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Utilizing gap analysis to examine the effectiveness of high school reform strategies in Rowland Unified School District

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Utilizing gap analysis to examine the effectiveness of high school reform strategies in Rowland Unified School District

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UTILIZING GAP ANALYSIS TO EXAMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HIGH
SCHOOL REFORM STRATEGIES IN ROWLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

by

Dale Folkens

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2011

Copyright 2011 Dale Folkens

ii

Dedication

I dedicate this dissertation to my wife Kim. Without your support to begin this
venture it would not have been started. Without your encouragement it would not have
been completed. It has been a struggle, and it would not have been possible without you
being there to guide and comfort. Thank you for your love and support in following my
dreams.
I also dedicate this dissertation to my sister Glynna. I wish that you would be
able to be here for graduation but I will rest in the faith that you will be watching and that
you will hear my name called for graduation.

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Acknowledgements
As you will see, this thematic dissertation has been an effort on the behalf of
many individuals all contributing to the overall success of the project team. First, I
would like to thank my inquiry teammates Cuauhtémoc Avila and Mary Laihee, whose
efforts, support, and encouragement have been valuable. Secondly, thank you to the
larger Rowland Unified inquiry team. The ability to share our findings, ideas and
strategies proved beneficial for all three teams. The entire Marsh/Rueda dissertation
team also provided the ability to share advice, thoughts and to provide new perspectives
to our work.
I would also like to thank my dissertation committee. My chair, Dr. Robert
Rueda, and my committee members Dr. David Marsh and Dr. Michael Escalante, have
been supportive, helpful and patient. They were a source of guidance and direction and
kept the light at the end of the tunnel continuously illuminated.
Finally, this project would not have been possible without the tremendous
cooperation of the Rowland unified School District, especially the assistance and support
of Superintendent Dr. Maria Ott, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Rob Arias and Assistant
Superintendent Dr. Chris Ericson and the supportive staff members at Nogales and
Rowland High Schools.

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Table of Contents

DEDICATION ....................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................iii
ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER ONE ..................................................................................................1
Background ..............................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem .........................................................................3
Importance of the Problem.......................................................................4
Purpose of the Project ..............................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................7
Introduction .............................................................................................7
Literature Review.....................................................................................13
Methodology ............................................................................................27
Description of the Project.............................................................27
Purpose of the Project ..................................................................27
The Gap Analysis Model .............................................................28
Inquiry Approach .........................................................................30
Data Collection .............................................................................36
Executive Summary .....................................................................45
Presentation to Rowland Unified .................................................45
Findings ...................................................................................................47
Introduction ..................................................................................47
Summary of Positive Activities ...................................................48
Root Causes: Knowledge ............................................................53
Root Causes: Motivation ..............................................................56
Root Causes: Organization ...........................................................60
Summary ......................................................................................66
CHAPTER THREE .............................................................................................68
Proposed Recommendations Based on Best Practices.............................68
Literature Review.....................................................................................69
Goals ............................................................................................69
Resources .....................................................................................74
Implementation and Accountability .............................................76

v

Narrowing the Focus ....................................................................80
Developing Teacher Capacity ......................................................84
Cultural Settings ...........................................................................86
Build Upon the Positive Perceptions............................................86
Strengthen the Community Relationships ....................................89
Summary of Recommendations ...............................................................94
Goals ............................................................................................95
Resources .....................................................................................96
Implementation and Accountability .............................................97
Cultural Settings ...........................................................................103
Implications to Professional Practice .......................................................104
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................105
APPENDICES .....................................................................................................115
A: Inquiry Team Timeline .......................................................................115
B: Assistant Superintendent Interview Questions....................................116
C: Scanning Interview Questions.............................................................117
D: Scanning Interview Table ...................................................................119
E: Stages of Concern Interview Questions ..............................................122
F: One Month Interview Questions..........................................................123
G: Data Codes ..........................................................................................124
H: Implementation Rubric .......................................................................125
I: Implementation Rubric Table ...............................................................127
J: Executive Summary .............................................................................129
K: Proposed Solution Power Point Presentation ......................................137
L: Power Point Presentation References .................................................156
M: Glossary of Key Terms ......................................................................158

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Abstract
This alternative capstone dissertation project was undertaken by a three-person
project team that followed a consulting model. The Roland Unified School District
requested that the project team analyze the implementation of its three reforms—
Partnership with the Ball Foundation, English Learner Instructional Support Leads, and
Three Essential Priorities—at the district‘s two high schools, Nogales (NHS) and
Rowland (RHS). The two major goals of this project were the following: (1) determine if
there exist current gaps in the implementation of the three district reforms; (2) if
performance gaps are identified, provide the RUSD with a set of recommendations based
on scholarly research that addresses the root causes of these performance gaps.
For this project, the Clark and Estes (2002) gap analysis model was the most
viable among several available process models designed to assist organizations such as
school districts improve their performance. The principles of the gap analysis model
focus on goals, performance gaps, and solutions.
This project focused primarily on the current level of implementation of district
reforms. The review of existing documents and conversations with staff members
revealed several positive findings and emergent themes. More importantly, the
conversations revealed that while currently some performance goals are being met; many
other performance goals have not been made clear or have not been identified and,
therefore, are not being met. Barriers within the four emergent themes, associated with
knowledge, motivation, and organizational processes and resources, appear to be
responsible for the low to moderate level of implementation of district reforms thus far.

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Chapter One
Background
This project focused on examining causes related to the differences in
achievement levels and the perceptions of effectiveness of two high schools in a large
school district. The following section provides a look at the national and statewide
context, as well as historical background for this problem, and the importance of this
issue from those perspectives.
Educational access, academic performance, and educational attainment remain the
centerpieces of educational reform policies at the federal, state, and local levels.
Following the landmark 1954 court decision, Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education
(which declared racial segregation in Southern school systems unconstitutional), federal
policies in particular have aggressively sought to remedy the practice of providing
unequal educational opportunities to particular groups of students—a practice that in
many cases had been tolerated by state and local policymakers (Kirst, 2004). During the
past five decades, the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act of 1965 (ESEA), the
Coleman Report, A Nation at Risk, Goals 2000, and the Improving America‘s Schools
Act have radically shaped the culture of American education, creating a culture that
currently seeks educational excellence for all students through academic standards,
funding equity, and systemic accountability (Darling-Hammond, 2008).
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 is the latest and most
comprehensive of all educational policies that have followed the Brown decision (Crane,
Rabinowitz, & Zimmerman, 2004; McDonnell, 2005). NCLB addresses access,

2

performance, and attainment with provisions driven by standards and accountability, to
hold schools and districts accountable for teacher quality, instructional practices, and
student performance (Stecher, Hamilton, & Gonzalez, 2003). Specifically, NCLB
intends to improve student outcomes by establishing and measuring against academic
performance standards, with the expectation that 100% of all students perform at the
proficient or advanced level in reading and math on state adopted standardized tests by
the end of the 2014 school year. The ultimate goal of this federal mandate is to afford all
students a quality education and access to post-secondary careers.
In response to the standards-based accountability context set by NCLB, school
districts across the country continue their aggressive efforts to successfully implement
comprehensive reform strategies to meet this federal policy‘s noble but daunting
expectations, especially those expectations that pertain to student performance. Popular
school reform strategies aimed at engendering academic parity among all student groups
typically include some combination of curricular alignment, building teacher capacity,
reading and math interventions, common formative assessments, and targeted resources
(Tongeri & Anderson, 2003; Carter, 2002). An important part of these efforts is the need
to use a data-based approach, as it is central to improvement (Datnow, Park, &
Wolhstetter, 2007). In education, the use of data assure that the right problems or barriers
to student performance are being targeted; that resources are used most effectively; that
solutions are implemented; and that solutions are monitored and adjusted on a continuous
basis.

3

Statement of the Problem
In spite of the accountability mechanisms of NCLB and the many accountability
provisions found in state and district policies (which include relentless oversight or
financial incentives), the problem of establishing parity in educational access, academic
performance, and educational attainment among all student groups remains elusive. At
the national level, traditionally described minority and economically disadvantaged
students continue to trail their White and Asian counterparts on various achievement
tests, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NCES, 2007). For
example, in 2007 44% of White and 46% of Asian students in Grade 8 were proficient or
above in reading, compared to only 13% of Blacks and 16% of Latino students. In math,
51% of white and 67% of Asian students in Grade 8 were proficient or above, while only
12% of Blacks and 17% of Latino students scored at this performance level. This
disparity in academic performance between ethnic groups corresponds to a veritable
disparity in educational attainment. In 2006, for instance, Whites registered a dropout
rate of 5.8%, Blacks 10.7%, and Latinos—although a decrease from previous years—a
rate of 22.1% (NCES, 2007).
In California, trends in student performance and educational attainment in recent
years have striking similarities to those observed at the national level. Data from the
2007 California Standards Test (CST) reveal that 62% of White and 64% of Asian
students were proficient in English-language arts, compared to only 36% of Blacks and
26% of Latino students. In math, 36% of Whites and 45% of Asian students performed at
the proficient or above level, compared to only 23% of Blacks and 16% of Latino

4

students. As for educational attainment, in 2007 White students posted a dropout rate of
8%, Asians 5.5%, Blacks 23.9%, and Latino students18.3% (California Department of
Education, 2010).
Importance of the Problem
It is imperative that policymakers and educational leaders find solutions to to
bring parity in educational access, academic performance, and educational attainment
among all student groups, to keep America vibrant and competitive in global economic
markets (California P-16 Council, 2008). Addressing and meeting the educational
shortcomings of ethnic minorities must be the national priority, given that current labor
patterns show a growing demand for well-educated, technology savvy workers with
strong cognitive skills—skills that include abstract reasoning, problem-solving, and
effective communication (Karoly & Panis, 2004). This demand for a better-prepared
workforce intensifies at a time when the percentage of ethnic minorities in U.S.
population exceeds 33%. With Latinos being the fastest growing of all ethnic groups, the
PEW Institute projects that by the year 2050, Latinos alone will represent 30% of the
population (Pew Institute, 2008). In other words, 30% of America‘s population alone
will be comprised of an ethnic group with a history of low academic performance and a
high dropout rate.
These market and demographic trends are especially critical to school districts
that serve ethnic minorities—especially the districts that oversee one or more of the
nearly 2,000 high schools nationwide that are deemed ―dropout factories‖ for having
dropout rates that exceed 40% (Tucci, 2009)—as these school districts have a moral

5

obligation to successfully address current educational practices to improve the academic
performance and educational attainment of ethnic minorities, particularly among Latinos.
If ignored, these trends will likely produce an educational and economic breakdown of
catastrophic proportions, as the number of students who fail to meet proficiency
standards or dropout of school altogether will skyrocket, producing a workforce that is
cognitively anemic and incapable of sustaining the nation‘s economic vitality. This ill-
prepared workforce will in fact adversely impact the American economy by exacerbating
the ongoing financial losses exclusively attributed to low academic performance, which
reached a staggering $2.5 trillion between 1990 and 2002 (World Bank, 2007).
The current dissertation project was undertaken by a three-person project team
that followed a consulting model which focused exclusively on the implementation of the
district‘s reforms at the district‘s two high schools—Nogales (NHS) and Rowland (RHS).
The purpose of the project was to analyze three school district reforms—Partnership with
the Ball Foundation, English Learner Instructional Support Leads, and Three Essential
Priorities—in an effort to identify the root causes of student performance gaps. The
major goal of this project was to provide the Rowland Unified School District with a set
of recommendations based on scholarly research that addresses the root causes to
maximize the impact of its reform efforts at the two high schools.
Purpose of the Project
The team specifically analyzed a variety of sources of data to determine what
currently prevents Nogales High School and Rowland High School from being highly
effective as measured by state and federal academic performance and educational

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attainment standards, including the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE)
passing rates, Academic Performance Index (API) benchmark of 800 points, Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks, graduation rates, SAT and ACT participation and
passing rates, and college-going rates, among others. The analysis concluded with a set
of viable recommendations on how the school district can maximize the impact of its
reform efforts to achieve district goals. The team was guided by the following four
questions:
What were the school district's goals?
What did key role groups in the school district perceive to be the root
causes/gaps and possible solutions?
What root causes/gaps were identified?
What solutions were proposed, and how did clients in the school district
respond to the proposed solutions?

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Chapter Two: Literature Review
Introduction
The project team referenced a number of research methods, studies, and published
data to analyze the reform efforts that are currently being implemented at the RUSD,
particularly at Nogales and Rowland High Schools, to identify possible root causes which
will be utilized to structure the inquiry within the district. The team anticipated that the
data obtained through the reported channels will be evaluated against research-based
scholarly works. As the analysis of the educational practices at the RUSD unfolded and
the performance gaps were examined, solutions to the performance gaps that were
supported by research and applicable to the existing organizational culture of the RUSD,
as well as to the cultures of the two high schools, will be recommended.
This review is organized conceptually around three areas of literature which are
most relevant to the identified problem. These areas are use of data, linking resources to
improvement, and professional development. Key findings from each of these areas were
presented and aligned with possible root causes of the performance gaps. These findings
were used to form the foundation for the inquiry data collection and analysis, which
focused on the actual root findings uncovered in RUSD.
Use of Data
The use of data is instrumental in determining whether or not school practices are
having their intended impact. Data, especially student achievement data from formative
and summative assessments, are critical in the decision making process to improve
student outcomes (Datnow, Park, & Wolhstetter, 2007). For example, formative

8

assessments—defined as assessments for learning and may include quizzes, verbal
questioning, and weekly or monthly tests—are designed to assist teachers in guiding
instruction by revising lessons, detecting student weaknesses, giving feedback, and
establishing a classroom and school-wide culture for learning (Ainsworth & Viegut,
2006; Black & William, 1998). Meanwhile, summative assessments, defined as
assessments of learning and may include assessments administered at the end of a given
time period, such as a quarter, semester or school year (Ainsworth & Viegut, 2006), can
be a school-wide performance indicator and, when disaggregated, can guide a school‘s
decision-making process in a number of areas, including budgeting, staffing, intervention
programs, and under-performing students. Whether relating to student performance,
teacher performance, or school expenditures, data are instrumental to the improvement
process.
Linking Resources to Improvement
Increasing financial resources alone will not improve performance outcomes
(Hanushek, 2003). While the use of data is indispensable to inform improvement efforts,
such information is incomplete without financial alignment. The key to improvement lies
in the schools‘ effectiveness in aligning their financial resources to the improvement
efforts that are more likely to engender performance (McEwan & McEwan, 2003). Since
there exist school-level factors (viable curriculum, challenging goals, collegiality, and
professionalism, etc.) and classroom-level factors (instructional strategies, classroom
management, curriculum design, etc.) that affect student improvement (Marzano, 2003),

9

it would be prudent for schools to conduct data analysis in such areas and align resources
where it is warranted.
A school facing a teacher capacity concern may determine that professional
development might be the answer. In doing so, the school should then ask the following
questions: Is the proposed professional development plan for teachers at the school
worthwhile both fiscally (actual cost) and intrinsically (benefit to the staff)? That is, is
the plan economically feasible to pursue given the school‘s budget? Is the plan equal to
or more effective than alternative interventions/strategies, including the existing ones,
with respect to improving student performance? The answers to these questions are
ascertainable through cost-analysis that compares the expenditures on interventions
between the current school year and costs for the proposed one-year professional
development plan. This analysis should give the school a clear picture of how well the
school is linking resources to student achievement. Based on this work, one possible root
cause for low achievement in high schools is the existence of a school culture that is not
highly conducive to teaching and learning.
Professional Development
The possible contributing factor to knowledge and skill gaps in instructional
capacity is the lack of knowledge and professional development (Colbert, Brown, Choi,
& Thomas, 2008). Teacher professional development is indeed a viable, albeit indirect,
intervention to improve student achievement. Marzano et al. (2005) make the poignant
revelation that, in many instances, lack of effective practices are not the result of lack of
effort, but a fact that school personnel are not focused on doing the "right work" (p. 76).

10

This misalignment could be a lack of knowledge of the right work, or could be attributed
to a misalignment of organizational goals (which will be discussed in a subsequent
section). Professional development is a form of social capital with the potential to
change teachers‘ perceptions about their individual and collective self-efficacy and, in
turn, becomes a differentiating factor in the academic success of a school (Hampton &
Gruenert, 2008; Zambo & Zambo, 2008).
To enhance their knowledge and skills, however, teachers have to see what
effective instruction looks like in the classroom, with such living examples modeled by
colleagues with whom they can identify (Fearn & Faman, 2007). Echoing this sentiment,
Mariage and Garmon (2003) argue that professional development must alter teaching
practices in order to improve student achievement. Essentially, when professional
development is focused (Marchant, 2002) and interventions translated into manageable
and comprehensible teaching strategies and procedures (Gersten & Dimino, 2001), it has
a greater propensity to impact student performance. As a result the work may indicate a
possible root cause of fragmented implementation of professional development or the
need for increased accountability regarding the implementation.
A Framework for Institutional Problem-Solving
The project team participated in an alternative capstone dissertation in
conjunction with the Rowland Unified School District (RUSD). The alternative capstone
dissertation is a collaborative effort between the project team and the local school district.
From the outset of the project, the team‘s efforts focused on developing mutual trust and
open communication with the school district.

11

For this project, the gap analysis model (Clark & Estes, 2002) served as the
framework for institutional problem-solving. Because of its systematic approach, the gap
analysis model was useful in identifying and targeting performance gaps that stemmed
from a lack of knowledge and skills, a lack of motivation, and/or a lack of tools, facilities,
and effective processes within the organization.
In an initial meeting RUSD personnel identified their perceived achievement gaps
and asked for the project teams‘ assistance in validating or refuting their postulations.
The gap analysis framework brought to light two distinct gaps in the RUSD. The first
gap is between the performance of the RUSD schools and the external performance goals
set forth by federal and state mandates. The second and more intriguing gap is the
performance of the RUSD schools as compared to themselves—in particular, the two
district high schools, Nogales and Rowland. On the surface, it would appear that the
staff, students, and community of a relatively small geographic area would be similar.
The expediency of the gap analysis process, therefore, is in unearthing the root causes in
knowledge, motivation, and organization that contribute to the gap between Nogales and
Rowland High Schools.
Hence, the instrumental component of the gap analysis is the keen examination of
root causes. This step promotes efficiency and accuracy in problem solving by thwarting
hasty solutions that shortsightedly attribute performance gaps to individuals whose
performance is dependent on other variables (e.g., student performance is dependent on
teacher effectiveness). It follows that the identification of performance gaps and root
causes can lead to solutions, or at least to possible solutions, depending on the

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circumstances surrounding the problem. For example, a school experiencing low student
achievement may, through gap analysis, discover that one of the causes behind its low
tests scores is the presence of a motivation gap among students. A possible solution to
address this deficiency is to implement a series of school-wide activities to motivate
students.
The use of data, linking resources to improvement, and professional development
are all three essential for assessing the effectiveness of implementation of reform
strategies. The aforementioned literature provided a common framework which
individual members of the project team utilized for independent literature review. The
framework for problem-solving described became the foundation for research using the
following literature which will focus on the history of disparity in education, the impact
of culture on education, and achievement gaps within the United States as well as
international achievement gaps.

