MDE Provides Assistance to High Priority Schools

The State Board of Education goal to attain substantial and meaningful improvement in academic achievement for all students/children, with primary emphasis on High Priority Schools and students, is at the heart of the work in the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), schools are identified as not making Adequate Yearly Progress when their student achievement levels do not meet state academic standards. These are Michigan’s High Priority Schools.

The Office of School Improvement (OSI) is responsible for developing and implementing the department’s strategic plan for assisting High Priority Schools. The plan was originally developed in February of 2002 during the first year of the Partnership for Success program, which placed highly skilled educators in High Priority Schools to provide on-site technical assistance. Since then, the department has supported several statewide initiatives and has been recognized nationally for its efforts.

The plan for assistance to High Priority Schools has four areas of support. The first includes the development of a Strategic Planning Database. This database contains information about student achievement, programs and services, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status, and funding/resources. In addition, the database will include information that will inform technical assistance for schools such as diagnostic visits and NCLB monitoring of sanctions and school improvement plans.

The second area of support involves providing regional assistance and professional development to schools and school administrators through:

• Regional teams of OSI field services consultants working with intermediate school district facilitators to provide meaningful oversight and technical assistance to identified schools.
• The development of a nationally recognized NCLB/AYP reporting packet and technical assistance guidance on NCLB sanction options.
• AYP corrective action and restructuring support.
• The development and award of ISD regional support grants to provide assistance to High Priority Schools.
• The co-development of a Coaches’ Institute to train Coaches to assist High Priority Schools and build statewide technical assistance capacity. This institute is called the Alliance for Building Capacity in Schools (ABCS). For more information about the ABCS Coaches, visit www.abcscoaches.org.
• MDE’s Reading First program provides support to 168 schools and extensive professional development in literacy for teachers in grades K-3 and all special education teachers.
• Michigan’s 33 mathematics and science centers make a variety of programs available to help improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science at High Priority Schools.
• Conferences and meetings, including a week long Principals’ Academy, Leadership Academies, Grade Level Content Expectations conferences, regional workshops, etc.
• New Leadership initiatives developed by MDE and funded by grants from the Microsoft Corporation and the Wallace Foundation.

The third area of support includes the development, distribution, and training of a dynamic, nationally recognized school improvement tool called the MI-Map Kit. This kit provides schools with more than 300 practical strategies and materials to shape, support, and sustain school improvement. Components include: Administrative Systems; Competent, Visionary Leadership; Tending to the Spirit & Culture; Moving Decisively Toward Data; Designing and Delivering Instruction; Benchmarks & Standards: Aligning Curriculum; Professional Development; Shared Decision-Making; and Using Technology. There have been nine new packets developed that address the support of English Language Learners (ELL). These new ELL modules will be incorporated into a revised MI-Map Kit. They will also be available as a separate insert. The revised kit and ELL inserts will be available for purchase through the Education Materials Center at Central Michigan University, www.emc.cmich.edu/products/MI-Map. An order form is available at www.michigan.gov/mimap. In addition, all kit materials and inserts are available to download at no cost at the above URL.

The fourth area of assistance to High Priority Schools is centered on the Michigan School Improvement Framework—the structure that provides a vision for how schools think about, organize, and support continuous school improvement (see Take a Closer Look at the MDE School Improvement Framework, page 4).

For more information about Michigan’s efforts to improve achievement in High Priority Schools, visit www.michigan.gov/osi.

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