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104
efforts to better communicate their school improvement efforts by developing urgent
statements in easy-to-read formats that are published in school literature and posted
around campus.
Changing the curriculum and creating a new instructional vision. Each school
in the study focuses on implementing its adopted schoolwide focus with fidelity and
scaling it up through all classrooms. Stratus HS has been the most successful of all the
schools in agreeing on a school focus and sticking with it over the years. Cirrus HS has
made strong efforts to take their instructional focus on academic vocabulary and
implement it in every classroom and even through cross-curricular lessons. Cumulus HS
has struggled with the buy-in of such a focus. In the past five years, the instructional
focus at the school has seen four different iterations. This has caused confusion and
burnout among the staff with the school improvement efforts. Teachers retreat to their
own classrooms to implement the strategies they see best fit their teaching style. This
lack of cohesion, while not present at all sites in this study, has created a segmented
approach to carrying out the schoolwide goals.
In a situation like this, strong leadership from the principal has been necessary to
reorient the school. Efforts to build the team and stick with the current focus of critical
thinking through reading and writing are just starting this year. It is still too early to tell
to what extent the instructional vision will impact student achievement at Cumulus.
As far as curriculum is concerned, all materials used in the three CUSD high
schools are district- and state-approved. Where no content standards were available until
recently (i.e. foreign language), district teams met to create local standards and aligned
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 116 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 104 efforts to better communicate their school improvement efforts by developing urgent statements in easy-to-read formats that are published in school literature and posted around campus. Changing the curriculum and creating a new instructional vision. Each school in the study focuses on implementing its adopted schoolwide focus with fidelity and scaling it up through all classrooms. Stratus HS has been the most successful of all the schools in agreeing on a school focus and sticking with it over the years. Cirrus HS has made strong efforts to take their instructional focus on academic vocabulary and implement it in every classroom and even through cross-curricular lessons. Cumulus HS has struggled with the buy-in of such a focus. In the past five years, the instructional focus at the school has seen four different iterations. This has caused confusion and burnout among the staff with the school improvement efforts. Teachers retreat to their own classrooms to implement the strategies they see best fit their teaching style. This lack of cohesion, while not present at all sites in this study, has created a segmented approach to carrying out the schoolwide goals. In a situation like this, strong leadership from the principal has been necessary to reorient the school. Efforts to build the team and stick with the current focus of critical thinking through reading and writing are just starting this year. It is still too early to tell to what extent the instructional vision will impact student achievement at Cumulus. As far as curriculum is concerned, all materials used in the three CUSD high schools are district- and state-approved. Where no content standards were available until recently (i.e. foreign language), district teams met to create local standards and aligned |