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Literature Review
The ―American Dream‖ revolves around opportunity. Education is the key to
knowing what opportunities exist as well as knowing how to make the most of the
opportunities. The American Dream and the Public Schools (Hochschild and
Scovronick, 2003) examines how public education has become a hindrance to those
striving for their ideas of the dream. They argue that while the school systems are
necessary to make the dream work, it is also the area in which many first fail. Hanushek
& Lindseth (2009) assert that ―The importance of education in American life is difficult
to over-estimate…It is the key for most people to experience the ―American Dream‖ (p.
1).
The American high school experience has long been considered the
transformative period in the lives of adolescents. Often it is through the experiences
during individual‘s high school years that personal dreams and visions begin to develop
from the roots of childhood dreams. It is during high school that paths are charted toward
the achieving of these goals. High school sits at the junction between not just K – 12 and
higher education (Barth, P., 2001), but of childhood and adult life as well.
The modern high school must not only empower students to pursue these goals,
but must also equip the student to compete for these same goals in a global market.
Pursuit of the dream requires that public education must translate the dream and vision
into a practice and reality.
A common argument against efforts and reforms being implemented is that there
lacks the knowledge, ability, or the courage to institute large scale reform. In the mean

14

time students are moving through educational systems that most would agree need
improving and ―By trying to accomplish too much, we have sacrificed opportunities for
small, cumulative improvements‖ (Hochschild and Scovronick, 2003, p. 129).
Acknowledging that something must change in the educational system is only the
beginning. Knowing what to change and how to change are the crucial elements. Katie
Haycock and Sandra Huang (2001) explored the how schools can better prepare students
for life after high school. Their findings included the following critical action steps:
Get up-front agreement on the central goal of high school education.
Eliminate curricular paths that do not equip students with the skills they
need to obtain the postsecondary education they will inevitably need.
Assure that all teachers are masters of the subject matter they are teaching.
Require a high level of rigor in high school assignments.
Break large schools into smaller learning environments that are more
personal for both students and teachers.
These suggestions only scratch the surface of elements that need addressing, but they
begin the process of focusing the goal of high school on preparing students to be able to
compete in life after high school in their communities, as well as meeting the demands of
the international marketplace.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, Brown v. the Board of Education is the
quintessential school reform movement. The issues of desegregation will be addressed
later in this chapter, but first a closer look at global rivalries. Inequalities within one‘s
own country or family are tolerated to a greater extent than when compared to one‘s

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rivals. Shortly after the Brown decision there was an external compulsion to reform the
nation‘s educational system.
With the successful launch of the Sputnik, the Soviet Union was the global leader
in the space and technology arena. In the post World War II era, the United States was
alone (at least in their own eyes) at the top of the world in regards to technology which
was a result of their educational system. Now there became a new competition and not
just a rival in the science and technology fields but an enemy of democracy and the
American way of life. The Soviet Union was leading the space race, and spreading
communism through the land. The American government decided they must act quickly
to ensure life, liberty and the pursuit of democracy. It would no longer to suffice to be
better than the world, but it must be proven. Future studies and educational reforms
would begin to compare students to their counterparts, not just across town, but across the
oceans. These studies are highlighted by the Equality of Educational Opportunity,
commonly referred to as the Coleman Report (1966), A Nation at Risk (1983), and most
recently the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (1995 with
additional reports every four years).
Each of these studies had a different emphasis on school reform, and a different
view of the root causes of the achievement gaps within the American educational system.
The Coleman report assigned the short-comings of students squarely on the student and
their families stating that ―almost all of the test score gap is attributable to the widely
varying social and economic conditions of the students‖ (Hanushek & Lindseth, 2009).
Marzano summarizes the report by simply explaining that ―schools account for only

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about 10 percent of the variance in student achievement – the other 90 percent is
accounted for by student background and characteristics‖ (2003).
During the 1980‘s the space war was in full swing between the United States and
the Soviet Union. In 1983 the National Commission on Excellence in Education study A
Nation at Risk found a different cause for the achievement gap. It was no longer the
student, their race or their culture that led to achievement gaps; it was the school system
itself. If the United States was to be a global superpower the educational system would
need reforming. The authors place the blame directly on the schools saying: ―We
conclude that declines in educational performance are in large part the result of disturbing
inadequacies in the way the educational process itself is often conducted‖ (Hanushek &
Lindseth, 2009). The A Nation at Risk study described the educational system as
―…cafeteria style…in which the appetizers and desserts can easily be mistaken for main
courses.‖ This style of education has continued into the 21
st
century as schools continue
to blend the purpose of high school from education to job preparation.
The absence of a clear and coherent vision for high school can send mixed
messages to the students and community about what goals are essential. Equally
important is the impact that a lack of vision can have on the teachers, counselors and
local education agencies as they make decisions and implement practices to educate the
students. Regardless of the student, their culture and the school they attend the purpose
for high school, should be: that all graduates will be ready to pursue postsecondary
education and training without remediation (Haycock & Huang, 2001).

17

It is generally acknowledged that American high schools are not nearly as good as
they need to be…In this report, we examine three schools that serve mostly low-income
or minority students. Two of the three schools are performing in the top tiers of their
respective states; the other is one of the fastest improving high schools in its state
(Education Trust, 2005).
In 1995 the TIMSS report showed that the United States was nowhere near the
global leader in producing well educated students. The TIMSS report, A Nation at Risk,
and the Coleman Report each contributed to the No Child Left Behind Act, as the leaders
of the country desperately sought solutions to the ills of the educational system.
This connection (or disconnect) between the educational system and student
learning has led Hanushek and Lindseth (2009) to identify what they deem as an
―Element of causation‖. They assert that ―We may as a matter of policy want schools to
compensate for student deficits arising elsewhere. Indeed, the faith in schools to level the
playing field for children was behind the US efforts to bring about universal public
schoolings …At the same time no one can seriously claim that the magnitude of existing
achievement gaps has been caused by the schools‖ (p.129). They do not discount the
impact that schools have and can have on educating students, but they also acknowledge
that the achievement gaps are a result of multiple factors including race, gender, and
economics.
The American educational system might be standing by watching the world go
by. Newton‘s first Law of Motion states that an object at rest will stay at rest until acted
upon by an unbalanced force. The rest of the world has been acting and the data does not

18

indicate that the United States is responding to the impetus being created. Consider these
findings from (Haycock & Huang, 2001).
High school completion rates have remained the same for nearly 30 years.
After decades of leading the world in high school completion rates, the
United States currently ranks 17th.
The situation is hardly more encouraging for what students know and can
do.
Despite some improvements in the reading skills students bring with them
to high school, today‘s high school students are reading no better when
they leave than did their peers a decade ago.
In math and science, where recent gains among 17 year olds have been
widely celebrated, it turns out that those gains are attributable to
improvements below grade 8. (3)
These patterns of underachievement have significant costs both to the
students themselves and to the colleges and employers that receive them.
Returning to the concept of desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education rests
largely on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution
(Hanushek & Lindseth, 2009). Efforts for desegregating America‘s schools have focused
on the collective goals of the American dream of education (Hochschild & Scovronick,
2003). Schools are designed to teach the standard curriculum, but an added benefit of
community schools is that they teach students ―life‖. Children, as well as adults, learn
from their environment. Students that attend desegregated schools are more likely than

19

others to become desegregated adults. Hochschild & Scovronick also state ―school
desegregation may also make communities better off (p. 42).
In the Brown v. Board of Education decision the court made the observation on
the costs of segregation: ―To separate [children in schools] from others of a similar age
and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their
status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to
be undone.‖ Desegregation has been our nation‘s most direct effort at comprehensive
school reform as well as an attempt at cultural reform. Changing the culture of a nation,
state, community or local school is a daunting task. Individual and collective ideologies,
goals and variations of the American dream can clash at every turn.
If the American public truly believed that schools were not able nor expected to
be able to overcome the gaps caused by poverty and discrimination, ―we would be
condemning a whole group of people to not getting an education. We [would be]
condemning our Black and Hispanic youth to menial jobs — at best — and to never
attaining the American dream‖ (The power to change, 2005).
A factor in the sustainability of school reform is the culture of the school
(district). ―Schools with shared vision and cultures of communication and shared
decision making, and schools that involve teachers in the design of an innovation, are
more likely to sustain innovation‖ (Sindelar, Shearer, Yendol-Hoppey & Liebert, 2006).
Before a culture can be changed it must be defined. When discussing school
culture the term culture is often used to describe the overall direction and atmosphere of a
school. This includes the mission, purpose and vision of the school as well as the

20

underlying personal cultures that each individual brings to the school community
(Gaining traction, gaining ground, 2005).
Traditional organizational culture is described as: 1) the shared beliefs,
perceptions and expectations of the individuals within the organization, 2) the key to
impacting organizational behavior, 3) a barrier to change, and 4) a reason for failure of
change initiatives (Boan, 2006). The first two descriptions are positive. The culture of
the organization is made up of the shared ideology of those in the culture and leads to the
behavior of the organization. The last two descriptions provide a negative view of
organizational culture, but a view that must be acknowledged; that the cultures of an
organization present barriers and cause failures of reforms. Understanding that culture is
both the direction that an organization is heading, and the entity that can prevent the
organization from reaching its goals is a crucial realization for beginning any reform
effort.
Culture has the unique characteristic that it is created by the individuals and the
collective organization while they are being impacted by the culture. The development of
organizational culture has been compared to Cognitive Behavior Modification (CBM) as
a theory that can explain how ―the individuals‘ actions are being reciprocally determined
by the environment‖ (Boan, 2006, p. 52).
Boan further contends that the focus of a culture extends beyond how each
individual internalizes the culture, but also to how the groups of people interact to
mutually construct the organization. The interaction of the individuals in turn impacts the
organizational decision-making process in both positive and negative directions.

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There is no single greater impact on student achievement than he individual
teachers in the classroom. This is especially true for students that are on the wrong side of
achievement gaps. Lasting improvements in overall student achievement and in closing
gaps will only be achieved when districts increase their number of effective teachers and
place them in the areas of greatest need (Jupp, 2009). Unfortunately many high-poverty
schools employ teachers with less experience and fewer advanced degrees than low-
poverty schools. This indicates that more experienced, and more educated teachers are
gravitating toward more affluent schools.
When discussing building a culture, or guiding the development of a culture, it
must be remembered that cultures and goals of the individuals combine to create a
collective culture with collective goals. All organizations share collective goals. School
districts share collective goals. School sites share collective goals. Hochschild and
Scovronick state that ―most Americans believe, in principle, that interaction in the
classroom and playground is the best way for children to learn to appreciate, or at least
deal with people different from themselves‖ and that ―collective goals are best achieved
when ―students are educated together regardless of variations in ethnicity or race, gender
or religion, ability or disability, background or beliefs.‖ (2003, p. 134).
Within the culture of the school setting there are also sub-cultures. The general
goal for all schools is student learning. Students learn by being taught. The culture of
teaching has a large impact on the collective culture of any school. Stigler & Heibert
(1999) make the connection between school culture and teaching by referring to a
school‘s culture as the DNA of teaching (xii). While most people have not studied to be

22

teachers, most have been students, and bring those ideas into their own descriptions of
teaching. Teaching is a cultural activity and is learned through informal participation
throughout life, just as other cultural activities are assimilated into our learned behavior.
Stigler and Heibert explain the fact that the act teaching is a cultural activity and
therefore contributes to the resistant to change among the teaching profession. It is not a
matter of adapting a new technique on concept, but changing the cultural tendencies that
teachers have engrained into their personalities, individual cultures and their collective
cultures. Understanding the cultural nature of the teaching profession may give new
insights for attempts at educational reform. ―Cultural activities are, highly stable over
time, and they are not easily changed… First, cultural activities are systems, and systems
can be very difficult to change. The second reason is that cultural activities are
embedded in a wider culture‖ (p. 97)
Molding the culture of education, the culture of teaching and the culture of
learning is a daunting task. It begins by knowing the direction which the reform should
influence for the organization. Reform initiatives for the sake of change, or for the sake
of obtaining additional funding often result in misdirection and counter-productive
efforts. Knowing why, what and how to implement reforms are individually just as
crucial elements to reform strategies as the others.
Everyone, students as well as the adults that guide education must continually
learn to keep up with the inevitable changes in society and technology. Daggett states
that ―The rules and regulations under which these schools operate are held over from a
time that has passed. The old rules simply do not apply‖ (Daggett, 2004, p.1). If the

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United States expects its‘ children to compete educationally with their peers from around
the globe, education must take efforts to reform its practices. More importantly, on the
domestic front, education is the most important weapon to break the cycle of poverty that
traps large numbers of students and their families (Hanushek & Lindseth, 2009).
There is an achievement gap in the United States, but there is also an income gap
as well. Hanushek reports that 12.3 percent of all American citizens lived below the
poverty line and that 17 percent of children under the age of eighteen live in poverty.
There is a correlation between education and income. Typically the argument is made by
explaining the greater opportunities for wealth with the higher level of education
obtained. Using Hanushek data it is possible to draw additional comparisons. Twenty-
one percent of adults with less than a high school diploma are in poverty compared to 4
percent of those with a college degree.
Data from the U.S. Census indicate that about 82% of individuals age 18 – 19
have completed high school. Unfortunately that is the good news. This also means that
about 18% of these young adults have not completed high school. Additionally, of those
that have finished high school, only about 72% earned a regular diploma, with rest
earning a GED or other certificate of equivalence (Haycock & Huang, 2001).
Armed with this data, it seems strange that education cannot encourage more
students to earn their education. If earning an education has defined benefits, yet students
are choosing different options, we must consider why. Students are faced with economic
choices that demand their attention. Some students must assist in providing for their
families, other students are raising families of their own, and yet others do not see a value

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in education. It is important that staying in school and the education that students receive
is of enough value to the individual that it makes the most economic sense (Hanushek &
Lindseth, 2009).
If we understand that education needs reforming, whether to stay current with the
21
st
century, or for economic value, we must now figure out what elements of education
must be changed. Willard Daggett (2004, p. 2) states that in reforming high schools, we
must re-create a vision of the purpose of high school. He identifies four roles of modern
education:
1. Fostering intellectual development.
2. Preparing students to be informed, caring, and productive citizens.
3. Preparing students for higher education.
4. Preparing students for the world of work.
Each of these roles of education can be adapted to all students regardless of their
individual educational needs and goals. Each of these purposes for education serves a
greater goal for the student than the ability to recite poetry, or to understand a periodic
table. These skills are directly tied the students future. There becomes an innate value
for learning when individuals can internalize the greater collective goals to their own
individual goals.
Achieving goals and attaining success varies for every individual. There are three
types of success: Absolute, relative, and competitive (Hanushek & Lindseth, 2009).
Absolute success is defined by reaching some pre-determined level of status (gaining a
specific knowledge, earning a specific score, or a passing grade). Relative success is

25

based on attaining more than someone else (earning a higher grade or being in a
particular percentile). Both of these levels of success encourage all participants to strive
for higher levels of success, whereas the third type of success, competitive success is
focused on attaining success at the expense of others (being selected as valedictorian or a
scholarship recipient). Unfortunately, much of what is deemed as success in education
resides in the last two types of success. That schools and students are only effective
when they score better than others. Whether it is the selection of valedictorian and
salutatorians, class ranking, or the school-wide API scores, accreditation status, and
rankings, we as a nation find value in our schools as they compare to others, not on their
own merit. True success should be determined by absolute success. How well does a
student or a school perform on their own merit. In the context of the schools being
studied, this would imply that students and staff at each school would be measured on
their own growth and accomplishments, not on whether they are better than the other
school.
Knowing that education needs reforming, and understanding why reform is
needed, leads us to the how of reform. Reform strategies must begin with data analysis.
Much like a gap analysis, reform can only be measured if a baseline measurement has
been established. Schmoker (1999) simplifies this concept by stating that ―You cannot
fight what you cannot see‖ (p.44). Efforts to identify target areas for growth must be
identified before reform measures are implemented. The commonality of all effective
reform efforts is that they must contain goals. Effective goals should be measurable and
drive decision making and implementation (practice). Well-designed goals will lead not

26

only to the attainment of the goals but can also contribute to the overall culture of an
organization as they have worked together to achieve common success. The success of
schools and the educational process depends upon how reform measures are selected,
defined, and measured as they are implemented.
The term ―Kaizen‖ describes the effort needed for reform (Schmoker, 1999).
Kaizen is the Japanese word that means having an ongoing spirit of concern of
incremental but relentless improvement. If a reform effort is to find success it must
embody kaizen. The effort must focus on small measurable changes, and be unyielding
in its pursuit of improvement.
This literature review examined the causal factors that may affect the
implementation of effective comprehensive school reform at both the district and school
site levels. Using the Clark and Estes (2002) gap analysis model there are three types of
gaps (knowledge, motivation and organizational culture) that can lead to
underperforming. The knowledge gap may be the result of the historical precedents that
have been established and the underpinnings of ―separate but equal‖ rights to education.
Motivational gaps can be rooted in the value placed on education in various cultures,
including the culture of teaching. The final gap, organizational culture, my stem from
both of the previous mentioned gaps, but also is indicative of the culture clashes that can
be found within school communities and the efforts taken to meld the cultures together.

27

Methodology
Cuauhtémoc Avila, Dale Folkens, and Mary Laihee
Description of the Project
The Rowland Unified School District, which serves a predominantly ethnic
minority student population, has responded to external pressures to improve student
achievement with a comprehensive school reform effort to support good instruction,
enhance learning at the elementary and middle school levels for Latino students, and
make its two high schools highly effective in both perception and reality. This alternative
capstone project was undertaken by a three-person team that followed a consultant
model. The project team focused exclusively on the implementation of the reforms at the
district‘s two comprehensive high schools—Nogales and Rowland. The project team
utilized the Gap Analysis model, which identifies goals and measures progress being
made toward those goals. The project consisted of three stages: (1) collection of data
through structured interviews, referenced against educational best practices and outcome
data; (2) data analysis and interpretation; and (3) presentation of recommendations.
Purpose of the Project
The purpose of this project was to analyze three school district reforms—
Partnership with the Ball Foundation, English Learner Instructional Support Leads, and
Three Essential Priorities —in an effort to indentify the root causes of student
performance gaps. The major goal of this project was to provide the Rowland Unified
School District with a set of recommendations based on scholarly research that addresses
the root causes to maximize the impact of its reform efforts at the two high schools.

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The Gap Analysis Model
For this project, the Clark and Estes (2002) gap analysis model was the most
viable among several available frameworks designed to assist organizations, such as
school districts, improve their performance. The principles of the Gap Analysis model,
which focus on performance gaps and attribute them to the absence of knowledge,
motivation, or organizational resources, are highly applicable to school reform.
Accordingly, district goals and potential performance gaps within its reform efforts were
analyzed from such perspectives. Essentially, then, this framework was selected for its
potential to support the RUSD in identifying solutions to help it meet federal and state
benchmarks related to student performance.
Goals
The Gap Analysis model is an effective tool for explicitly communicating goals.
The model emphasizes alignment of goals at the global, intermediate, and performance
levels. A global or business goal provides a vision for the organization, is broad in scope,
and may take years to accomplish (e.g., a school district‘s mission statement).
Performance goals can be either intermediate or current. An intermediate performance
goal is moderate in scope, may take weeks or months to accomplish (e.g., a curriculum
unit plan), and usually involves a group or team. A current performance goal is narrow in
scope, may take hours or days to accomplish (e.g., a classroom lesson), and is usually
performed at the individual level. Effective performance goals ultimately support the
global goal and are clearly defined to enhance focus to the task. (For this project, one of
the team‘s objectives was to examine the perception of performance goals and determine

29

if they were appropriate.) Once an effective performance goal is defined, measures and
standards are identified for benchmarking.
Gaps and Roots
To determine a performance gap between a desired goal and actual performance,
the present level of performance is subtracted from the standard or desired goal. From
this precise problem statement, a thorough analysis of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational barriers follows. The instrumental component of the gap analysis is the
keen examination of root causes. Because of its systematic approach, the gap analysis
model is useful in identifying and targeting performance gaps that stem from a lack of
knowledge and skills; a lack of motivation; and/or a lack of tools, facilities, and effective
processes within the organization. This process promotes efficiency by thwarting hasty
solutions that shortsightedly attribute performance gaps to individuals whose
performance is dependent on other variables (e.g., student performance is dependent on
teacher effectiveness).
Solutions
It follows that the identification of performance gaps and their root causes can
lead to solutions depending on the circumstances surrounding the performance gap. For
example, a school experiencing low student achievement may, through Gap Analysis,
discover that one of the causes behind its low tests scores is the presence of a motivation
gap among students. A possible solution to address this deficiency is to implement a
series of school-wide activities to motivate students. However, the school may discover
that there also exists a motivation gap among teachers, which must first be addressed and

30

closed before addressing and closing the gap among students. In either case, knowing the
root causes of current gaps in performance is fundamental in targeting effective solutions.
Inquiry Approach
Clark and Estes‘ (2002) gap analysis model will govern the exploration and
analysis of performance gaps and their solutions. The model identifies three types of
gaps that lead to underperformance: knowledge, motivation, and organizational barriers.
Accordingly, the team will reference literature that addresses each of these areas to
intensify their analysis and substantiate their solutions and final recommendations.
The first type of gap is knowledge. Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) categorize
knowledge into four dimensions: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.
Understanding the knowledge dimensions better informs the diagnosis of the knowledge
gap and allows for a more tailored solution. Four types of knowledge and skill solutions
are available to address knowledge gaps: information, job aids, training, and education
(Clark & Estes, 2002). Choosing the most appropriate solution is dependent upon the
knowledge dimension that is lacking.
The second type of gap is motivation. Motivated performance can be described
by three indicators: active choice, persistence, and mental effort (Schunk, Pintrich, &
Meece, 2008). Recognizing the motivation indicators allows for a more precise diagnosis
of the motivation gap and, thus, a more adapted solution. To address the motivation gap,
Mayer (2008) outlines four factors that influence motivated performance: interest, self-
efficacy, attributions, and goal orientation.

