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227
hemorrhaging budget. All of the teachers were replaced, however. Unrelated to the
budget crisis, but equally significant, is the fact that the move into PI status resulted in
students moving to a neighboring high school—and generating a loss of 3.0 FTE. Many
of these FTE were regained as students returned to Cumulus at the semester. The
considerable Title I budget at the school has cushioned the staff from experiencing
dramatic changes at the school site.
Summary and Lessons Learned
Cumulus High School has made improvement possible for almost all of its
students. The API has increased schoolwide and for almost all subgroups. Still, the
glaring achievement gap cannot be ignored. Asian and Filipino students far outperform
their White, Hispanic/Latino, ELL and SPED counterparts. The gains that were made
early on in the school improvement process have leveled off.
Half of the White, Hispanic/Latino and socioeconomically disadvantaged
subgroups are not proficient in English, yet the school continues to move ten percent of
these students toward proficiency each year—an indication that the staff does indeed
have the capacity to make systemwide improvement possible. The greatest struggle lays
with English Language Learners and their lack of proficiency in English. This subgroup
continues to bear the burden for moving Cumulus High School into Program
Improvement status.
The staff’s collective responsibility for these struggling students is called into
question by the principal and observers. While efforts have been made to bring more
teachers into the fold in terms of decision-making, the message of school improvement is
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 239 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 227 hemorrhaging budget. All of the teachers were replaced, however. Unrelated to the budget crisis, but equally significant, is the fact that the move into PI status resulted in students moving to a neighboring high school—and generating a loss of 3.0 FTE. Many of these FTE were regained as students returned to Cumulus at the semester. The considerable Title I budget at the school has cushioned the staff from experiencing dramatic changes at the school site. Summary and Lessons Learned Cumulus High School has made improvement possible for almost all of its students. The API has increased schoolwide and for almost all subgroups. Still, the glaring achievement gap cannot be ignored. Asian and Filipino students far outperform their White, Hispanic/Latino, ELL and SPED counterparts. The gains that were made early on in the school improvement process have leveled off. Half of the White, Hispanic/Latino and socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups are not proficient in English, yet the school continues to move ten percent of these students toward proficiency each year—an indication that the staff does indeed have the capacity to make systemwide improvement possible. The greatest struggle lays with English Language Learners and their lack of proficiency in English. This subgroup continues to bear the burden for moving Cumulus High School into Program Improvement status. The staff’s collective responsibility for these struggling students is called into question by the principal and observers. While efforts have been made to bring more teachers into the fold in terms of decision-making, the message of school improvement is |
