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vision for their school, they were aware that the focus needed to be aligned with the
District priority for student achievement and operate on the premise that all students will
learn. To this end, Stratus HS identified its instructional vision: all students will
demonstrated growth in critical thinking as evidenced by a greater percentage of students
meeting the University of California /California State University (UC/CSU) a-g college
entrance requirements and increasing performance on state tests. Cumulus HS adopted a
similar instructional vision: all Cumulus High School students will demonstrate
measurable growth in their ability to think critically through content-specific writing and
reading comprehension tasks. At Cirrus, the school focus is to use academic language
and academic vocabulary to improve students’ English because the high school is the
primary place where Cirrus students use the language.
The FOR framework and the District philosophy is that each school needs to own
its own instructional vision. The process was not prescriptive, but it also has been fluid.
Schools are given the flexibility to revise their vision as needed. However, there is
evidence that each of the sample schools has chosen to stay the course with their
instructional vision, as each was adopted by their own faculty in a schoolwide vote. The
goal of creating such an instructional focus is to then align available school resources
around the focus statement for each school.
Resources used to implement the instructional improvement plan. District
leadership recognized that previously there were islands of excellence among the
CUSD’s high schools. Focus on Results provided a way for all schools to use the same
language when discussing student achievement. Perhaps the greatest change was taking
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 112 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 100 vision for their school, they were aware that the focus needed to be aligned with the District priority for student achievement and operate on the premise that all students will learn. To this end, Stratus HS identified its instructional vision: all students will demonstrated growth in critical thinking as evidenced by a greater percentage of students meeting the University of California /California State University (UC/CSU) a-g college entrance requirements and increasing performance on state tests. Cumulus HS adopted a similar instructional vision: all Cumulus High School students will demonstrate measurable growth in their ability to think critically through content-specific writing and reading comprehension tasks. At Cirrus, the school focus is to use academic language and academic vocabulary to improve students’ English because the high school is the primary place where Cirrus students use the language. The FOR framework and the District philosophy is that each school needs to own its own instructional vision. The process was not prescriptive, but it also has been fluid. Schools are given the flexibility to revise their vision as needed. However, there is evidence that each of the sample schools has chosen to stay the course with their instructional vision, as each was adopted by their own faculty in a schoolwide vote. The goal of creating such an instructional focus is to then align available school resources around the focus statement for each school. Resources used to implement the instructional improvement plan. District leadership recognized that previously there were islands of excellence among the CUSD’s high schools. Focus on Results provided a way for all schools to use the same language when discussing student achievement. Perhaps the greatest change was taking |