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Because the project team has identified professional development as a best
practice, Social Cognitive Theory will serve as the foundation for the knowledge and
motivation solution analyses. The theory posits that vicarious learning is necessary to
capture complex skills that cannot be learned through enactive learning alone (Schunk et
al., 2008). Therefore, models should be chosen based on relevance, credibility, and
competence (Gredler, 2005). Other tenets of the theory include giving accurate feedback
and setting proximal goals to increase learners‘ self-efficacy (Pintrich, 2003; Schunk et
al., 2008).
The third type of gap is organizational culture. Clark and Estes (2002) state that
―missing or inadequate processes and materials can prevent the achievement of
performance goals,‖ (p. 103) no matter how motivated or knowledgeable people may be.
The solution analysis for organizational culture will be founded on Bolman and Deal‘s
(2003) four-frame conceptual model. This framework is a collection of four distinct
perspectives that serve as lenses to bring organizational culture into focus, allowing
managers to reflect on experience to stimulate the decision-making process. The
structural frame represents top-down leadership, authority that governs with rules,
policies, and rationality; the human resources frame centers on human needs and building
relationships; the political frame focuses on interactions between interests groups that
bargain and negotiate power; and the symbolic frame is characterized by the use of
symbolism to discern meaning out of events and activities amidst ambiguity and
uncertainty—i.e. rituals and celebrations (Bolman and Deal, 2003). The team will apply
the principles of the four-frame model to ascertain meaning from the educational

32

dynamics observed at the RUSD, seeking to explain why certain educational best
practices are present while others are not. Additionally, the team will use the model to
interpret the set of recommendations that it will present to the RUSD at the conclusion of
the project.
Creating an Advantageous Partnership with RUSD
From the outset of the project, the team‘s efforts focused on developing mutual
trust and open communication with the school district, which were critical to the project‘s
success. First, the team explained the gap analysis framework to school personnel to
establish transparency in its methods. The team affirmed institutional areas of strength to
build on this trust, genuinely recognizing the district‘s current school reform efforts.
Then the team discussed general performance gaps at the two high schools and conveyed
the rationale for using the Gap Analysis model.
Second, the team displayed a graphic organizer of the gap analysis process to
indicate possible opportunities for school personnel at each level to take ownership of the
district‘s reform process. For instance, the team judiciously included school personnel in
directing the problem statements in terms of goals, standards, performance indicators, and
gaps to ensure alignment with the district‘s mission or business goals. Additionally, it
was critical for school personnel to view the performance goals as concrete, challenging,
and current because goals that are easily measurable, reasonably ambitious, and short-
range are more appealing to work toward and easier to measure their progress (Clark &
Estes, 2002).

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Third, the team reminded staff members throughout the project that although the
Gap Analysis model is theoretically sound, in practice it may require several cycles in
order to completely close or eliminate performance gaps. This is certainly true in
education. For example, student learning is impacted by many factors, some of which are
within the control of schools, while many more factors are outside of their reach. The
project team explained that the confluence of factors illustrates that the Gap Analysis is to
be thought of as a process and not as a quick fix.
Context of Current Performance Gaps
The Rowland Unified School District is located in the San Gabriel Valley and
serves students in grades K-12 from several local communities, including the cities of
Rowland Heights, City of Industry, and parts of the cities of La Puente, Hacienda
Heights, and West Covina. The school district serves a linguistically and ethnically
diverse population of approximately 16,500 students. For example, Latino students
account for 60% of the student population, followed by Asians students at 20.8%,
Filipino students at 8.3%, White students at 3.7%, and African American students at
2.4%. Of the district‘s total population, 34.1% were classified as English Language
Learners (ELL). (R-30 Report RUSD, 2009).
The RUSD is currently recognized as a good school district as measured by
numerous awards, including 4 National Blue Ribbon Schools, 1 listed in Newsweek
Magazine‘s America‘s Top High Schools, and16 California Distinguished Schools.
However, the district's API score of 777 remains below the state standard of 800, the
minimum score required to be considered a high-performing district. Additionally,

34

during the 2009-2010 school year, the district entered year one as a Program
Improvement District under NCLB accountability guidelines for not meeting district-
wide AYP benchmarks among its Hispanic/Latino, socioeconomically disadvantaged,
and English language learner sub-groups for a second consecutive year.
The two high schools serve relatively different populations of students. For
example, of the total student body at Nogales High School, Latino students account for
77% of the population, followed by Filipino students at 10.7%, Asian students at 3.46%,
African American students at 3.29%, and White students at 2.5%. Additionally, 67% of
the student body is represented by students considered to be socioeconomically
disadvantaged, and 27% of students are classified as English Language Learners (NHS
SARC, 2009). Meanwhile, of the total student body at Rowland High School, Asian
students account for 44.5%, while Latino students account for 35.6%. The remainder of
the population is represented by Filipino students at 8.6%, Whites students at 7.3%, and
African American students at 3.0%. In addition, 37% of the student body is considered
be socioeconomically disadvantaged, and 18% of the students are classified English
Language Learners (RHS SARC, 2009).
RHS is currently a California Distinguish School, a National Blue-Ribbon School,
and a World Baccalaureate School, but based on data from 2009 remains below the
State‘s API standard of 800, albeit, by only three points with a score of 797. Also, the
school failed to meet the AYP benchmark in English language arts among its English
language learner sub-group. NHS is a World Baccalaureate School, but based on data
from 2009 remains below the State‘s API standard of 800, with a score of 695. Also, the

35

school failed to meet the AYP benchmark in English language arts among its
Hispanic/Latino, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and English language learner sub-
groups. Additionally, the school failed to meet its AYP in math among its English
language leaner sub-group.
Outcome Data
Outcome data will consist of demographic data and quantitative summative
outcome data. Data and information will be retrieved from sources that include School
Accountability Report Cards (SARCs), Data Quest, and self-studies and exit reports
produced during the accreditation process with the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges (WASC). This quantitative data will be triangulated with qualitative data
collected during planned interviews with staff, students, parents and community
members.
The School Accountability Report Card (SARC) is mandated under The
Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act of 1988. Each public
school in California is required to prepare an individual SARC and make it available to
the public. The SARC communicates the school‘s demographic information and
academic progress as measured by student performance outcomes on various
achievement tests (California Department of Education, 2006).
Data Quest is the data collection system used by the California Department of
Education. Data Quest collects a multitude of demographic and testing data to generate a
number of school, district, and state level reports available to the public. These reports
are rich sources of information related to the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)

36

system, California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), Academic Performance Index
(API), and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is the governing body
that oversees the Accrediting Commission for Schools. Accreditation is designed to
strengthen schools in the delivery of educational programs through a process titled Focus
on Learning (FOL). As part of the FOL process, a school is required to carry out
comprehensive self-study, which produces valuable insight about the quality and
effectiveness of the school‘s instructional programs, as evidenced by student performance
and educational attainment outcomes (WASC, 2010).
In addition to exploring the quantitative sources of data discussed above, the team
will conduct a series of interviews with key individuals and select focus groups to expand
our analytical purview. Information obtained through focus groups is widely accepted
because focus groups produce believable results, given that participants provide checks
and balances on each other, screening out false or extreme views (Kreuger & Casey,
2000). In academic settings, focus groups have been effective in identifying the needs,
attitudes and perceptions regarding educational programs and services (Stanley, 2007).
Data Collection
Interview Protocol
It was critical for the team to review the district‘s topic of exploration for this
collaborative alternative capstone project, as it was instrumental in helping the project
team maintain a procedural balance between the overall goals of the project and the
interview process. The team scheduled a planning meeting in early February of 2010 to

37

review the project‘s overall goals and develop a plan with strategies to collect the data
needed to accomplish the goals. The team reached five conclusions: (1) the first round of
interviews must target key informants to scan for themes related to district reforms and
student achievement; (2) the interview questions must be aligned to district reforms; (3)
the interviewees must be made aware of the project‘s purpose; (4) the project team must
establish trust with all interviewees, especially during the initial round of interviews with
key informants. The team thus created a letter that included a summary of the project‘s
goals, process, and team contact information to be given to each interviewee prior to the
official interview, along with a template of the Gap Analysis process model; and (5) the
interviews must be electronically recorded and the data transcribed into a common data
table within three days of the interviews. With regard to the fourth conclusion, the team
created a letter that included a summary of the project‘s goals, process, and team contact
information to be given to each interviewee prior to the official interview, along with a
template of the Gap Analysis process model.
Preparing for the Interviews
The project team went through a four-step process of preparation for the
interviews. Step one was to review pertinent documents, including quantitative data,
obtained from the school district to become reacquainted with the project‘s overarching
goals and ensure that such goals were aligned with the initial scanning interview
questions. The second step was to have mastery level understanding of the fundamentals
of research design and the mechanics of effective interviewing per Patton (2002), and
mastery level understanding of the principles involved in the change process espoused by

38

Hall and Hord (2005). The third step was for each team member to simulate the
interview process by conducting mock interviews with each other, with a significant
amount of time dedicated to practicing probing questions. Adjustments to the interview
protocol were made after a careful and critical analysis of the mock interviews. The
fourth and last step was to coordinate the first round of interviews with the project team‘s
district liaison.
Purposeful Sampling
In order to effectively analyze the level of implementation of the three district
reforms, identify root causes of the performance gap in the implementation of reforms
(which could possibly contribute to the student performance gap on standardized tests as
measure by state and federal benchmarks), and generate a set of viable recommendations
to close the performance gap, it was imperative to know the extent to which the reforms
were being implemented at various levels of the organization: the central office, school
sites, and classrooms. Hence, the sampling for this project was purposeful and criterion-
based (Patton, 2002). This sampling method ensured that data from specific categories of
staff members responsible for, or who should be knowledgeable about, reform
implementation at the district‘s central office (e.g. Superintendent, Assistant
Superintendent of Schools, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources), the two
school sites (e.g. principal, assistant principals, learning director, counselors, support
personnel), and the classrooms (e.g. teachers and instructional assistants) could be
collected through a series of structured interviews. The targeted sample size was 25 (n =
25), and included four central office administrators, two principals, one assistant principal

39

(learning director), two counselors, two English Learner Instructional Support Leads, two
clerical staff members, nine core department chairs, and two instructional assistants.
In addition to the data collected through structured interviews, the project team
gathered and reviewed data and information from extant resources to expand its
understanding of the district‘s reform efforts. These resources contained demographic
and summative outcome data for the school district at large and data germane to each of
the two high schools exclusively. Such resources included the School Accountability
Report Cards (SARCs), Single Action Plans for Student Achievement, and the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) self studies and exit reports. The
qualitative data collected through the structured interviews was triangulated or referenced
against the quantitative data collected from extant resources to maximize the validity of
the findings, and to align the final recommendations to reliable research. The data
collection phase of the project was conducted between March and May of 2010
(Appendix A).
Scanning Interviews
Scanning interviews are intended to provide a general overview of the topic being
explored. The project team conducted seven scanning interviews with key informants
from the district office and the school sites, focusing on district goals and current reforms
that targeted student performance (Appendix B, Appendix C). The superintendent,
assistant superintendent of human resources, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, the
two high school principals, and a learning director were interviewed during this stage of
interviewing. All interviews were scheduled between 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. on March 31,

40

2010 and April 1, 2010 at the district office. Team member one interviewed three staff
members, team member two interviewed two staff members, and team members two and
three jointly interviewed one staff member. The project team transcribed and analyzed
the interview data to identify emergent themes (Appendix D).
Stages of Concern Interviews
Stages of Concern interviews are intended to identify an interviewee‘s level of
concern related to the implementation of a plan, program, or other expectation. The level
or type of concerns are deciphered from interview responses and categorized as concerns
associated with awareness, information, personal impact, management, or consequences
of the reform being implemented (Hall and Hord, 2005). The project team conducted
eleven structured interviews (Appendix E) designed around the anticipated emergent
themes from the scanning interviews to measure existing patterns of concerns. The
interviews were conducted with five teachers and three clerical support staff member
from Nogales High School. From Rowland High School the team interviewed one
teacher, one clerical staff member and one instructional support staff member. The
interviews were conducted between 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 29, 2010 in the
school‘s main office and school library. The project team transcribed and analyzed the
interview data to facilitate the classification of levels of concerns.
One-month Interviews
One-month interviews (Appendix F) provide information associated with an
interviewee‘s fidelity and intensity of implementation by measuring the degree to which
the interviewee plans and implements a plan, program or other expectation over the

41

course of a given month (cite). The team structured the One-month interviews around
emergent themes ascertained during the scanning interviews with key informants, and
hoped to gauge the level of implementation of the three district reforms being examined.
At Nogales High School the team interviewed an assistant principal, three teachers and
one counselor. A counselor, four teachers and a clerical staff member from Rowland
High School were interviewed between 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 29, 2010 in the
school‘s main offices and school library. The project team transcribed and analyzed the
interview data to measure the degree of planning, and therefore the fidelity to the
implementation of the reforms.
Data analysis involved the following procedures. The recorded responses were
transcribed into a data table and the roots/causes were coded (Appendix G), as knowledge
(K), motivation (M), and organization (O) issues to identify emergent themes. Next, the
data was scored against an Implementation Rubric (Appendix H) in order to gauge
current implementation of the reform effort and its sustainability. Additionally, the Stages
of Concern data was coded to correspond to the interviewee‘s feelings about the reform
(0: Awareness, 1: Informational, 2: Personal, 3: Management, or 4: Consequence)
(Appendix I).
Innovation Configuration
An Innovation Configuration is the act of adapting, modifying, and or mutating
aspects of an innovation, where there is variation along a continuum from being very
close to what the innovation is supposed to look like to what is nearly unrecognizable
(Hall & Hord, 2005). An Innovation Configuration Map (ICM) identifies the major

42

components of an innovation and then describes the observable variations of each
component. The project team created an ICM with three components (high, medium, and
low) and four dimensions (challenges and concerns, fully implemented, common culture,
and sustainable use) to measure the degree of implementation of each the three district
reforms. The project team collected the analyzed data from each of the levels of
interviews, measured it against the ICM, and charted the data on a summary reform
implementation chart.
Confirmation of Data
Sufficiency and Accuracy
The project team needed to reassure that sufficient and accurate data were
collected to make reliable inferences from the findings, and thus, recommendations
consistent with current research in knowledge, motivation, and organization theories. For
a second time the team reviewed data from extant resources, scanning interviews, Stages
of Concern interview, One-month interviews, and the Innovation Configuration Map data
summary chart to certify the sufficiency and accuracy of the collected data. It was
determined that the data was sufficient and accurate to make reliable inferences and
correlations between the findings and the recommendations, and between the
recommendations and the recent literature. To reaffirm this determination, the team
briefly re-interviewed three district level administrators with follow-up questions to
clarify several points related to the specificity of the three reforms being examined.

43

Challenges
Several challenges limited the depth and scope of the project. First, the project
did not constitute a traditional study and, therefore, interviewing students was not
permissible. Interviewing students could have afforded the project insightful information
concerning the impact of the implementation of reforms on learning. Second, the
timeframe to collect the data was limited to only several months and was, thus,
insufficient to allow for multiple visits to the schools for general campus observations
and silent participation in various committee and stakeholder group meetings. Such
observations could perhaps have enhanced the team‘s understanding of the dynamics
surrounding the emergent themes. Third, the time of year in which the data were
collected (March-May) encompassed the district‘s state exams testing window and
WASC visitations for the two schools. Thus, scheduling the interviews and interviewing
energetic staff members was rather challenging. Collecting data during a less intense
time of year at the two schools would have been more conducive to optimal conditions
for data collection and perhaps a richer quality of information.
Human Subjects Considerations (Provided by Dr. Robert Rueda)
The purpose of this alternative capstone project was to provide assistance to a
specific school district on issues of practice identified by the district administration. The
intent of the project was not to produce generalizable knowledge, as in a traditional
dissertation, but rather to document activities carried out in the process of providing
consultation to the district on these issues. Therefore, this project is not considered as
research and therefore does not fall under the guidelines for research designed to produce

44

generalizable knowledge. The following sections from a University Institutional Review
Board (IRB) publication clarify the status of the present project:
Federal Regulations define research as ―a systematic investigation, including
development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to
generalizable knowledge
1
‖ (45CFR46.102(d)). As described in the Belmont
Report
2
―...the term 'research' designates an activity designed to test a hypothesis
[and] permit conclusions to be drawn... Research is usually described in a formal
protocol that sets forth an objective and a set of procedures to reach that objective.
―Research‖ generally does not include operational activities such as defined
practice activities in public health, medicine, psychology, and social work (e.g.,
routine outbreak investigations and disease monitoring) and studies for internal
management purposes such as program evaluation, quality assurance, quality
improvement, fiscal or program audits, marketing studies or contracted-for
services. It generally does not include journalism or political polls. However,
some of these activities may include or constitute research in circumstances where
there is a clear intent to contribute to generalizable knowledge. (Office for the
Protection of Research Subjects, p. 2)
Further clarification is provided in the following section:

1
"Generalizable knowledge" is information where the intended use of the research findings can be applied to populations
or situations beyond that studied.

2
The Belmont Report is a statement of ethical principles (including beneficence, justice, and autonomy) for human subjects
research by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

45

Quality improvement projects are generally not considered research unless there
is a clear intent to contribute to generalizable knowledge and use the data derived
from the project to improve or alter the quality of care or the efficiency of an
institutional practice. (Office for the Protection of Research Subjects, p. 4)

Executive Summary
After the initial data analysis was completed and the project team had established
emergent themes with the root causes a meeting was held with the leadership team at
RUSD. The purpose of the meeting was to provide the team with an executive summary
(Appendix J) of our findings to that point. The executive summary presented a brief
background of our work as well as a summary of the identified performance and
achievement gaps. It also provided what the inquiry team found to be the root causes of
the identified gaps. The project team met with the Superintendent and the Leadership
Cabinet which includes the assistant superintendents and directors.
Presentation to Rowland Unified
As part of the project team‘s partnership with RUSD, the team agreed to present
their completed project to the superintendent and her team. A Power Point presentation
(Appendix K) was created in conjunction with the two other project teams working with
the school district. The presentation included an initial set of slides that would frame the
inquiry project and highlight the commonalities found among the three teams. Each team
then presented their findings and solutions. The presentation was made by one group

46

member for each team. After each team presented their findings and solutions, the whole
team was available for questions and further explanation.
The superintendent has requested that all three project teams present their findings
and solutions to two additional groups. First, the teams will present to the management
team, consisting of school principals and district level directors. The second presentation
will be made to the Rowland School Board of Education. The teams will make these
presentations in February of 2011.

