A school improvement plan serves as the roadmap for schools. The school improvement plan (SIP) has goals and action steps that are intended to direct the school for the year. The development of the SIP requires multiple stakeholders. These stakeholders include the school's leadership team, parents, community members, and other school personnel such as counselors, social workers, or even the school nurse. The input is needed in order to gain wide-ranging perspectives. The team begins the process by completing a root-cause analysis to understand the needs of the school. Following the root cause analysis, the team is able to prioritize the needs of the school and develop goals and action steps. School improvement plan if jointly developed can prove to be beneficial for a school
Timing is everything. Last year, we completed the new school improvement plan prior to the end of the school year. In an effort to expedite federal funding for the schools, it was necessary to complete the plan before the end of the school year. Several problems became evident with such an early due date. First, the measures in the previous SIP were not available as of yet, therefore we did not know if the goals were met. Second, May is an extremely busy time in a high school. Testing, end of year activities, graduation are all taking place. The SIP team does not have adequate time to meet and do a thorough root cause analysis and close out the previous SIP as team members have other priorities.
It is my belief that school improvement plans can be powerful tools for authentic school improvement. However, the process must be completed with fidelity. District leaders must provide schools with the necessary time to adequately prepare the school improvement plan. Setting aside time in the summer to conduct a thorough data analysis, reviewing the actions steps, and developing new goals are essential for a well-developed plan. The district can assist by providing easy to access data from multiple sources and providing support from professional learning to assist the school in the planning process.
