the FOR process, this has indeed been the
case as schools have taken ownership of their selected reform efforts.
As FOR came onboard, the sample schools had to develop an Instructional
Leadership Team (ILT) to guide the process of selecting a school focus and lead the staff
through its selected reform efforts. The ILT model had already been in place at Stratus
HS since 2000 and was comprised of the principal and two Standards Resource Teachers
(SRTs) in Math and English. Cumulus and Cirrus created their ILTs as a result of
participation in the FOR process. The composition of the ILTs at Cumulus and Cirrus
was primarily administrators, until recently when teachers from each department were
encouraged to participate.
The Superintendent at the helm of CUSD for the past seven years adopted one
instructional vision during his tenure and a catchphrase to go along with it: “It’s all about
student achievement!” His successor, who started the position in July 2010, has kept the
same vision. District administrators and the board of education believe the school
improvement process revolves around critical conversations. They encouraged each
principal and their team to look at data and challenge themselves and the students.
District leaders assured the principal that if student performance does not meet the
specified goals, “we are OK with that” so long as schools use multiple measures to assess
student progress.
Also, the CUSD leadership’s core belief that all students will learn drives the
instructional focus for all schools. As each ILT began to look at data and craft their own
Object Description
| Title | Navigating troubled waters: case studies of three California high schools' resource allocation strategies in 2010-2011 |
| Author | Landisi, Brian Anthony |
| Author email | landisi@usc.edu; blandisi@charter.net |
| Degree | Doctor of Education |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Education (Leadership) |
| School | Rossier School of Education |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-03-28 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2011-04-28 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Picus, Lawrence O. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Hentschke, Guilbert C. Nelson, John L. |
| Abstract | This study was conducted to examine instructional strategies and resource allocation in successful schools. The study was based on the analysis of three comprehensive high schools in one school district in Southern California. Each of the study schools increased students’ academic achievement over time as measured by sustained growth on California’s Academic Performance Index. The efforts of these study schools also contributed to narrowing the achievement gap.; Successful schools in this study were analyzed primarily through the lens of Odden’s (2009) 10 Strategies for Doubling Student Performance. In addition to effective organizational and instructional strategies, this study also analyzed human and fiscal resource allocation at the sample schools. The study used the Evidence-Based Model (Odden & Picus, 2008) to analyze how the schools allocated resources during 2010-2011, navigating a catastrophic economic crisis facing California and the rest of the nation. Interview data, student achievement data and information on school-level resource use were included in case studies on each of these successful schools.; The findings indicate that although the resource use patterns of the study schools were significantly fewer than what the Evidence-Based Model suggests, the improvement strategies showed many commonalities to those suggested in the body of literature on school improvement. Strong leadership from the district office supported the reform efforts at each of the school sites. This leadership came in the form of a single district focus combined with continuity of leadership, development and retention of talent within the district and a common school improvement framework.; A heavy investment of time and fiscal resources into professional development created a collaborative culture within and between the high schools in the study. The schools that were most successful in raising student achievement demonstrated a commitment to collaboration and embraced the role of teacher leaders. The most effective schools in the study had in place internal accountability structures to support the implementation of the school and district focus. It is the effective implementation of research-based strategies, not simply resource allocation that makes schools successful and contributes to further growth in student achievement. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. |
| Keyword | education finance; secondary education; educational leadership; budget crisis; instructional leadership; Odden and Picus; resource allocation; school finance; school reform |
| Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 2010/2011 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3797 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Landisi, Brian Anthony |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Landisi-4355 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume14/etd-Landisi-4355.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 111 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 99 individual school sites as they adopt and personalize the reform strategies to the culture of their schools. Throughout the duration of the FOR process, this has indeed been the case as schools have taken ownership of their selected reform efforts. As FOR came onboard, the sample schools had to develop an Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) to guide the process of selecting a school focus and lead the staff through its selected reform efforts. The ILT model had already been in place at Stratus HS since 2000 and was comprised of the principal and two Standards Resource Teachers (SRTs) in Math and English. Cumulus and Cirrus created their ILTs as a result of participation in the FOR process. The composition of the ILTs at Cumulus and Cirrus was primarily administrators, until recently when teachers from each department were encouraged to participate. The Superintendent at the helm of CUSD for the past seven years adopted one instructional vision during his tenure and a catchphrase to go along with it: “It’s all about student achievement!” His successor, who started the position in July 2010, has kept the same vision. District administrators and the board of education believe the school improvement process revolves around critical conversations. They encouraged each principal and their team to look at data and challenge themselves and the students. District leaders assured the principal that if student performance does not meet the specified goals, “we are OK with that” so long as schools use multiple measures to assess student progress. Also, the CUSD leadership’s core belief that all students will learn drives the instructional focus for all schools. As each ILT began to look at data and craft their own |