47

Findings
Cuauhtémoc Avila, Dale Folkens, and Mary Laihee
Introduction
In its efforts to meet state and federal benchmarks for student performance, the
RUSD District has adopted two organizational or business goals: (1) make its two high
schools highly effective and (2) implement district-wide reforms—e.g. the Ball
Foundation, ELIS lead, and the Three Essential Priorities. This alternative capstone
project focused primarily on the level of implementation of district reforms, with school
improvement forming part of the project‘s overall analysis. The project team reviewed
existing district documents (Strategic Plan, WASC Reports, Single Action Plan for
Student Achievement, School Accountability Report Cards, etc.) and conducted a series
of structured interviews with purposefully sampled key informants from the school
district and school sites, with the intent of measuring the level of implementation of the
district reforms.
Through the scanning interviews conducted in March and April of 2010 with
district and school level administrators, the project team identified four emergent themes
that helped frame its probe of reform implementation throughout the district in general
and exclusively at the two high schools. The four emergent themes were the following:
negative perceptions about each high school, the absence of clear and measurable goals,
the needs of English language learners, and a culture of decentralization.
What follows is a summary of the findings collected through the review of
documents and interview process. First is a summary of the performance goals or

48

activities that took place at the district and school levels towards meeting the
organizational goal. This is followed by a summary of the root causes of the performance
gaps in knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational procedures and resources
that we believe hindered successful reform implementation, and perhaps school
improvement. The document review and the complete interview process revealed that
while currently some performance or work goals are being met towards accomplishing
the organizational goal; many other performance goals or objectives have not been made
clear or have not been identified. This has resulted in essential performance goals not
being met. These performance gaps stemmed from deficiencies in knowledge and skills,
motivation, and organizational processes and resources, and appear to have been
responsible for the low to moderate level of implementation of district reforms.
Summary of Positive Activities
Knowledge and Skill
Factual Knowledge: The basic elements necessary to communicate and
understand a concept are considered factual knowledge. Factual knowledge includes
knowledge of terminology and knowledge of specific detail and sources of additional
information (Anderson et al., 2001).
Staff members from both high schools, including teachers, administration, support
staff and office clerical demonstrated a professional working knowledge of their role in
the larger picture of their school site and the district as a whole. When prompted for
answers that staff members did not have they were able to direct the team to other
employees that would have the information. The staff also did not attempt to cover a

49

lack of knowledge. A number of respondents stated plainly; ―I do not know anything
about that‖, ―That is not my job‖, and ―I have never heard of that‖.
Conceptual Knowledge: Conceptual knowledge is based upon the
interrelationship between elements of knowledge and enables the individual to classify
and categorize concepts allowing for the formation of generalizations and theories
(Anderson et al., 2001).
The respondents were able to communicate an understanding of how standardized
formal external assessment strategies (California High School Exit Exam, and California
Standards Tests) are used to monitor and ―label‖ students, schools, and districts. While
the staff members do not necessarily agree with the ranking and labels given, they
understand the connection between the scores and student achievement as measured on
the exams.
Procedural Knowledge: The ability to perform a task or to explain the
processes is classified as procedural knowledge. This type of knowledge includes subject
specific skills and techniques. Procedural knowledge also involves the knowledge of
when and how to use the procedures (Anderson et al., 2001). Clark and Estes attribute
lack of knowing how to complete tasks to three root causes: Lack of information, the
need for job aides (items or information that assist employees in performing their
assigned tasks), and the need for prerequisite training (Clark and Estes, 2002).
The Rowland High School principal has done an effective job of communicating
where they are and where they want to be (API score over 800). The staff members were
aware that this is a school-wide goal and that it takes all stakeholders to move toward this

50

end. According to one teacher, the principal has begun to use data to drive professional
development and to guide instruction. Staff members are making connections between
teaching methodologies and student learning.
Metacognitive Knowledge: Metacognitive knowledge is the knowledge of
cognition. The awareness of one‘s own cognition is also classified as metacognitive
knowledge. This knowledge is also classified more commonly as self-awareness, self-
reflection, and self-regulation. Educationally, metacognitive knowledge can be applied
to understanding the teaching/learning dynamics within a classroom (Anderson et al.,
2001).
At Nogales High School, the staff is aware of their school-wide goal of reaching
the 700 mark for their API score and making concerted efforts to reach that goal. These
efforts are a result of the direction of the principal to use a model of collaboration built
upon Professional Learning Communities. The PLC‘s have been instrumental for
teachers to share their knowledge, abilities and strengths with their colleagues. The
teachers and staff speak highly of this time to collaborate and plan.
Motivation
Motivational factors are behind some of the performance goals being met as part
of efforts to fultill the larger organizational goal. For example, staff members at both
schools dutifully expressed that the responsibility of getting all students to learn belongs
to every staff member. One teacher at NHS remarked, ―Even though I‘m not an EL
teacher, we all have EL students.‖ Meanwhile, other teachers detailed the various
strategies used in their classrooms to reach all students, including cooperative pairings

51

and groups, hands-on activities, Cornell note-taking, extended time, popsicle sticks for
classroom management, and assessment of content knowledge versus language skills.
To some extent, then, these attributions indicate that there are staff members who take
responsibility for the success or failure of the school as measured by student
performance.
In addition, the general feeling at NHS and RHS toward the RUSD is positive.
Staff members at both high schools reported that they feel supported by the district,
although they could not give specific examples. NHS and RHS seem to have a
significant amount of autonomy with regard to reform implementation. One teacher
stated, ―I do not feel under the gun in terms of the district micromanaging us. It‘s clear
what their expectations are, and everyone works really hard to meet them.‖ Staff
members at both schools appear to value the school district and are, therefore, more
inclined to support tasks related to the implementation of district reforms.
Moreover, the RUSD has taken the initiative to enact several reform goals to
improve school capacity. One goal pertains to increasing teacher collaboration. Because
this goal is meaningful to teachers, many of them reported higher levels of teacher
collaboration within both schools. Additionally, a few designated staff members at NHS
and RHS have been motivated to participate in collaborative activities through the Ball
Foundation‘s Communities of Practice or other reform committees.
Finally, staff members at both NHS and RHS conveyed a sense of confidence and
pride related to their respective school sites. Some staff members spoke of the great
teachers and programs at the schools. ―This is a good school. It is all about the

52

students,‖ mentioned one support staff member at RHS. One teacher summed up the
general sentiment by indicating that ―the RUSD has all the right ingredients to do some
great things.‖ Showing such efficacy in the schools, the district, and personal abilities is
indeed conducive to successful reform implementation.
Organization
In addition to the observable level of knowledge/skills and motivation among a
number of staff members that have contributed to the RUSD‘s primary goal was the
presence of organizational processes, material resources, and a culture conducive to the
implementation of the various reforms. Evidence of these organizational characteristics
during the interview process was discernible through recent district actions intended to
reinforce its culture of educational excellence by altering how things are done and how
resources are allocated .
First, the RUSD has a firm culture of educational excellence, as evidenced by its
many successful schools and programs that include 4 National Blue Ribbon Schools, 16
California Distinguish School, multiple Golden Bell awards, etc. This culture of
excellence was equally visible at RHS and, to a lesser extent, at NHS. At RHS for
example, there is a culture of professionalism and high expectations among the staff that
many attribute to the academic success of students. "They are like a family, with high
expectations and professionalism," said one respondent. Asked what has been the key to
much of the success at the school, several staff members replied that it was the level of
professionalism. Second, in response to emerging achievement deficits at particular
schools or among certain groups of students, the RUSD has taken the initiative to

53

implement reforms deemed instrumental in building the needed teaching capacity to
improve student achievement—e.g. the Ball Foundation. Third, with respect to the
ongoing language needs of English language learners, the RUSD has created the ELIS
Lead position at the school sites to exclusively improve the quality of the local English
language learner program. Fourth, RUSD has taken major steps to better coordinate
district resources in order to meet its two organizational goals. For instance, the district
has created the Executive Cabinet, Instructional Cabinet, and Instructional Leadership
Teams to build capacity and align resources to focus reform implementation on student
achievement.This has manifested , for example in ongoing collaboration activities and
instructional walk-throughs. "The learning walks have generated awareness of practices
among staff district-wide. In the process, we hope that they will help dispel negative
perceptions," stated a central office administrator.
Root Causes: Knowledge
When analyzing the interview data through the lens of knowledge, the project
team has found an apparent a gap in the knowledge of district employees. This gap,
whether an actual deficit in knowledge or an inability to communicate learned knowledge
is a contributing root cause in this gap analysis.
The majority of the findings can be attributed to two of the types of knowledge,
factual and procedural. The interviews revealed that the staff appeared to have a general
factual knowledge regarding the reform efforts and implementation strategies. The
elements that were discovered that relate to procedural knowledge, involve basic
implementation, with only slight indicators of the conceptual knowledge that provides the

54

reasoning and rationale for the implementation of the reform strategies. For example,
multiple staff members indicated they were unaware of the position of the English
Language Instructor Support (ELIS) Lead position on their campus or that they knew
whom the person was but could not give the details of their role on campus. Yet some
staff members were very knowledgeable of the role of not only the ELIS Lead, but the
instructional strategies, organizational methods and classification criterion being used
with English learners.
The partnership with the Ball Foundation is a key element of the district-wide
reform strategies and professional development. Most respondents only acknowledge a
peripheral knowledge of the partnership between RUSD and the Ball Foundation. Only
two staff members spoke of specific details of the Ball partnership, a site administrator
from one school and a counselor at another school. Another respondent stated ―Ball
brings money, but I don‘t understand how it‘s going to translate to systemic change‖.
These comments express a glimmer of knowledge, but also signify that the primary goals
of the Ball foundation partnership and the role of the district have not been effectively
communicated to those at the school site.
There also appears to be a distinct lack of knowledge of the cultural groups
represented within the school district and the community. This lack of knowledge does
not only involve knowledge of one‘s self and group but also the perceptions and
knowledge of other groups. A number of the staff responses addressed the cultural
differences between their students and the community as a whole. One staff member
attributed the lack of motivation (knowledge of the staff member) for English Learners to

55

learn English as a reflection of the community that the students do not feel that they need
to learn English to function in society. Another staff member believes that students
purposefully do not perform well on language assessments so that they can stay in their
classified cohort with their friends and teachers. There is a general perception that the
parents have more of an issue with the ethnic demographics of the students and the
schools, than do the students and the staff. One teacher explained that Hispanic parents
want their children to attend school with the smarter, Asian students hoping that higher
performance will ―rub-off‖ on their children. At the same time a staff member stated that
Asian parents do not want their children being dragged down by the other students.
While these ideas also point to other root cause issues including motivation (why students
do or do not perform and why parents ―shop‖ their schools and their students) and
organizational (students are allowed to transfer schools and testing and assessment
protocol), they each stem from a basic lack of factual knowledge about the students,
school, and instruction.
Students and the ethnic demographics of the community are not the only areas
that demonstrated a lack of knowledge between groups of stakeholders. The staff
members equally demonstrate a lack of knowledge of the traits, successes and struggles
of their colleagues just a few miles away. Staff members at Nogales High School shared
that their campus is ―ghetto‖, and indicated that 1) the campus needed a facelift to be
more competitive with Rowland, and 2) the school needed to continue to build a positive
image on their campus and in their community. A Rowland teacher expressed that the
Rowland staff are disgruntled that the Nogales staff believe that they have it easier

56

because they have higher test scores. This causes, according to the teacher, Rowland
teachers to resent Nogales teachers and perpetuates the cycle of misperceptions. There is
also a lack of general knowledge that exists among the staff about accomplishments at the
other schools. Both Nogales and Rowland High School are International Baccalaureate
schools, yet a Rowland teacher stated that they ―did not know if Nogales was an IB
school or not‖.
Root Causes: Motivation
Our interviews with teachers, support staff, and administrators suggest that there
may be some motivational concerns. We explore how motivational beliefs affect the
level of reform implementation at the Rowland Unified School District‘s (RUSD) two
high schools—Nogales High School (NHS) and Rowland High School (RHS). We
examine motivational issues that stem from external causes, like goals and attributions.
We also look at motivational problems that are due to internal causes, such as task value
and self-efficacy.
Goals
Teachers and support staff at both school sites were not aware of any school-wide
goals related to the reform efforts. For example, NHS and RHS have been experiencing
difficulty with Latino English Learners not progressing through the English Language
Development (ELD) program. Yet, no school-wide goals exist to increase the rates for
redesignation as fluent English proficient. Although the staff is aware of this particular
challenge at both sites, there are no measures of progress to address it. According to one
teacher, ―The district operates from generalities. There is not much goal-setting taking

57

place.‖ Another teacher had a similar view, ―The district does not measure plans or goals
it attempts to implement.‖
The lack of direction deters teachers from making substantial progress toward full
implementation of district reforms. Without clear performance goals, teachers might
substitute their own personal goals, which may not be aligned to the reform efforts. Such
ambiguous goals are more likely to lead to a performance-avoid orientation as opposed to
a mastery goal orientation. Thus, teachers may not persist or spend quality time on tasks
related to reform implementation. Furthermore, the school community has not seen much
progress, making it difficult to commit to long-term reform. One teacher observed, ―[The
Partnership with] Ball will have an impact, but collaborative leadership is a slow process.
We need to have some successes. Discussions have value and tangible payoff down the
road, but there isn‘t something tangible right now that we‘ve done that wasn‘t there last
year.‖
Attributions
Some staff members expressed views that were inconsistent with a student-
centered approach. When asked about English Learners enrolling in Advanced
Placement and Honors courses, one teacher responded, ―Some students don‘t want to.
They think it‘s not worth it. They want to have a life or need to work.‖ Another teacher
pointed out that the ELD classes are small (about fifteen students) not because of
scheduling but because ―many students drop out due to pregnancy, credit deficiencies,
and other normal reasons.‖ According to support staff, the teachers range in their ability
to connect with students and their families. For example, students thrive in certain

58

classrooms but are mediocre in others or just skip class altogether. Several teachers did
describe students as lacking motivation to learn and their families as not valuing
education. Furthermore, some teachers felt that not much that could be done to help
these students.
Based on this data, teachers at both high schools appear to be attributing the
challenges to implementation reform to deficiencies in the student population instead of
recognizing variations in students‘ home settings and acknowledging that cultural models
are not shared universally. With these external attributions, teachers may feel it would be
futile to persist, believing it is out of their hands, and instead focus on other work goals.
Moreover, the project team anticipates that addressing this sensitive issue with the staff at
both high schools is likely to be met with resistance, especially when many of the
individual and institutional habits and patterns are at a pre-conscious level of awareness.
Task Value
Although a few teachers welcomed the independent decision-making afforded by
the RUSD‘s hands-off approach, some teachers specified that they would appreciate more
structure. For example, one teacher stated that the district does not have a plan for the
ELD program. Another teacher acknowledged a plan but commented, ―The [ELIS] Lead
is just not working. Two workshops per year are not good.‖ When it comes to the Ball
Partnership, another teacher said she does not feel like she can contact anyone for
assistance other than her peers but, even then, she does not know who does what.
Another teacher expressed that not enough is being done at the district level to effectively
implement the reforms at the classroom level.

59

In this case, the teachers do not see the district valuing certain reform activities.
In particular, the district has not communicated the relevance of the reform efforts at the
classroom level and has not provided enough follow-up support. As such, teachers on a
whole are experiencing fragmented reform implementation. Moreover, the teachers who
are on reform committees have objections to being pulled from the classroom to
participate in committee meetings, and because of the time commitment, some teachers
have discontinued their participation.
When teachers do not perceive task value, they may choose not to actively pursue
the work goal. Recall that task value is comprised of utility value, attainment value,
intrinsic value, and cost value. Since the relevance of the reform efforts at the classroom
level is vague, teachers do not perceive much utility value, attainment value, or intrinsic
value. Additionally, with having to be away from their classrooms and not being given
adequate follow-up support, teachers feel that the cost value is not justified.
Teacher Efficacy
At NHS, the staff was concerned with the physical appearance of the school. One
teacher noted, ―Rowland High School has a new [International Baccalaureate World
School] sign that is permanent and looks very nice. We have a banner that flaps with the
wind.‖ Another teacher made a related comment, ―When people drive by our school,
they see our parking lot, our trash cans. We just a need a facelift to make it look like the
type of school it really is. A nice sign: Nogales High School, an IB World School. That
would be our number one priority.‖

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At RHS, the staff was concerned with maintaining enrollment, having lost
students to neighboring school districts such as Walnut, Diamond Bar, and Fullerton.
One teacher emphasized that, ―Rowland High School is frustrated that there is a general
thought that we have it easier.‖ In other words, to remain a competitive school, RHS
needs to continue to push itself academically.
In both cases, the belief of collective teacher efficacy, or teachers‘ perceptions
that their efforts as a whole will positively impact student achievement, appears to be a
strong influence. Group efficacy affects persistence. At NHS, concerns about the
appearance of the school campus appear to hinder the teachers‘ group efficacy. They
may not persist because many teachers believe that the physical appearance of the school
is symbolic of their status in the district. This belief impacts reform implementation by
maintaining a culture of low expectations. At RHS, the school has mobilized around the
high-performing students, but group efficacy toward meeting the needs of diverse
learners is not as high. These teachers may not persist because there are other work goals
that have been given more priority. They may be focusing energy on ensuring that high-
performing students stay enrolled, which may be taking precedence over reform efforts
related to raising achievement for all students.
Root Causes: Organization
In addition to performance gaps occasioned by the absence of knowledge/skills
and motivation were performance gaps resulting from deficiencies in organizational
processes and material resources. The interview process revealed that several practices
and a shortage of material resources have adversely affected performance at various job

61

levels (district/school sites) and in various areas of the instructional program (instruction,
professional development, assessment, etc). Several of these practices have become
rooted into the school or district culture, preventing or slowing progress along the reform
implementation spectrum.
Work Processes
One such practice is a district process that allows high achieving students from
NHS to enroll at RHS to prevent these students from transferring to neighboring school
districts—e.g. Walnut Valley Unified School District. According to one district
administrator, the RUSD is "...losing high performing Asian students to Walnut Valley."
As of 2009, the district has lost up to10% of its enrollment or 1,600 students to Walnut
Valley. Many students transfer after completing middle school, with the majority of
them in NHS attendance area. The RUSD has responded to this trend by allowing open
intra-district permits to discourage students scheduled to attend NHS from leaving the
district and instead transfer to RHS. This has resulted in a mass "...exodus of Asian
students from NHS to RHS to avoid district loss of students to Walnut Valley. There is a
perception of Asians wanting to be with their people,‖ said one staff member. However,
this district practice has perpetuated the low-achievement scores at NHS by facilitating
the transfer of many of its high-achieving students to RHS, thereby reinforcing NHS'
negative reputation of being a low-performing school. This reinforcement in turn has
"...neutralized morale among staff, students, and parents, which has made the
implementation of strategies and reforms a more challenging task," said a site
administrator. In this case, district practice or policy is not aligned with the school‘s

62

efforts to improve its academic performance goals, and thereby improve its reputation.
This practice has evolved into part of the RUSD‘s environmental culture that
intentionally or not contributes to the pernicious reputation that plagues NHS.
A practice antithetical to system-wide change and implementation progress
discovered during the interview process was that of limited follow-through. That is, it
has been common that ideas or plans are proposed at the district or site administrative
level, but rarely make it to fruition in the classrooms. ―Whether it‘s cultural competence,
RTI, or something else, it‘s usually just a buzz word at the district office. These things
are never clarified or actually implemented at our level [classroom],‖ said one teacher.
One case in point was the English language learner program. Although steps in the right
direction to strengthen the program have been underway for several years—i.e. the ELIS
Lead—it was evident that its fragmented implementation reflects a practice of strong
verbal commitment with limited performance towards actualization. "There is no plan
for English language learners. Just a lot of talk," said another teacher. In other words,
the organizational goal was discussed and partly implemented but lacked specificity at
the performance level. Another example was the implementation of the ELIS Lead.
This strategy to enhance the English language learner program emerged from the office
of Curriculum and Bilingual Education, not necessarily as a central office mandate. "It
has not been embraced by everyone. There was initial opposition to it at the secondary
level," said a district administrator. During the interviews, it was not clear what
instruments were being used to measure the implementation of the ELIS Lead position,

