State Strategies to Support Local School Improvement

Abstract

In recent years, state departments of education have undertaken strategies to support local school improvement. Some emphasize school wide improvement while others focus specifically on instructional improvement. This study, based on case study methodology, sought to determine what factors were most important in the process of actually putting in place an improvement effort. The study indicated that the implementation within the school could be best thought of in four stages—initiation, initial implementation, complete implementation, and institutionalization. Each stage contained several factors that seemed essential to success. These factors included district support of several types as well as characteristics and actions in the school. Also certain factors/actions on the part of the state helped to support these efforts. These factors are described in this article. The types of school improvement programs reported here were found to work best in local environments that lacked turmoil, were not overloaded with innovation, were small in size and low in complexity at both the school and district levels.