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247
Administrators have organized a number of on-site professional development
opportunities throughout the year. The teacher workday prior to the start of school was
used to prepare teachers for more effective classroom management, to begin work on
academic vocabulary and begin collaboration. In November 2010, a state-funded staff
development day included presentations from core departments on what cross-curricular
support is needed to improve the lowest strands of student performance on CSTs.
Administrators have offered release days for teacher collaboration by department, and the
expectations is that there will be an additional departmental collaboration day by the end
of second semester.
The principal states that there is an expectation that professional development will
be ongoing as the Cirrus HS staff finds conferences that support their needs. An assistant
principal provides encouragement to teachers to find conferences that apply to their
subject areas and relate to the at-risk population served by the school. The ELD teacher
specialist also disseminates conference literature. The strategies that teachers learn at
these conferences are evaluated upon application in the classroom. If the teacher is
successful with the new strategies, they are shared with other teachers during a faculty
meeting. There are currently efforts being made to work with another high school in the
CUSD that is in PI to find highly recognized conferences.
Much of the energy for professional development and building skills in some
teacher leaders on campus has come out of the District’s involvement with the consulting
group Focus on Results. Members of the ILT meet monthly during FOR days to review
data, plan staff meetings and build leadership for school and district improvement. The
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 259 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 247 Administrators have organized a number of on-site professional development opportunities throughout the year. The teacher workday prior to the start of school was used to prepare teachers for more effective classroom management, to begin work on academic vocabulary and begin collaboration. In November 2010, a state-funded staff development day included presentations from core departments on what cross-curricular support is needed to improve the lowest strands of student performance on CSTs. Administrators have offered release days for teacher collaboration by department, and the expectations is that there will be an additional departmental collaboration day by the end of second semester. The principal states that there is an expectation that professional development will be ongoing as the Cirrus HS staff finds conferences that support their needs. An assistant principal provides encouragement to teachers to find conferences that apply to their subject areas and relate to the at-risk population served by the school. The ELD teacher specialist also disseminates conference literature. The strategies that teachers learn at these conferences are evaluated upon application in the classroom. If the teacher is successful with the new strategies, they are shared with other teachers during a faculty meeting. There are currently efforts being made to work with another high school in the CUSD that is in PI to find highly recognized conferences. Much of the energy for professional development and building skills in some teacher leaders on campus has come out of the District’s involvement with the consulting group Focus on Results. Members of the ILT meet monthly during FOR days to review data, plan staff meetings and build leadership for school and district improvement. The |