63

what person was responsible for monitoring its implementation, what was the strategy's
or reform‘s specific target goal, or what accountability plan was in place.
According to a number of respondents, the district and school practice of limited follow-
through on plans intended to address the needs of English language learners has been
pervasive enough that is has engendered the cultural phenomena of intentional failure
among English language learners as a form of survival. ―Many students remain classified
as long-term English language learners because of poor grades, not because of language
proficiency scores,‖ said one respondent. Such students have intentionally failed certain
classes to prevent re-designation into the mainstream instructional program, which has
allowed them to stay in classes with their immediate primary language peers. Other
English language learners have summarily suspended their attendance of certain classes
because ...‖some teachers are not approachable or do not work well with them," added
the respondent. One teacher said that these are well known practices, but neither the
district nor the schools have addressed them directly. Several respondents made it clear
that the district simply ignores English language learners. By failing to meet their needs,
the district and schools have enabled students to maintain language group affiliation at
the expense of academic performance.
Although limited follow-through surrounding English language learners was
expressed as a definite practice that perhaps borders on organizational cultural, poor goal-
setting at the district level was described as a burgeoning tendency. Many of the
respondents stated that lately the district has not had or has not clearly communicated
goals. Some respondents expressed their awareness of the district‘s general expectation

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to meet API and AYP benchmarks, but shared their concerns over the absence of clear
performance goals for individuals or groups/departments in order to meet the API and
AYP targets. Both the district and the schools apparently lack clear performance goals
and expectations for schools, departments, and individuals, which has resulted in
inefficient or ineffective processes. For example, a number of respondents expressed that
the school district does not prioritize the needs of English language learners, as evidenced
by the absence of a comprehensive and concrete plan tailored to meet their specific
needs. In the absence of clear performance goals, people tend to focus on tasks they
deem important, instead of helping achieve the organizational goal (Clark & Estes,
2008). At RHS, poor goal-setting has resulted in ineffective practices. For example, two
respondents responsible for overseeing English language learner program revealed that
early in the Fall 2009 up to one-fifth of the English language learner population had been
placed in the wrong content classes. Neither respondent was sure if all misplacements
had been corrected by the Spring 2010. Some findings epitomized the growing practice
of poor goal-setting. Respondents showed limited and inconsistent awareness about the
reforms, for none of them was able to provide evidence of methodical, structured
planning related to an expected practice over the course of a given month.
Material Resources
It was a common theme expressed at NHS that the district has insufficient
financial resources to assist the school with comprehensive teacher professionalism
development efforts or to hire the quality teachers needed to move NHS out of Program
Improvement status. ―There is nothing to help a school like ours get the personnel we

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need to make this school student centered. The district has some say, but they are bound
by contract,‖ said one staff member. It was expressed that the school district therefore
lacks a mandate for staff members to connect with and engage students in the process of
learning. Additionally, several respondents indicated that the district administrators
perpetuate the perception that Nogales is a "ghetto" school by failing to provide it the
support needed to improve the school‘s physical appearance. One teacher stated that the
school has too many bungalows. "We need new buildings," she added. "Growth has lead
to front of school being away from main street. Main street view of school is of old
building, parking lot, trash bins. On weekends, parking lot is used for a swap meet,
perpetuating the stigma of a ghetto school, said a school administrator. However, a
respondent who previously worked at the school stated that at times the lack of initiative
at NHS contributes to the school‘s poor reputation. ―The school has quality teachers and
students, but has not established a culture of celebrating its achievements—however
small they might be—by showcasing them to the community via media outlets.‖
Value Chains
Value-chains describe how departments and divisions within an organization
interact and the processes they implement to identify effective and ineffective practices
while pursuing organizational goals. They allow problems to easily be traced to their
root causes and dealt with immediately and effectively because quality control is built
into processes rather than into inspections at the end. Finally, the interview process
revealed that although the school district has identified particular district-wide reforms to
address student achievement, a culture of decentralization district-wide and within the

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schools has resulted in practices that preclude alignment and implementation of the
various plans (e.g. Strategic Plan, Ball Foundation, Single Action Plan for Student
Achievement, ELIS Lead), leading to awareness deficits and, thus, fragmented
implementation at the school level. Over the years, the district has loosely operated
under a decentralized structure, banking on self-motivated administrators to get the job
done. ―Recent budget cuts and reorganization changes has made the district more
centralized, occasioning somewhat of a culture clash,‖ said one central office
administrator.
Summary

The RUSD has made strides in implementing reform efforts intended to address
student achievement and, thus, meet federal and state accountability benchmarks for
district and school effectiveness. However, a detailed analysis of extant data and
conversations with staff members finds fragmented implementation of reforms that stem
from gaps in knowledge, motivation, and district process and resources. In light of the
district‘s recent reduction of financial resources, it is imperative and cost-effective for the
RUSD to extensively assess the effectiveness of reform implementation with a sense of
urgency. Firstly, this assessment will help the district intensify current reform efforts that
are positively impacting student achievement, without further straining district budgets.
Secondly, the assessment will help identify interventions to eliminate existing barriers to
reform implementation. Thirdly, the assessment will help discontinue those efforts that
are yielding little, if any, impact on reform implementation or student achievement. The
next phase of the project includes the team consulting with the RUSD to develop a

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comprehensive plan that addresses the root causes of performance gaps. The team will
follow up on the above findings and the comprehensive plan with a set of
recommendations based on scholarly research to assist the district in its endeavor to
implement reforms at the desired level in order to improve student achievement.

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Chapter Three: Proposed Recommendations
Based on Best Practices

Cuauhtémoc Avila, Dale Folkens, and Mary Laihee
The Rowland Unified School District has established a remarkable culture of
educational excellence, as evidenced by its 4 National Blue Ribbon Schools, 16
California Distinguished Schools, and multiple Golden Bell awards. To build on this
excellence, the RUSD has taken initiative to increase school capacity in order to enhance
student achievement, creating the Executive Cabinet, Instructional Cabinet, and Site
Instructional Leadership to align resources and improve reform implementation. As a
result, several staff members reported higher levels of teacher collaboration at both
Nogales High School and Rowland High School. Additionally, the RUSD‘s high level of
performance in its exceptional programs is complemented by a generally positive
disposition toward NHS, RHS, and the district. For instance, several staff members
mentioned professionalism, high expectations, and support as key factors to the district‘s
success.
However, a thorough analysis of extant data and extended conversations with staff
members revealed that although the RUSD has made strides in implementing reform
efforts intended to address student achievement and, thus, meet federal and state
accountability benchmarks for district and school effectiveness, there remains fragmented
implementation of reforms that stem from possible gaps in knowledge, motivation, and
organizational processes. To address these possible gaps, the project team has identified
pertinent scholarly research around four areas that could increase effectiveness at NHS

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and RHS: (1) goals, (2) resources, (3) implementation and accountability, and (4) cultural
settings. From here, the team has detailed a proposed set of recommendations to assist
the district in its endeavor to implement reforms at the desired level in order to improve
student achievement.
Literature Review
Goals
The gap analysis inquiry project at the Rowland Unified School District revealed
the impact of teacher beliefs on reform implementation at the high schools. Motivational
concerns around the variables of goal orientation, task value, teacher efficacy, and
attributions were key factors that contributed to the low to moderate level of reform
implementation. In order to reach a desired level of reform implementation, the review
of literature on goals included (1) creating C
3
goals, (2) fostering communication, and (3)
reinforcing teacher commitment.
Creating C
3
goals
To elicit a positive response, school reform goals must provide an explicit,
realistic, and encouraging vision. According to Clark and Estes (2002), the optimal work
goals are C
3
goals: concrete, challenging, and current. Such goals lead to higher
performance than do ambiguous goals (Locke & Latham, 2002). In order for the C
3
work
goals to have the most impact, they must first be aligned to the overall organizational
goal (Clark & Estes, 2002). For instance, a school district should clarify how short-term
work goals support the longer-term context of school reform (Leithwood et al., 2002).

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School leadership can facilitate teacher understanding of the connection between
external mandates for change and the school‘s vision. Leithwood and colleagues (2002)
emphasize highlighting the overall aim to improve teaching and learning and to raise
student achievement. Thus, teachers would have a more holistic view and better
understand the direction of school reform and their part in it. C
3
work goals enhance
competence, as well as streamline resources and promote collaboration, which can lead to
a higher incidence of school reform implementation (Cohen et al., 2007).
When work goals are created as C
3
goals, teachers are more likely to improve
their mastery of the task as opposed to simply reducing risk and barely adhering to the
performance standard (Cohen et al., 2007). C
3
work goals encourage more of a mastery
approach goal orientation, in which a person is more likely to choose more personally
challenging tasks, be more open to risks and new tasks, and seek adaptive help (Pintrich,
2003). To help teachers adopt mastery approach goals, school leadership should also
emphasize individual improvement through accurate feedback and recognize teacher
effort (Schunk et al., 2008). Furthermore, with C
3
goals and a mastery approach goal
orientation, teachers are more likely to develop adaptive behaviors and experience more
positive emotion, such as enjoyment, curiosity, engagement, and encouragement (Gonida
et al., 2009).
Additionally, C
3
goals help teachers to develop task value (Schunk et al., 2008).
With clear expectations and opportunities to succeed, teacher motivation and engagement
in deeper learning strategies are more likely to thrive. According to Expectancy-Value
Theory, when tasks are at an optimal level of difficulty, teachers will be motivated to

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master the new skills and will develop perceptions of competence because they have an
opportunity to be successful (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). As such, increased motivation
results from high task value coupled with high expectancy for success. The theory also
espouses accurate feedback, which helps teachers to develop accurate perceptions of
competence and maintain high expectations. In sum, C
3
goals can advantageously impact
school reform implementation by providing teachers with a clear direction, encouraging
mastery of the task, promoting positive affect, and increasing teachers‘ task value.
Fostering Communication
The traditional structure of teachers overseeing classroom duties and
administrators overseeing management duties lends itself to a division of knowledge and
labor (Johnston, 2002). However, in order for teachers to be full participants in school
reform implementation, they also must be well versed in the policies. Accordingly,
Leithwood and colleagues (2002) emphasize that administrators be clear about the
reasons for school reform policy and invite teachers to be involved in the decision-
making process, as well as provide them with opportunities to develop the necessary
skills for implementation. Johnston (2002) agrees and suggests that principals can play a
key role in facilitating professional development that centers on perspective building
through faculty analysis of federal and state policies, in both historical and contemporary
contexts, and their relationship to the school‘s mission. To understand how these align
and as a way to begin this discussion, Johnston recommends that a visual representation
be constructed:

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[I]nstructional programs or organizational units would be named, the primary
features of programs listed beneath, and then a circle drawn around each. Lines
representing established or potential relationships would then be drawn between
the various program initiatives and organizational units. (p. 227)
This tool is one way to increase task value for teachers by helping them understand their
role within the reform movement, as well as strategize prospective interactions that could
drive implementation. Teacher motivation can be increased by drawing parallels between
policy and improving student outcomes (Leithwood et al., 2002).
Reinforcing Teacher Commitment
Teachers often describe themselves as committed to their profession and want to
be fulfilled at work. However, the organizational culture of some schools and school
districts may reduce the quality of work experience for teachers. For example, in-group
favoritism toward one school may lower the levels of commitment, morale, and loyalty
for teachers at another school. This is an issue for consistent reform implementation
since teacher/administrator conflict strongly predicts lack of teacher commitment
(Henkin & Holliman, 2009).
Self-Determination Theory postulates that people will experience well-being if
the three basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and belongingness are met
(Ryan & Deci, 2000). As such, a school district should foster a supportive and fair
environment for each of its schools so that all teachers have a sense of relatedness and
connectedness. When teachers have feelings of belonging and trust, they are more likely
to internalize and implement the goals of comprehensive school reform. This is

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significant because organizational goals and teachers‘ work goals are then aligned and
work is more meaningful, which boosts productivity (Henkin & Holliman, 2009).
Teacher efficacy at the previously less favored school would increase due to the
positive physiological and emotional cues, allowing teachers to refocus their efforts on
school reform implementation (Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998). If a district is more
transparent in its communication and its policies, it can lead to teachers feeling more
secure in their roles and about the equal status of their schools. Removing this
organizational barrier would increase teacher motivation to concentrate more on
instructional tasks.
Thus, commitment-based management strategies are effective in cultivating
positive emotions and self-efficacy. School leaders can acknowledge teachers for good
work, invite their input on important decisions, provide a forum for teachers to admire
each other‘s work, and inform the school community of teachers‘ involvement in the
school‘s achievements (Leithwood et al., 2002). Leithwood and colleagues urge that
teachers be respected as professionals, so actions that lessen teacher efficacy should be
avoided, including harsh critiques and pessimistic publicity.
Moreover, innovation support—which includes such practices as supporting
teachers with trying out new ideas, diversity among the faculty and administration, and
open communication—is a strong indicator of positive teacher commitment (Henkin &
Holliman, 2009). Hence, when the quality of work experience is improved, teachers are
more likely to report feelings of belonging and trust and are more resilient when
problems arise. Henkin and Holliman suggest that this leads to superior work output and

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assuming additional work responsibilities, which would benefit effective reform
implementation.
Resources
At the onset of the gap analysis project the team sought to examine a number of
areas focusing on the effectiveness of the two high schools, and the perceptions
surrounding the achievement, capabilities and community of the two schools. The team
found that while one high school does appear to be more effective than the other, both
schools have experienced success educating students and are experiencing academic
growth. It was expected that the team would uncover issues of perceptions between the
two schools, leading to a hierarchy within the district. At the same time they found
community perceptions of Rowland High School that appear to drive families to
neighboring school districts. Efforts to close the gaps between the two schools and the
schools and the community can be facilitated with the following recommendations
regarding the appearance of disparity with resources, (1) equitable distribution of human
resources, (2) equitable distribution of fiscal resources, and (3) equitable alignment of
goals.
When any two entities within the same location share limited resources,
distribution of those resources can become an issue of contention. Determining which
schools and which students should receive additional resources is a dilemma faced in all
school districts. The primary resource available to school sites is the human resource.
The teaching staffs, support staff, clerical staff and the administration are all key
elements of these resources. The appearance that one school is provided a more stable

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and more experienced staff than the other school could be a contributing factor in the
perceptions of the schools. Second to the staffing of schools is the allocation of funds.
While both schools are funded using the same formulas and per student allocation from
the general budget, resources also include the ability to raise funds outside of the school
budget. Additional funding sources can include the ability for the student body to fund
raise in the community. Examples include the fiscal ability of the community to
financially support extra-curricular activities, and the willingness of the community to be
involved. The success of an effective school community does not rely solely on the fiscal
resources but also on how well the organization is able to utilize their resources.
Creating high-performing teams was the focus of Katzenbach and Smith‘s work
The Wisdom of Teams (as cited in Bolman & Deal, 2003, p. 104). They found that high
performing teams shared six distinguishing characteristics: (1) High-performing teams
shape purpose in response to a demand, (2) high-performing teams translate common
purpose into specific measurable performance goals, (3) high performing teams are
manageable in size, (4) high-performing teams develop the right mix of expertise, (5)
high-performing teams develop a common commitment to working relationships, and (6)
high-performing teams hold themselves collectively accountable.
Many of these characteristics have implications for school sites and school
districts alike, but for the purpose of resource allocation the mix of expertise
(characteristic 5) and a common commitment to working relationships (characteristic 6)
are critical. Marzano (2003) explores the effectiveness of collegiality and
professionalism on student achievement. Collegiality is defined as ―the manner in which

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teachers interact with one another‖, whereas professionalism focuses on the elements of
teacher experience. Marzano further explains that ―teacher longevity and certification are
often cited as experiential factors that have an impact on student achievement‖. While
there are additional elements involved with teacher effectiveness in addition to longevity
and certification, including subject matter knowledge and pedagogy, a study in New York
City found that years of experience and certification accounted for 90% of the variation
found in the students‘ achievement (Armour-Thomas, Clay, Domanico, Bruno, & Allen,
1989 cited in Marzano, 2003). This evidence supports the belief that high-performing
teams must develop the right mix of expertise (characteristic 4).
The distribution of resources is not only about the basic allocation of funds but of
the peripheral resources (booster clubs, ability to fund raise in the community, access to
donations and grants). Schools that serve a more affluent student-family demographic
have a greater opportunity for external funding revenue than do schools that serve a lower
socio-economic population. How the community supports its schools is of vital
importance to the education of children. ―School is the physical manifestation of the
value society places on its children…A school that is accessible to the family and
community welcomes their participation and support‖ (Daggett et al., 2007).
Implementation and Accountability
In an addition to revealing a low to moderate levels of reform implementation
associated with motivational variables, the inquiry project also suggests the presence of
performance gaps in reform implementation linked to procedural organizational
variables. Specifically, the RUSD lacks a sound and comprehensive plan for reform

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implementation that includes uniformed steps and procedures, accountability measures,
and strategies to maintain the number of reform initiatives at a manageable level.
The success of an organization, including large urban schools districts, is often
attributed to the presence and practice of essential principles found in recent management
theory, which blends features of early management models (e.g., Frederick Taylor‘s
Scientific Management Model of the early 1900s and Mary Parker Follett‘s Human
Relations Movement of the 1920s), with features found in contemporary literature. The
work of Bolman and Deal (2003) and Collins (2001) represents the hallmark of current
management theory; theory supported by findings that identify great leaders as being
humble and people-oriented, yet dynamic and relentless, according to several instruments
used to measure the public image, personality traits, and leadership focus, among leaders.
These leaders are skillful at balancing personal qualities with fundamental organizational
principles and strategies to narrow the organizational focus (Au and Valencia, 2010;
Collins, 2001), systematically implement reforms (Hall & Hord, 2005), and use data as
an accountability measure (Datnow, Park, & Wolhstetter, 2007; Foley, 2001; Stecher &
Kirby, 2004) to successfully manage large organizations. These principles and practices
are germane to educational settings (Finn, 2002; Stecher & Kirby, 2004).
Leadership
Bolman and Deal (2003) contend that successful organizations require leaders
capable of managing personnel, resources, and processes in a highly synchronized
manner. The authors offer such balanced leadership through their Four-Frame
Leadership Model that details the four primary approaches in management practice:

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structural, human resource, political, and symbolic. The model is intended to help
change agents, such as superintendents of schools, conceptualize, coordinate, and apply
the appropriate balance of these approaches to manage the variety and complexity of
issues and situations they encounter. Below is the Four-Frame Leadership Model in
summary form.
1. Structural: This approach focuses on structural elements within the organization
as well as strategy, implementation, and adaptation. It works well when there is a
need to clarify goals and expectations, ensure that cause-and-effect relationships
are well understood, and prevent or remove conflict, uncertainty, or ambiguity.
2. Human Resource: This approach focuses on people, and emphasizes support,
empowerment (perhaps through distributed leadership mechanisms), staff
development, and responsiveness to employee needs. A focus on people works
well when employee morale is a consideration and when there is relatively little
conflict.
3. Political: This approach focus on the political realities that exist within and
outside the organization, dealing with interest groups (and their varying agendas),
building power bases, coalition-building, negotiating conflicts over limited
resources, and creating compromises. The political frame is appropriate when
resources are scarce or diminishing, as well as when goals or values are in
conflict.
4. Symbolic: This approach focuses on vision and inspiration through traditions,
ceremonies, and rituals. Symbolic leaders make people believe that their personal

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work, and the work of the organization, is important and meaningful. This
approach helps to clarify goals and/or cause-and-effect relationships in social
settings.
Collins (2001) suggests that true leadership takes time (up to twenty years) to
effect institutional and long-lasting change. Collins deductively explores the differences
between good companies and good companies that have become great companies, as
measured by financial performance several multiples better than the market average over
a fifteen-year period. Collins finds the overriding factor in achieving the transition from
good to great to be a narrow focusing of company resources on its field of competence.
The impact of this focus is guided through the following three stages, and their respective
principles, that companies go through during the transition.
Stage I: Build Up
● Level 5 Leadership: Level 5 leaders advocate the concept of team, not the
individual. When goals are accomplished, they look out the window for someone
to attribute the success to. When goals are not met, they look at the mirror and
accept responsibility. These leaders show a remarkable sense of personal
humility and an equally remarkable sense of professional will.
● First Who, Then What: Great companies get the wrong people off the bus, the
right people on the bus and in the right seats. When in doubt, great companies do
not hire personnel, they keep looking for the right personnel.

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● Confront the Brutal Facts: Great companies start with an honest and diligent
effort to determine the truth of a situation. When they do, the right decisions
often become self-evident.
Stage II: Breakthrough
● Hedgehog Concept: What can you be best in the world at? Great companies are
willing to transcend the curse of competence in many areas to be great in one
area.
● Culture of Discipline: Great companies create a culture of discipline, where
disciplined people exercise disciplined thought and engage in disciplined action.
This eliminates the need for hierarchy, bureaucracy, and excessive controls.
Stage III: Flywheel
● The Flywheel: Great companies generate momentum from the additive effect of
many small initiatives that in time act on each other like compound interest until,
like relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, one experiences
the point of breakthrough and beyond.
Narrowing the Focus
Successful organizations do a few things well. Narrowing the organizational
focus is the overriding factor between good companies and good companies that become
great (Collins, 2001). Au and Valencia (2010) argue that this principle needs to be at the
heart of school reform policy. Policies should provide schools with incentives for staying
the course and making progress toward clearly specified goals. Currently, federal and
state initiatives, as well as district mandates, present schools with too many opportunities

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for reform (Foley, 2001). This stimulates a chase for resources and forces schools to take
on more initiatives than they can manage, resulting in mediocre implementation at best
(Au & Valencia, 2010). Studies conducted by Cambone (1995) and Lipson, Mosenthal,
Mekkelsen, and Russ (2004) reveal that the vast majority of schools successful in raising
student achievement maintain a narrow and consistent focus over a period of years. Thus
it behooves organizations, such as school districts, to identity the root cause(s) of
performance gaps (Clark & Estes, 2008) and implement solutions that directly target such
cause(s). This is likely to reduce the number of district initiatives while increasing their
impact on employee performance.
Implementation
To successfully effect change, leaders must also have a plan that systematically
guides the implementation of an initiative or reform. Hall and Hord (2005) provide an
excellent overview of the principles and tools that make up their Concerns-Based
Adoption Model (CBAM) for school change. The three main features of the CBAM are
Innovation Configuration (IC), Stages of Concern (SoC), and Levels of Use (LoU). Hall
and Hord emphasize 12 principles throughout the CBAM that promote a team approach
to change, highlighting the assertion that knowing what to change is only a small part of
the equation. They argue that knowing how to change is the fundamental feature of the
change process. Below is a summary of the CBAM.
● Innovation Configurations (IC): The IC establishes clarity on what the expected
innovation or reform is, what individuals are supposed to do during its
implementation, and what the innovation looks like at the ideal level of

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implementation. The IC also prevents a common pitfall of school reform:
purchase materials, train teachers, and the innovation will be implemented exactly
as planned.
● Stages of Concern (SoC): The SoC measures what teachers think or feel about the
innovation, using seven stages of concern that range from Awareness (where a
teacher is merely becoming aware of the innovation without any particular
concern) to Refocusing (where there is deep reflection about the universal benefits
of the innovation).
● Levels of Use (LoU): The LoU determines the level and quality of the innovation
being implemented. There are eight levels of implementation, ranging from Non-
use (where there exists no evidence that the innovation in question is being
implemented) to Renewal (where the implementer re-evaluates the quality of the
innovation and seeks to modify it or seeks alternatives to better meet the needs of
students).
Accountability
The successful implementation of a reform depends to a large extent on effective
leadership practices, precise implementation protocol, and systems for accountability.
Bolman and Deal (2005) link accountability to the Structural Frame, which is grounded
on clear rules and expectations for both individuals and groups. Collins (2001) links
accountability to the hiring of disciplined people, which eliminates the needs for
hierarchy, bureaucracy, and excessive controls. And Hall and Hord (2005) advocate the

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LoU strand of the CBAM to hold individuals or groups accountable for the
implementation of an innovation.
A direct and effective form of accountability is found in systems that use data to
drive the decision-making process, such as in value-streams (Womack, Jones, & Roos,
1990) and equity scorecards (Bensimon, 2004; Harris & Bensimon, 2007). Value-
streams is a form of analysis grounded in the Toyota Process System (TPS) that describes
how departments and divisions within an organization interact and what processes they
implement to identify effective and ineffective practices, while pursuing organizational
goals. Value-streams allow problems to easily be traced to their root causes and dealt
with immediately and effectively because quality control is built into processes rather
than into inspections at the end of production.
Stecher and Kirby (2004) and Finn (2002) content that value-streams is highly
applicable to school systems, as the latter can create accountability measures, outcomes,
and process indicators to govern the collective activities of the entire system (e.g., a
school or school district). Thus, in the process of implementing an initiative or reform,
frequent assessments can help detect and correct implementations problems in the
process rather than after the reform is poorly implemented, and hold individual and
groups immediately accountable for their respect roles in the process.
Systems driven by data, such as equity scorecards, enable educators to learn more
about their school, pinpoint successes and challenges, identify area of improvement, and
help evaluate the effectiveness of programs and practices (Datnow, Park, & Wolhstetter,
2007). An example of a data-driven scorecard germane to K-12 education is the

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Professional Responsibility Index (PRI), comprised of an annual score for individual
schools in a system based on several disaggregated indicators of performance, including
performance on standardized assessments, graduation rate, and attendance (Foley, 2001).
The PRI compels schools to pay direct attention to the achievement of every
student. In Philadelphia, for example, the PRI was instituted as part of the
comprehensive reform effort Children Achieving, and revealed an alarming inequity in
student performance outcomes across the district. The low achievement of English
language learners and minority, low-income, and disabled students, and the slow pace of
change, also served as pressures on the whole district to improve, and forced central
office leaders to develop stronger signals to schools about reforming their instructional
practices (Foley, 2001).
Developing Teacher Capacity
Effective professional development supports teachers in reflecting on and
analyzing their own practice, while allowing them to observe experts, as well as to be
observed and receive feedback from experts (Elmore, 2002a). During in-services,
teachers should have opportunities to be successful in using innovative instructional
strategies. In-services can include work sessions where teachers can receive clear and
accurate feedback from experienced staff, which will improve their self-efficacy when it
comes to completing the task on their own (Pintrich, 2003). The experienced staff can
give corrective feedback on the strategy instead of directing it toward the new teacher,
and the administrators can give positive feedback to the teachers for accomplishing
challenging tasks to increase their confidence (Clark & Estes, 2002). When the teachers

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have more confidence in their abilities, they will engage in more meaningful learning,
which can result in improved performance when using the instructional strategies in their
own classrooms.
Furthermore, to maximize the impact of the in-service, the lead presenters should
be experienced teachers whom the staff views as relevant, credible, and competent
(Gredler, 2005). This allows teachers to observe one of their peers who have mastered
the instructional strategies, which can motivate them to change their pedagogy by seeing
someone similar to them who is now an expert (Onchwari & Keengwe, 2008).
According to Social Cognitive Theory, vicarious learning that uses relevant, credible, and
competent models can support teachers in capturing complex skills that cannot be learned
through enactive learning alone (Bandura, 1986). Additionally, teacher experts can also
be used as coping models to increase self-efficacy (Schunk, et al., 2008). When teachers
observe coping models who have overcome feelings of anxiety and inadequacy and who
are eventually able to improve and succeed on the task, the observers become more
confident in their abilities because of the perceived similarity.
Through such in-services, a school district can increase teacher capacity by
systematically allowing the staff to exchange knowledge about best practices (Cohen et
al., 2007). Moreover, Evers, Brouwers, and Tomic (2002) assert that collaboration is the
basis for effective reform implementation and that teacher-centered trainings that focus
on improving self-efficacy may increase teacher willingness to adopt innovative
instructional strategies, as well as reduce teacher burnout. Such professional
development can foster internal accountability, which is vital in the school improvement

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process. Schools that possess an internal accountability structure are likely to respond to
reform implementation in a more effective and consistent manner (Elmore, 2002a).
Elmore also states that when teachers see what is possible to do through the observation
of other teachers; beliefs begin to change, which fosters a practice of improvement.
Cultural Settings
The popular culture will tell us that ―perceptions are reality‖ (Ruble, 2006).
Psycho-therapy tells us that perceptions can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies (Merton,
1968). Both of these thought processes spell doom for struggling high schools, and the
students attempting to break the stereo-type and a staff that is trying to dispel the myths.
Building positive perceptions regarding the educational abilities, efforts and involvement
of students and the communities of each school, and to strengthen the relationships
between the schools and the community are two key aspects in addressing the cultural
settings of the high schools and the district as a whole.
Build Upon the Positive Perceptions
In taking strides to address the efforts at the school level, Rowland Unified School
District has acknowledged the need to address the educational needs of its low-achieving
students. They have stated that ―there is a need to define the core roots of the
achievement gap‖ (RUSD LEA Plan Addendum 2010). The ability to close achievement
gaps begins with identifying the root causes of the gaps (Clark & Estes, 2002). One of
the added difficulties facing RUSD is the variance of the gaps between the students at the
two high schools.

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There is a distinct gap between the achievements of students between the two
high schools. There is a distinct gap between the achievement students of different races
within the same school. There is a distinct gap between students of the same race
attending different schools.
The gap in achievement could be attributed to ethnicity, which is one of the more
common conclusions. But Hispanic students at Rowland High School showed the
greatest improvement in their API score of all sub-groups improving 32 points (RHS
Midterm WASC report, 2010). At the same time Asian students at Nogales High School
are performing at a lower level than Asian students at Rowland High School. This could
indicate that student achievement is a reflection of their educational setting more than a
reflection of their ethnicity.
Perhaps the achievement gap is not a result of race but of culture. Gallimore and
Golden (2001) contend that ―rather than assuming that cultural models develop
automatically based on things like race, ethnicity, gender, etc, it is really the experiences
that one has had that influence the cultural models that develop‖. The schools, in
partnership with the community, have the power and obligation to provide the
experiences that can mold successful cultural models for the children they serve.
Marzano argues that successful schools (students) need challenging goals along with
effective feedback. These goals should be established for all students, established for the
school as a whole, and established for individual students (Marzano, 2003). Goals for
both schools should reflect the same expectations for teaching and learning. Alignment of
goals is tied to the level of expectations set forth for teaching and learning. Both schools

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should be held to goals that are equal in expectations. Allowing one school, staff, and
community to accept that a school performs lower than the other school is detrimental to
the culture of the school and thus will perpetuate the negative perceptions of the school
and the students.
Income segregation has been a growing element of achievement gaps for the last
fifty years. Efforts including Title I funding and Headstart programs were designed to
address these concerns, but the gap has remained persistent. In the last twenty years
school districts across the country have begun a new form of desegregation. Following
the models set forth during the racial desegregation of the 1960‘s and the early 1970‘s a
school district in Wisconsin sought to end the segregation of their low socio-economic
students. They began by re-drawing the school boundaries of their elementary schools.
In subsequent years the integration was implemented at the middle and high school
levels. School districts in Massachusetts and North Carolina quickly followed the model.
In Wake County, North Carolina the segregation plan included that no more than 40% of
a schools population could qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch. By 2009, almost 70
school districts have implemented a model of Socio-Economic Integration (Kahlenberg,
2009).
Rowland Unified School District believes that they must take steps to ―devise
strategies that will help stem the flight of students from RHS to neighboring districts‖
(RHS Midterm WASC report, 2010). It is possible that creating more equitable schools
within their own district will lead to a more cohesive educational environment and
encourage students to stay where they feel comfortable and are enjoying their education.

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Strengthen the Community Relationships
Closing the achievement gap of low socio-economic students through Socio-
Economic Integration (SEI) could serve to distribute the wealth, so to speak of cultural
knowledge, cultural models and strengthen the community as a whole. Yet this may not
be enough to reverse the tide of students leaving the school district. It may also not be
enough to meet the needs of the community and of the individual cultures represented
within the school setting. President Obama has championed the efforts in the Harlem
Children‘s Zone and their efforts to strengthen the education of the children by building
the relationships with the community (Aarons, 2009). The Harlem Children‘s Zone
incorporates a number of social services along with the educational process. Services
include: psychological and financial counseling, health clinics, arts, computers and
karate. The success of programs like the Harlem Children‘s Zone are built upon the
comprehensive set of educational, medical, and social services to the children and their
parents in a designated neighborhood (Perry, 2009).
Building the school into the focal point of the community would strengthen both
the school culture as well as provide an invaluable asset to the local community through
the services provided. Movement from the idea that a school is a part of the community
to the idea that the school is the center of the community has found recent success in
communities outside of Harlem. The Harlem Children‘s Zone became a template for
President Obama‘s ―Promise Neighborhoods‖ (Aarons, 2009). Replicating the ―HCZ‖
does not require using all of the same programs but must adhere to a group of core
principles: Commitment to bringing the program to scale, keen focus on improving the

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lives of individual children, and evaluation and accountability of the programs (Aarons,
2009). Organizations must make sure that the schools are prepared to work with others
(after-school programs, mental health). The schools cannot put up barriers and say ―We
can do all this by ourselves. The priority needs to be that the needs of the children are
being met (Davis, 2009).
Offering creative programs for the community is not the end-all solution to
addressing school-community relationships. Pedro Noguera, Executive Director of the
Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at NYU, states that ―As important as after-
school services and all the rest is, if you don‘t have a plan for addressing the quality of
what‘s going on during the day, it is too limited‖ (Aarons, 2009).
Creating a comprehensive plan that will successfully integrate the community and
the school system would require that schools view the families and the communities as
―consumers‖ (O‘Donnell, Kirkner & Meyers-Adams, 2008). These ―community schools‖
should emphasize community involvement and provide services for parents and families
including health centers, family resource rooms, after-school activities, cultural and
community activities and 24 – hour access. When the school becomes a resource in the
community the educational efforts of the school to increase student learning will be
enhanced (O‘Donnell et al., 2008). In their study, O‘Donnell and colleagues found that
successful school community relationships include: an outreach built upon personal
relationships, programs that benefited their children and a wide variety of learning
opportunities for both the students‘ and the parents. They also found that parents
reported positive changes in their children, themselves, and the community as a result of

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their involvement and collaboration with the school. Additional features of a community
service oriented school should include building the participation of the community in the
events. Hosting guest speakers and seminars, creating an awareness of additional
community resources, and soliciting support both financial and skill based (Marzano,
2003).
In their study of community schools, O‘Donnell and colleagues found that
effective community schools resulted from partnerships that were purposeful and that
provided support and opportunities to their students and their families as well as the local
community (O‘Donnell et al., 2008). The Children‘s Aid Society (2009) summarizes
their belief of community based schooling as ―community schools should transform
schools into new institutions that are not only focused on educating children but also on
strengthening communities. Community schools should include an emphasis on
education, a long-term commitment to collaboration with social service providers as
partners, integrated services, a high level of consumer and community involvement.
A critical element of any successful program is the communication of the goals
and purpose of the program with the consumers. The community consists of the students,
school staff, the parents, the local residents, and the local businesses. All of these
members of the community play a role in the education of the children, but it requires
communication between each of these groups. ―Children are educated in the home and in
the community as well as in the school; therefore, open and trusting communication
between teachers and parents is critical…When families and educators can communicate
openly, there is a better chance that this will lead to increased social capital, which then

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leads to common understandings and expectations about the best ways to help children
learn‖ (Eberly, Joshi & Konzal, 2007). In what could be a harsh indictment of what
many schools believe is good communication, Marzano states that effective school
communication must go beyond newsletters, flyers and bulletins (2003).
In strengthening and building an effective relationship between the school and the
community, it is imperative that open communication be established; a communication
that shares both the ability of the school to assist the community as well as the ability of
the community to assist the educating of her children.
Increasing Cultural Proficiency
Using the lens of Attribution Theory (Weiner, 2005) described in Chapter 2,
teachers who are less successful in teaching English learners may be attributing their
performance to the perceived stereotype that English learners are apathetic. If a teacher
believes this, he is less likely to take responsibility for the instruction of English learners
and more likely to punish them and deny them assistance (Reyna, 2000). Such
maladaptive attributions negatively influence the teacher‘s future expectancies for the
success of English learners.
On the other hand, the more adaptive pathway is a result of making attributions to
unstable, internal, and controllable causes (Reyna, 2000). For example, if a teacher
attributes failure to a lack of his own teaching effort, he is taking responsibility and might
expect to do better next time if he engages in more culturally responsive teaching.
Therefore, one solution to reach the desired level of school reform implementation is to
have teachers participate in attribution retraining. Teachers who view instruction of

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English learners as unstable and achievable will be more likely to persist at school-wide
reform efforts. Moreover, teachers can develop attributions that are more accurate by
taking a scientific approach to evaluating students and using multiple assessments to
avoid attributional bias (Schunk et al., 2008). Collecting data on a student and using data
to inform teaching can help teachers avoid making an ultimate attribution error, as well as
increase teaching efficacy due to more accurate feedback.
This is in line with Gallimore and Goldenberg‘s (2001) models and settings
framework, which offers an approach that values students‘ funds of knowledge, moving
away from the deficit explanation that blames unsuccessful students and their families for
their diverse backgrounds to the differences explanation that recognizes variations in
students‘ home settings. Gallimore and Goldenberg define cultural models as shared
mental schema of how the world works and cultural settings as the contextual influences
that can impact both teaching and learning. The advantage of a models and settings
analysis is that it forces a hard look at the biases inherent in the context, or the structure
of the school, and proposes ways in which the school system can be transformed to meet
the educational needs of students and the pedagogical needs of teachers. Instead of
attributing diversity to deficiencies in the child, an accountable educator can apply
cultural models and settings to inform their instructional methods and evaluation
procedures. To transform schools, educators must acknowledge that what they expect or
assume as models and settings are not shared universally. Tapping into student
experience makes learning more meaningful by validating a student‘s identity and
expands the opportunities to learn, as well as the opportunities to teach.

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In a similar manner, Bennett‘s (2001) model for ethnic identity development
suggests that schools take into consideration minority youth‘s cultural histories and
coping strategies in response to societal oppression and reflect on how they are
manipulated for placement in English Language Development classes. Fostering a
cultural model of teaching that moves beyond stereotypical notions about minority youth
is one solution to help teachers become more effective in the classroom by engaging them
in high expectations for all students. According to Bennett, if teachers have high
expectations for minority youth, then their sense of teaching efficacy in relation to
teaching students from diverse backgrounds is increased. As a result, when teachers are
confident in their professional capacity, they are more likely to persist at school-wide
reform activities.
Summary of Recommendations
Cuauhtémoc Avila, Dale Folkens, and Mary Laihee
The following recommendations stem from a thorough analysis of both seminal
and burgeoning perspectives in motivational and organizational literature. These
recommendations take into account several prevalent themes found throughout the school
district (decentralized practices and the unmet academic needs of English learners), and if
implemented strategically with moral conviction, can guide district leaders in meeting
performance and ultimately organizational goals.

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Goals
Creating C
3
Goals
In order for the C
3
work goals to have the most impact, they must first be aligned
to the overall organizational goal (Clark & Estes, 2002). The Rowland Unified School
District can clarify how short-term work goals support the longer-term context of school
reform (Leithwood et al., 2002). For example, at NHS and RHS, classroom goals (work
goals) can be created that feed into the Three Essential Priorities for Teaching and
Learning (intermediate goals) and into the RUSD‘s mission (global goal) so that school
reform initiatives are made relevant to classroom teachers. Thus, with clear expectations
and opportunities to succeed, teacher motivation and engagement can thrive (Wigfield &
Eccles, 2000), which would benefit effective reform implementation.
Fostering Communication
Johnston (2002) suggests that principals can play a strategic role in encouraging
teachers to be full participants of school-wide reform efforts. As a way to begin this
discussion, Johnston recommends that NHS and RHS create a visual representation of the
current reform strategies and their relationships, naming programs or units, with their
primary features listed beneath, and drawing a circle around each. Then, lines
representing established or potential relationships would be drawn between the programs.
By drawing parallels between policy and improving student outcomes, teacher
motivation can be increased (Leithwood et al., 2002). The visual representation may
help key players at NHS and RHS better understand their role within the reform
movement, as well as strategize prospective interactions that could drive implementation.

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Making roles and relationships concrete and clear can facilitate buy-in and understanding,
especially at the secondary setting, which can lead to a higher level of reform
implementation.
Reinforcing Teacher Commitment
When teachers have feelings of belonging and trust, they are more likely to
internalize and implement school reform goals (Henkin & Holliman, 2009). Some
suggestions to build a supportive community across both high schools at the RUSD
include acknowledging teachers for their good work, inviting teachers‘ input on school
decisions, providing a forum for teachers to admire each other‘s work, and informing the
school community of teachers‘ involvement in the school‘s achievements (Leithwood et
al., 2002). Through the celebration of accomplishments, teachers at both NHS and RHS
can become more cohesive as they witness the RUSD‘s overall values being consistently
and equitably reinforced. Teacher efficacy and task value are positively impacted by
such feedback (Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998), which are instrumental to achieving the
desired level of reform implementation.
Resources
Equitable Distribution of Human Resources
Distribution of human resources staff could include ensuring a proper balance of
years of service, teaching experience, and stability of longevity and stability of staff at a
particular school. Behrstock & Clifton (2010) examined the need for effective teachers to
be distributed equitably between schools. Their findings indicate that the level of
education of a teaching staff and the stability of that staff have positive impacts on

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learning (Marzano 2003). For RUSD this would not necessarily require a ―re-shuffle‖ of
current staff but a need for awareness and concentrated efforts in the hiring and placing
of staff members where the needs of the students are greatest. Contractual regulations
may impose limits regarding staff transfers; therefore it may be necessary to re-visit
specific contractual elements regarding job assignments
Equitable Distribution of Fiscal Resources
The equitable distribution of fiscal resources for schools must look beyond the
standard allocation of funds based on enrollment. The ability for a school to access
peripheral resources (booster clubs, donations, grants, and the ability to fund-raise in the
community) to supplement fiscal needs should also be taken into consideration. When
two schools attempt to raise funds for the their activities, the school that serves the more
affluent community has an unfair advantage over a school whose main supporters do not
have the same ability to contribute financially to their child‘s school. Profit sharing
between the schools would be an example of a way to create equity between the schools.
Much like Title IX ensures the equity of programs based on gender, a profit sharing
model could be implemented that would, for example, allow the AVID students from
both schools to participate in the same college visitation trips. Professional growth, both
internal opportunities and external conferences, should be equally offered to and
represented by staff at both high schools.
Implementation and Accountability
The challenges faced by the leadership in the RUSD, as do other educational
leaders, may at times be complex and daunting. Nonetheless, the leadership does have at

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its disposal a variety of resources that if utilized properly, can be instrumental in
managing the organizational vision or goals (Bennis & Goldsmith, 2003), the needs of
employees (Webb & Norton, 2009), and limited resources during the implementation of
district reforms, in light of the district‘s political realities (Houston 2001).
Leadership
First, district leaders must create a context for change by accessing and practicing
proven principles of effective leadership, such as those found in the Four-frame
Leadership Model (Bolman & Deal, 2008) and those espoused by the Build-up,
Breakthrough, Flywheel Model (Collins, 2001). These principles must form part of the
institutional culture to impact change, and be integrated within the district‘s vision and
set of organizational expectations. In accord with such principles, the RUSD can
implement the Gap Analysis Process Model (Clark & Estes, 2008) to identify the root
causes behind the gap in the use of uniformed leadership principles. Solutions to address
the root causes of this particular performance gap can then be identified and implemented
via professional development, motivational activities, or organizational processes, under
the guidelines and principles of the Four-frame Leadership and the Build-up,
Breakthrough, Flywheel models.
Narrowing the Focus
Second, the RUSD must narrow the organizational focus. Schools and districts
that are successful in raising student achievement do a few things well and maintain a
consistent focus over a period of years (Au & Valencia, 2010). This is achievable by
reducing or merging the number of initiatives currently under implementation. For

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example, the school district can coordinate value-streams (Finn, 2002; Stecher and Kirby,
2004); Womack, Jones, & Roos, 1990) around Three Essential Priorities or, more
specifically, the needs of English learners to narrow its focus and maximize reform
implementation efforts. Given that the academic performance of English learners is, for
all intents and purposes, what currently prevents the school district in general and several
schools in particular from meeting external performance benchmarks like API and AYP,
it seems logical that at least one solution to this student performance gap is to focus
exclusively on meeting the academic needs of English learners. The RUSD should
prioritize the implementation of the English Learner Master Plan (ELMP), making it the
centerpiece of all district reform initiatives. All or most of the resources currently
invested in professional development (e.g., Communities of Practice, instructional walks,
Professional Leaning Communities, etc.) and other district activities should be
concentrated on the needs of English learners and the implementation of the ELMP.
Filtering and sequencing district resources and activities through this narrowed lens will
make organizational goals more realistic, while avoiding reform overload (Foley, 2001)
with scattered, inconsistent, and ultimately ineffective efforts (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Implementation
Third, the district needs to establish a clear and consistent protocol to guide the
implementation of reforms. A coordinated effort to monitor implementation of a given
reform (e.g., the ELMP) can prevent a common pitfall of school reform: purchase
materials, train teachers, and innovation will be implemented exactly as planned. Very
often, judgments are made about the relative success or failure of a reform, without any

100

effort to document whether or not it is in fact being implemented as intended in the
classroom (Hall & Hord, 2005). Hall and Hord argue that knowing what to change is
only a small part of the equation; knowing how to change is the real key. For example, if
the district elects to focus reforms efforts on English learners, it can develop
implementation protocol for the ELMP, using the principles of Hall and Hord‘s (2005)
CBAM as the blueprint for implementation. To implement the ELMP at its highest level
(or the implementation of any of the district‘s other reforms), district leaders need to
clearly and effectively communicate the goals and expectations associated with it,
consider the impact on personnel responsible for its implementation, and consistently
monitor and assess its implementation. In line with the CBAM, the district can take the
following steps to implement the ELMP.
● Innovation Configuration (IC): clearly communicate what the ELMP is, what it
looks like at its ideal level of implementation, and specify the role of each person
responsible for its implementation.
● Stages of Concern (SoC): as the ELMP is being implemented, conduct surveys to
measure concerns among staff members regarding the implementation of the
ELMP. Determine the level of concerns (Awareness, information, personal,
management, consequence, collaboration, and Refocusing), and address concerns
according to their respective level. For instance, coordinate professional
development through Communities of Practice or Professional Learning
Communities to address the specific concern(s) among staff members.

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● Level of Implementation (LoI): have district and school level teams measure the
actual implementation on a scale that ranges from no implementation to full
implementation. For example, monthly progress reports on district and school
level implementation can be part of the agenda at Instructional Cabinet. Also,
instructional walks can exclusively center on or include the various components
of the ELMP. Additionally, administrative classroom observations can be
conducted daily to monitor fidelity to the instructional expectations of the ELMP.
Moreover, the district can coordinate two annual district level symposiums to
report on the needs and progress of English learners via the implementation of the
ELMP. A symposium for all schools can take place at the beginning of the school
year to give schools the opportunity to present their specific plans to address the
needs of English learners via the implementation of the ELMP. A second
symposium for all schools can take place at the end of the school year for all
schools to present their respective accomplishments related to English learners
and the implementation of the ELMP.
Accountability
Fourth, the RUSD must commit to instituting data-driven accountability measures
to guarantee that current reforms are fully implemented. Such accountability can be
accomplished through structural management methods that clearly delineate rules and
expectations, value-streaming of schools or departments (Finn, 2002; Stecher & Kirby,
2004); Womack, Jones & Roos, 1990) to assess the effectiveness of district processes, or
a local version of the PRI to assess the impact of school and district practices on student

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performance (Foley, 2001). Using English learners as the narrowed focus and the ELMP
as the innovation being implemented, the district can use an accountability scorecard
(Bensimon, 2004; Harris & Bensimon, 2007) such as the PRI to hold itself, schools, and
individuals accountable for expectations related to organizational goals, the focus on
English learners, and the implementation of the ELMP. In the case of schools, the PRI
can include three sets of indicators for each school: Students Data, School Reform
Implementation Data, and Interventions. Student Data may include performance data on
the CSTs, graduation rate, attendance, course failure rate, etc. among the EL subgroup.
School Reform Implementation Data can include level of reform implementation (e.g.,
data from the CBAM). Interventions may include the specific steps a school is taking to
close performance gaps among staff members, steps such as professional development
opportunities for groups or individuals, percentage of performance improvement plans
among staff members, or other efforts that clearly demonstrate that implementation of the
ELMP is being addressed at the individual level.
The use of data is instrumental in determining whether or not school practices are
having their intended impact on student outcomes (Datnow, Park, & Wolhstetter, 2007),
and holds schools, departments, and individuals accountable for their performance
(Foley, 2001). Accountability is essential in meeting the educational needs of all
students, especially in educational settings where autonomy is highly regarded. Without
data, it is difficult to have accountability. And without accountability, the educational
needs of students, such as English learners, will continue to be disregarded.

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Cultural Settings
Socio-Economic Integration
The implementation of Socio-Economic Integration (SEI) (Kahlenberg, 2001) in
RUSD would require the district to cease the practice of open enrollment and monitor the
demographics of the student populations of each school. Current practices allows for
students to choose which high school they will attend, yet the demographics of the high
schools reflect the demographic for their respective communities not of the district as a
whole. This may be a symptom of convenience, but it may also be cultural segregation.
School boundary lines could be drawn using a north and south orientation thereby
blending the communities that are divided culturally by the freeway. Another method
would be the use of a monitoring system that would ensure equitable student distribution
similar to the system used in North Carolina (Kahlenberg, 2009).
Build the School into a Focal Point of the Community
A venture of a ―community school would strengthen both the school culture as
well as provide an invaluable asset to the local community through the services provided.
Currently, RUSD does utilize their facilities for community involvement. For example,
Nogales High School utilizes grant funding for extended hours of operation for the school
library to be utilized by the community. The ―community schools‖ idea could elevate the
role of the schools in their community by providing services for parents and families
including health centers, family resource rooms, after-school activities, cultural and
community activities and 24 – hour access. The creation of a partnership between the
school ―facility‖ and the community will strengthen the bond between the members of

104

the community and the students that are being raised and educated by the schools along
with the members of the community (O‘Donnell, Kirkner & Meyers-Adams, 2008).
Implications to Professional Practice
One of the guiding principles in managing change is the understanding that change is a
process is not an event (Hall & Hord, 2005). Hence, as the above recommendations are
targeted on the organizational level for the RUSD, progress will not be achieved quickly,
and substantial growth may not be visible for years. Staying the course over a period of
time on a select set of recommendations will be more impactful than continuously
searching for quick fixes to shortcomings occasioned or enabled by institutional practices
that require Horizon 2 reforms, reforms that pursue deep, long-term changes to the
culture of an organization (Fullan, 2003). An effective and responsive leadership team is
therefore needed to promote a system-wide learning model that is encouraging and
flexible yet consistent in guiding the change process. Most of all, it is essential for the
RUSD to regularly evaluate its improvement efforts and act on their realities by making
the necessary corrections so that school reform implementation continues to positively
impact student achievement (Clark & Estes, 2002).

105

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115

Appendix A: Inquiry Team Timeline

Semester Steps taken in Inquiry Process
Fall 2009
Inquiry Team Formation
Context of District Need
Understanding District Priorities
Narrowing inquiry focus
Spring 2010
Exploring the Roots
Data Collection
Summer 2010
Data Analysis
Identification of Performance Gaps & their Root Causes
Development of Findings &
Recommendations/Considerations
Fall 2010
Presentation of Findings & Recommendations/considerations
to District Groups

116

Appendix B: Assistant Superintendent Interview Questions

Interview Questions
Chris Ericson, Ed.D.
RUSD District Office
Feb. 25, 2010
Avila, Folkens, Laihee

1. Overall performance of the school district-
2. View of the performance to the two schools-
3. Strengths of each school-
4. Challenges of each school-
5. New strategies implemented-
6. District Issues-
7. Miscellaneous Comments-

117

Appendix C: Scanning interview Questions
Client's Name:
Role in District:
Date:
Time:
Interviewer:

District Assistance Project
Scanning Interview
(Can email questions to client ahead of time)
Thanks for taking time to talk with me today and allowing me to record the
interview. I'd like to focus on (topic). This is an opportunity for you to share
your views. Your comments will be helpful, and we want to assure you that
we will not quote or attribute your comments to anyone outside the USC team.

1. Describe the overall performance status of the school district.
1a. What is your view of the performance status of the two schools?
1b. What are the strengths of each school?
1c. What are the major challenges at each school?

1d. What is being done about it?

1e. Would you consider the situation to be a "problem" -- in what
sense?

2. In recent years (5-10 years), what reform efforts have been
implemented to address the challenges at the schools?

118

2a. What was the process in selecting these reforms?
2b. How would you describe the level of implementation to date of the
reforms?
2c. Was there any success with these reforms?
2d. Do they continue to this day or what happened?

3. Are there any formal or informal school or district goals to make the
high schools highly effective?

3a. What is the goal of this effort?
3b. How does the district envision the high schools to be?
3c. What do you aspire to?
3d. What is the timeframe for accomplishing these goals?
3e. What criteria are used as indicators of progress towards these goals?
3f. How will you/the district know if it is successful?
3g. Do different role groups have different goals for this effort?
3h. How far are the district/schools from achieving these goals (where you
are now and where you aspire to be)?
4. What do you believe is keeping the schools from being highly effective
(gap between where you are now and "perfect" success)?

4a. Is this problem linked to one or many role groups?
4b. What do you believe has led to this?
4c. Do you believe ______________ have the knowledge, motivation, and
resources to perform effectively?

5. Lastly, what do you believe the team should explore or do to gain a better
understanding of the schools' current performance?

119

Appendix D: Scanning Interview Table

Performance
Status
Reforms Goals Barriers to
Success
RUSD
South school
Majority Asian
students with
high-SES
Continued growth
on API
Distinguished
schools
11 schools now on
PI status, 3
schools in year 3
(including
Nogales), and 8
schools in year 1

Challenges
Meet AYP targets-
- especially for
ELL, low-SES,
and Sped. ed.
students
Retain high
achieving Asian
students
Change perception
of north/south
divide (especially
about Nogales
High School)

Rowland High
School
Top 1,000 schools
by Newsweek
America‘s top
schools by U.S.
News and World
Report
Part of Promising
Practices Network
6-year WASC
Distinguish School
Blue-Ribbon
Stability
High standards
and expectations
Culture of
professionalism
Family-like staff
RUSD
ELL Lead to address
ELL issues
Thinking maps.
ELL certification
Ball Foundation
(Communities of
Practice)
New District
structures: 1.
Executive Cabinet
2. Instructional
Cabinet
3. School
Instructional
Leaders
Learning Walks
IQ Charter (Online
credit recovery
program)
Strategic Plan

Process
Depends on reform.
RUSD implemented
with some degree of
latitude –e.g.
volunteer

Implementation
Some schools have
been inconsistent in
implementing
reforms (learning
from ELL lead)
Only some schools
volunteered when
optional (work with
ELL consultant)
Secondary has
shown initial
resistance to reforms
(thinking maps, C of
P, and IQ Charter)

Success

RUSD has not been
strategic in
addressing
RUSD
Strategic Plan
Plan
implementation
(including
timelines,
expectations,
follow-up)
LEA plan,
SIPSA, A-H
coursework
Align existing
plans
Implement
Essential
Priorities

Rowland High
School

Nogales High
School
Essential
Priorities
Improve culture
of low
expectations
(school and
district)
Improve learning
walks
Strengthen first,
best instruction,
EL instruction,
and RTI squared
2. District-wide
agreements about
efficacious
instruction and
support for
teaching and
learning
3. Build cultural
proficiency
across system to
improve teaching
and learning
Improve culture
of low
expectations
RUSD
RUSD failure to
address the
learning needs of
low-SES, ELL
students (especially
long-term ELL
students)
ELL re-designation
is issue systemic
Decentralization
Accountability
Pernicious
perception about
north side of
district (especially
Nogales High
School)
Lack of common
purpose among
stakeholders
Fragmented plans

Theme

The absence of
clear and
measureable goals
The absence of
alignment of
various plans and
resources
Absence of
accountability
Culture of
independence

120

Strong curricular
programs

Challenges

Meet the needs of
low-SES/ELL
students
Include more low-
SES, ELL students
in AP courses
Challenge itself
Retain high
achieving Asian
students

Nogales High
School

North school
Primarily Latino
with low-SES
Low API
Not meeting AYP
Low expectations
Staff is not family-
like
Staff lacks
professionalism
Character of
student body is
friendly/inclusive
Recent admin.
Stability
Strong extra-
curricular program
Staff is ready for
change
PLC model for
P.D.

Challenges

Meet AYP
Increase API
Meet needs of
low-SES, ELL,
Sped. Ed. students
Establish rigor
across curriculum
Build staff unity
Change pervasive
perception of
being low-
performing,
performance of low-
SES, ELL students
ELL needs remain a
systemic issue
There is need for
rigor and
expectations
There is need to
align all plans,
monitor progress,
follow through

Roland High
School

(no reforms)
Follow Strategic
Plan
Cornell notes

Nogales High
School

All district reforms
above
5 co-principals
Awareness of ELL
students
PLC
First instruction
(WBC, learning
theory, checking for
understanding,
Cornell notes)
EDI
Interventions
Admin. saw a need,
site plans, WASC
reports

Implementations

5 co-principals
created fragmented
leadership
PLC and
interventions are at
100%
First instruction,
EDI, Cornell notes
are at 80%

Themes

NHS
Staff is ready to
have
conversations
about
improvement.
Institute pictorial
maps in Algebra,
adopt
collaborative
learning model,
improve
scaffolding to
reach rigor with
ELL students
beyond ELL lead
Improve
Learning Walks

Themes

Absence of clear
and measurable
goals at every
level
Meet the needs
of students from
low-SES/ELL
backgrounds
Align various
district/school
plans
Improve culture
of low
expectation
Improve
perceptions

121

undesirable school
Change staff
mindset about
students
capabilities
Establish high
standards and
expectations for
everyone
Improve school‘s
physical
appearance
Improve academic
culture of school

Themes

Not meetings the
needs of students
from low-
SES/ELL
backgrounds
Low expectations
for students from
low-SES/ELL
backgrounds
Negative
perceptions

Absences of
alignment of various
plans
Absence of
comprehensive
reforms
Absence of
accountability
Culture of
inconsistent
implementation of
reforms
Culture of
independence

122

Appendix E: Stages of Concern Interview Questions

Stages of Concern

1. What are some things you are doing in your classroom to
address the needs of EL learners?
(Behavior/Experiences)

2. How is it going?
(Feelings/Emotions)

3. What does it take to make this intervention a successful one?
(Knowledge/Skills)

4. What do you see as the pros and cons for your own involvement
in the instruction of EL learners? (Perceptions)
(Opinion/Value)

5. What are the measures of success? (Goals)
(Knowledge/Skills)

6. What is your opinion on having an ELL Lead Teacher?
(Decentralization)
(Opinion/Value)

7. What is you role in working with the ELL Lead Teacher?
(Beahvior/Experiences)

123

Appendix F: One Month Interview Questions

One-month Interview

8. Tell me about the district's 3 essential priorities.
(Perceptions and Expectations)
(knowledge/skills)

9. During the past month, what were your classroom Goals
related to first instruction/EL instruction?
(behavior/experiences)

10. Did this require certain strategies? Can you tell me about
them?
(knowledge/skills and behavior/experiences)

11. How were these strategies determined? (Decentralization)
(knowledge/skills and opinions/values)

12. What was the outcome of these strategies? (Perceptions)
(opinions/values and feelings/emotions)

124

Appendix G: Data Codes

Coding

K(F) Knowledge Factual
K(P) Knowledge Procedural
K(M) Knowledge Meta-Cognitive

M(S) Motivation Self-Efficacy
M(I) Motivation Interest/Value
M(A) Motivation Attribution
G(C3) Motivation Goals Current, Concrete,
Challenging
G(M) Motivation Goals Mastery
G(P) Motivation Goals Performance

O(Po) Organization Policies
O(Pr) Organization Practice
O(S) Organization Structure
O(C) Organization Culture

125

Appendix H: Implementation Rubric

Implementation Rubric:
Reform:
Circle: NHS or RHS
Dimension High Medium
Low
Challenges &
Concerns

No serious obstacle or
challenge

Staff focused on
improving full use of
reform and its impact
on student performance

Common commitment
to approach
Some obstacles
and/or challenges to
implementation

Staff focused on
thoughts and actions
needed to improving
reform

Majority of staff
showing commitment
to approach
Serious external
obstacles to
implementation

Staff focused on
whether approach to
reform is best design or
is feasible

Possible strong
disagreement about best
direction
Fully
Implemented in
Practice
Full implementation of
all components of the
reform across the
school

Best practices have
been established and
are communicated in a
coordinated manner

Practice is reflected in
policy and procedures

Uneven and/or
inconsistent
implementation of the
reform across the
school

Best practices are
being collected, with
plans for
communicating these
across the school
Possibly some good
ideas about the
implementation of the
reform

Little actual
implementation of the
reform beyond minimal
bureaucratic
requirements
Common
Culture:
Data, Reflection,
and Continuous
Improvement
Extensive use of data
and reflection about the
reform: its design,
implementation, and
effectiveness in
supporting student
achievement

Common and clear
expectations across the
school
Extensive work on
continuous
improvement
Use of data and
reflection guides
decisions about the
reform

Expectations
communicated across
the school

Moderately effective
continuous
improvement efforts
Little common
understanding of the
reform

Little or no data
collection regarding
reform

Little or no reflection
about how to improve
implementation of
reform

126

Implementation Rubric:
Reform:
Circle: NHS or RHS
Dimension High Medium
Low
Sustainable Use:
Resources, Staff,
Regularization
Strong possibility of
sustainability

Strong and ongoing
staff and fiscal resource
commitment

Shared expertise and
capacity building
Inclusion in regular
way the school operates
Moderate possibility
of sustainability

Moderate staff and
fiscal resource
commitment

District support and
expertise
Very tenuous approach
to implementation of
reform

Little chance of
sustainability in terms
of staffing, resources, or
regularized patterns

127

Appendix I: Implementation Rubric Table

Nogales High School
Ball
Respondent Challenges
Fully
Implemented
Common
Culture
Sustainable
Use

A M M L M
B L M L L Implementation
C M M L M Rubric
D * * * * H = High
E * * * * M = Medium
F * * * * L = Low
G * * * * * = Not Applicable
H L L L L
I * * * *

ELIS Lead
Respondent Challenges
Fully
Implemented
Common
Culture
Sustainable
Use

A M M L M
B M M M M
C H H M H
D M H H H
E L M M M
F L L L M
G M L L M
H M M L M
I L L M M

Essential Priorities
Respondent Challenges
Fully
Implemented
Common
Culture
Sustainable
Use

A L L L L
B L L L L
C L L L L
D * * * *
E * * * *
F L L L M
G M L L M
H M M L M
I L L L M

128

Rowland High School
Ball
Respondent Challenges
Fully
Implemented
Common
Culture
Sustainable
Use

A M M L M
B M L L M
Implementation
C L L L L
Rubric
D no int. no int. no int. no int.
H = High
E L L L L
M = Medium
F * * * *
L = Low
G L M L M
* = Not Applicable
H M M L L

I * * * *

ELIS Lead
Respondent Challenges
Fully
Implemented
Common
Culture
Sustainable
Use

A M L L M
B M M M M
C L L L L
D no int. no int. no int. no int.
E L L L L
F * * * *
G L L L L
H L L L L
I M M L M

Essential Priorities
Respondent Challenges
Fully
Implemented
Common
Culture
Sustainable
Use

A L L L L
B L L L L
C L L L L
D no int. no int. no int. no int.
E L L L L
F L L L L
G M L L L
H M L L L
I L L L L

129

Appendix J: Executive Summary

Overview
Despite the accountability measures of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB),
and the many accountability provisions found in state and district policies, establishing
parity in educational access, academic performance, and educational attainment among
all student groups continues to remain elusive. The Rowland Unified School District,
which serves a predominantly ethnic minority student population, has responded to these
external pressures with a comprehensive school reform effort to support good instruction,
enhance learning at the elementary and middle school levels for Latino students, and
make its two high schools highly effective in both perception and reality.
The current dissertation project was undertaken by a three-person project team
that followed a consulting model which focused exclusively on the implementation of the
district‘s reforms at the district‘s two high schools—Nogales (NHS) and Rowland (RHS).
The purpose of the project was to analyze three school district reforms—Partnership with
the Ball Foundation, English Learner Instructional Support Leads, and Three Essential
Priorities—in an effort to identify the root causes of student performance gaps. The
major goal of this project was to provide the Rowland Unified School District with a set
of recommendations based on scholarly research that addresses the root causes to
maximize the impact of its reform efforts at the two high schools.

130

Analyzing the Roots the Problem
Literature review
The literature review examined the causal factors that might prevent school
districts from sustaining implementation of comprehensive school reform efforts. From
the gap analysis model, three types of gaps can lead to underperformance: knowledge,
motivation, and organizational culture. First, causes of the knowledge gap may be due to
missing knowledge dimensions (factual, conceptual, procedural, or metacognitive) or
whether knowledge is controlled or automated. Second, causes of the motivation gap
may stem from goal orientation, attributions, task value, or teacher efficacy. Last, causes
of the organizational gap may result from culture/context or ineffective leadership
(structural, human resource, political, or symbolic). This thorough understanding of root
causes provides a rich foundation for assisting school districts in examining the level of
implementation of comprehensive school reform efforts.
Methodology
For this project, the gap analysis model (Clark & Estes, 2002) served as the
framework for authentic institutional problem-solving. Because of its systematic
approach, the gap analysis model was useful in identifying and targeting performance
gaps that stemmed from a lack of knowledge and skills, a lack of motivation, and/or a
lack of tools, facilities, and effective processes within the organization. To measure the
level of reform implementation, the project team reviewed existing district documents
(Strategic Plan, WASC Reports, Single Action Plan for Student Achievement, School
Accountability Report Cards, etc.), as well as conducted a series of structured interviews

131

with purposefully sampled key informants from the school district and school sites. The
next steps include generating effective solutions in alignment with the root causes and
performance indicators.
From the outset of the project, the team‘s efforts focused on developing mutual
trust and open communication with the school district. The team affirmed institutional
areas of strength to build on this trust, genuinely recognizing the district‘s current school
reform efforts. The team discussed general performance gaps at the two high schools and
conveyed the rationale for using the gap analysis model. The team emphasized that
although the gap analysis model is theoretically sound, it requires several cycles in order
to completely close or eliminate performance gaps.
Findings
In its efforts to meet state and federal benchmarks for student performance, the
RUSD has adopted two organizational goals: (1) make its two high schools highly
effective and (2) implement district-wide reforms—e.g. the Ball Foundation, ELIS Lead,
and the Three Essential Priorities. This alternative capstone project focused primarily on
the level of implementation of district reforms, with school improvement forming part of
the project‘s overall analysis. The structured interviews and review of existing
documents revealed the following findings.
Positive activities
The RUSD has a firm culture of educational excellence, as evidenced by its many
successful schools and programs that include 4 National Blue Ribbon Schools, 16
California Distinguish School, multiple Golden Bell awards, etc. This culture of

132

excellence was equally visible at RHS and, to a lesser extent, at NHS. Additionally, the
general feeling at NHS and RHS toward the RUSD is positive. Staff members at both
high schools reported that they feel supported by the district.
Moreover, the RUSD has taken the initiative to build school capacity to enhance
student achievement. For instance, the district has created the Executive Cabinet,
Instructional Cabinet, and Instructional Leadership Teams to align resources and improve
reform implementation. Several staff members reported higher levels of teacher
collaboration within both schools.
Emergent themes
The project team identified four emergent themes that helped frame its probe of
reform implementation throughout the district in general and exclusively at the two high
schools. The four emergent themes were the following: negative perceptions about each
high school, the absence of clear and measurable goals, the needs of English language
learners, and a culture of decentralization.
The document review and the complete interview process revealed that while
currently some work goals are being met towards accomplishing the district‘s goal, many
other work goals have not been made clear or have not been identified. This has resulted
in essential work goals not being met due to deficiencies in knowledge, motivation, and
organizational processes. These gaps appear to have been responsible for the low to
moderate level of implementation of district reforms.

133

Knowledge
When analyzing the interview data through the lens of knowledge, the project
team has found an apparent a gap in the knowledge of district employees. This gap,
whether an actual deficit in knowledge or an inability to communicate learned knowledge
is a contributing root cause in this gap analysis. The majority of the findings can be
attributed to two of the types of knowledge, factual and procedural. The knowledge of
the staff interviewed appears to be germane to factual knowledge. The elements that
were discovered that relate to procedural knowledge, involve basic implementation, with
only slight indicators of the conceptual knowledge that provides the reasoning and
rationale for the implementation of the reform strategies.
There appears to be a distinct lack of conceptual and meta-cognitive knowledge.
The interviews revealed that staff members may know what to say, but not why they have
been asked to do a certain tasks. The lack of all four types of knowledge can be tied to a
lack of communication. Staff members shared that they were not sure about the details
and specific components of the implementation of the reform strategies. Most staff
members limited their knowledge to knowing who they could contact if they had a
concern regarding English Learners or the learning communities (Ball Foundation
partnership).
Motivation
The interviews suggest that there may be motivational concerns affecting the level
of reform implementation around the following variables: goals, task value, attributions,
and teacher efficacy. In terms of goals, teachers and support staff at both school sites

134

were not aware of any school-wide goals or progress indicators related to the reform
efforts. Without clear work goals, teachers might substitute their own personal goals,
which may not be aligned to the reform efforts. Related to this, some teachers expressed
low task value because not enough is being done at the district level to effectively
implement the reforms at the classroom level. They felt that the district did not
communicate the relevance of the reform efforts at the classroom level nor provided
enough follow-up support. Next, teachers at both high schools attributed challenges to
reform implementation to deficiencies in the student population. These views are
inconsistent with a student-centered approach. Some teachers felt that not much that
could be done to help certain student groups. Lastly, teacher efficacy, or teachers‘
perceptions that their efforts as a whole will positively impact student achievement,
appeared to be a strong influence. At NHS, concerns about the appearance of the school
campus seemed to hinder teacher efficacy. They might not have participated fully in
reform efforts because they believed that the physical appearance of their school is
symbolic of their status in the district. At RHS, the school has mobilized around the
high-performing students, but teacher efficacy toward meeting the needs of diverse
learners is not as high. They might be focusing energy on ensuring that high-performing
students stay enrolled, which could be taking precedence over reform efforts related to
raising achievement for all students.
Organizational culture
The interview process revealed that several practices and a shortage of material
resources have adversely affected performance at various job levels (district/school sites)

135

and in various areas of the instructional program (instruction, professional development,
assessment, etc). Several of these practices have become rooted into the school or
district culture, preventing or slowing progress along the reform implementation
spectrum.
The district practice that allows high achieving students from NHS to enroll at
RHS to prevent these students from transferring to neighboring school districts--e.g.
Walnut Valley Unified School District--has resulted in a mass exodus of Asian students
from NHS to RHS. This in turn has perpetuated the low-achievement scores at NHS and
reinforced its negative reputation of being a low-performing school. Also, there is a
cultural practice of limited follow-through. It has been common that ideas or plans are
proposed at the district or site administrative level, but rarely make it to fruition in the
classrooms. One case in point was the English language learner program, which lacks a
plan with clear goals, expectations, and measures of accountability. This in part has
resulted in the cultural phenomena of intentional failure among English language
learners, who intentionally fail certain classes to prevent re-designation into the
mainstream instructional program in order to remain in classes with their immediate
primary language peers. Furthermore, poor goal-setting at the district level was described
as a burgeoning tendency. Many of the respondents stated that the district has not had or
has not clearly communicated clear performance goals for individuals or
groups/departments in order to meet the API, AYP, or other targets.
It was a common theme expressed at NHS that the district has insufficient
financial resources to assist the school with needed comprehensive reforms to get the

136

personnel it needs to make the school student centered. It was expressed that the school
district lacks a mandate for staff members to connect with and engage students in the
process of learning. Additionally, several respondents indicated that district
administrators perpetuate the perception that Nogales is a "ghetto" school by failing to
provide it the support needed to improve the school‘s physical appearance.
Finally, the interview process revealed that although the school district has
identified particular district-wide reforms to address student achievement, a culture of
decentralization district-wide and within the schools has resulted in practices that
preclude alignment and implementation of the various plans (e.g. Strategic Plan, Ball
Foundation, Single Action Plan for Student Achievement, ELIS Lead), leading to
awareness deficits and, thus, fragmented implementation at the school level. The recent
budget cuts and reorganization changes, however, have made the district more
centralized, occasioning somewhat of a culture clash across the district.

137

Appendix K: Proposed Solutions Power point Presentation

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

Connect Cultural Proficiency to
academic goals
Coherent District Support for
alignment of goals
Recommendations
Augment Accountability
32

154

155

156

Appendix L: Power Point Presentation References

Anderson, S. (2003). The school district role in educational change: A review of the
literature (ICEC No. 2). Ontario, Canada: International Center for Educational
Change, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Folley, E., (20091, August). Contradictions and control in systemic reform: The
ascendancy of the central office in Philadelphia Schools.
Philadelphia: Consortium for Policy and Research in Education.

Goldenberg, S. (2004). Successful school change: Creating settings to improve
teaching and learning. New York: Teacher College Press: Allyn Bacon.

Gordon, S. (2004). Professional Development for School improvement: Empowering
learning communities. Boston: Pearson Education.

Guthrie, L.., F. (2010). Research on AVID’s college success path (csp) project for
English learners. In progress. Center for Research, Evaluation, and Training
in Education.

Gutiérrez, K. (1995, June). Script, counterscript, and underlife in the urban
classroom: Constructing a Third Space. Paper presented at the Fourth
International Literacy and Education Research Network Conference on
Learning, Townsville, QLD, Australia.

Gutiérrez, K., & Larson, J. (2007). Discussing expanded spaces for learning [Profiles
and Perspectives]. Language Arts, 85, 69–77.

Gutiérrez, K., & Rogoff, B. (2003). Cultural ways of learning: Individual traits or
repertoires of practice. Educational Researcher, 32(5), 19–25.

Horwitz, A. R., Uro, G., Price-Baugh, R. et al., (2009). Succeeding with English
Language Learners: Lessons learned from the great city schools. The Council of
the Great City Schools, Washington, DC.

Kowal, J., Hassel, E. A., and Hassel, B. C. (2009). Successful school turnarounds:
Seven steps for district leaders. The Center for Comprehensive School
Reform and Improvement. Retrieved October 12, 2010, from
www.centerforcsri.org.

Lee, C. D. (2001). Is October Brown Chinese: A cultural modeling activity system
for underachieving students. American Educational Research Journal, 38(1),
97–142.

157

Lee, C. D., Mendenhall, R., Rivers, A., & Tynes, B. (1999). Cultural modeling: A
framework for scaffolding oral narrative repertoires for academic narrative
writing. Paper presented at the Multicultural Narrative Analysis Conference at the
University of South Florida, Tampa.

Lindsey, Randall B., Nuri Robins, K., & Terrell, Raymond D. (2003). Cultural
proficiency: A manual for school leaders (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

MacIver, M.A., & Farley, E. (2003). Bringing the district back in: The role of the central
office in improving instruction and student achievement (CRESPAR No. 65).
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved September 23,
2010, from http://www.csos.jhu.edu

Massel, D. (2000). The district role in building capacity: Four strategies. Washington,
DC: Consortium for Policy Research in Education. Retrieved September 7, 2010,
from http://eric.ed.gov/

Moll, L., & Greenberg, J. B. (1990). Creating zones of possibilities: Combining
social contexts for instruction. In L. Moll (Ed.), Vygotsky and education:
Instructional implications and applications of sociohistorical psychology
(pp. 319–348). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Pappano, L. (2010). Scenes from the school turnaround movement: Passion, frustration,
mid-course corrections make rapid reforms. Harvard Education Letter.

Reeves, D. B. (2009). Leading change in your school: How to conquer myths, build
commitment, and get results. ASCD: Alexandria, VA.

158

Appendix M: Glossary of Key Terms

Knowledge

Conceptual knowledge - The knowledge based upon the interrelationship between
multiple elements of knowledge and enables the individual to classify and categorize
concepts allowing for the formation of generalizations and theories.

Factual knowledge - Knowledge of terminology and knowledge of specific detail and
sources of additional information.

Metacognitive knowledge - The knowledge of cognition or the awareness of one‘s own
cognition. This knowledge is also classified more commonly as self-awareness, self-
reflection, and self-regulation.

Procedural knowledge - The ability to perform a task or to explain the processes needed
to perform a task. This type of knowledge includes subject specific skills and
techniques.

Motivation

Attributions – Perceived causes of outcomes. Attributions are classified on three
dimensions: locus (whether the cause is internal or external to the person), stability (how
stable a cause is over time), and controllability (whether the cause is controllable or
uncontrollable by the person).

Goal orientation – Reasons for engaging in behaviors. A mastery goal orientation is
concerned with learning, mastering, and self-improvement. A performance goal
orientation is concerned with social comparisons and ability judgments relative to others.

Group efficacy – Group members‘ perceptions of how well the group will work together
in relation to the goal, given each individual‘s skills and roles.

Motivation – Internal state that initiates and maintains goal-directed behavior. The three
motivational indices are active choice (starting the task), persistence (continuing in spite
of distractions), and mental effort (developing new knowledge).

Task value – Person‘s beliefs about reasons for doing the task. Task value can be
influenced by utility value (perceived usefulness in meeting future goals), attainment
value (subjective importance of doing well on the task), cost value (perceived time and
effort required), and intrinsic value (subjective interest of enjoyment of the task).

Teacher efficacy – Teacher‘s belief that he or she can be successful in specific
instructional tasks.

159

Organization

Organizations. Organizations constitute a tool for making people productive in working
together, governed by complex systems of rules, structures, and processes that are
intended to accomplish common goals (Drucker, 1999).

Processes. Processes specify how people, equipment, and material resources must link
and interact over time to produce a desired result (Clark & Estes, 2008).

Resources. ―Resources are to a complex organization what food is to the body,‖
(Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, p. 59, 2005). Clark and Estes (2008) maintain that
organizations require tangible supplies and equipment to achieve process goals and aid
individuals and teams as they perform tasks and procedures.

Value Streams. Value streams are a form of analysis that describes how the departments
and divisions within an organization interact and what processes they implement. Value
streams are used as a powerful tool to identify wastes, identify the most effective
processes, and design production systems influential in achieving performance and
organizational goals (Clark &Estes, 2008).

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This alternative capstone dissertation project was undertaken by a three-person project team that followed a consulting model. The Roland Unified School District requested that the project team analyze the implementation of its three reforms -- Partnership with the Ball Foundation, English Learner Instructional Support Leads, and Three Essential Priorities--at the district's two high schools, Nogales (NHS) and Rowland (RHS). The two major goals of this project were the following: (1) determine if there exist current gaps in the implementation of the three district reforms

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Asset Metadata

Creator Folkens, Dale Allen (author)

Core Title Utilizing gap analysis to examine the effectiveness of high school reform strategies in Rowland Unified School District

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 05/03/2011

Defense Date 01/19/2011

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag community,gap analysis,knowledge,motivation,OAI-PMH Harvest,organization

Place Name California (states), Los Angeles (counties), Rowland Unified School District (school districts), San Gabriel Valley (valleys), USA (countries)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Rueda, Robert S. (committee chair), Escalante, Michael F. (committee member), Marsh, David D. (committee member)

Creator Email dfolkens@verizon.net,folkens@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m3846

Unique identifier UC1210365

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Document Type Dissertation

Rights Folkens, Dale Allen

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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