School Reform and Improvement

What Does the Legislation Say?

Goals 2000: Educate America Act

Goals 2000: Educate America Act supports state efforts to develop clear and rigorous standards for what every child should know and be able to do, and supports comprehensive state- and district-wide planning and implementation of school improvement efforts focused on improving student achievement of those standards.

Largely through state awards that are distributed on a competitive basis to local school districts, Goals 2000 subgrants support teaching based on high standards for student achievement. Over the last four years, Goals 2000 has allocated over $1.7 billion to the states. At least 90% of each state's award is subgranted to districts in support of local reform, professional development, and preservice education. In 1997, over 3000 local awards were made. Goals 2000 supports school improvement efforts designed around three main tenets: Students learn best when they, their teachers, administrators, and the community share clear and common expectations for education. States, districts and schools need to agree on challenging content and performance standards that define what children should know and be able to do. Student achievement improves in environments that support learning to high expectations. The instructional system must support fulfillment of those expectations. School improvement efforts need to include broad parent and community involvement, school organization, coordinated resources­including educational technology, teacher preparation and professional development, curriculum and instruction, and assessments­all aligned to agree upon the standards. Student success stems from concentrating on results. Education systems must be designed to focus and report on progress in meeting the pre-set standards. Education reform needs to be results oriented through reliable and aligned means that answer the critical, bottom-line question: to what extent are students and schools meeting the standards? Continuous improvement requires carefully developed accountability systems for interpreting and responding to results and supporting improved student performance for all children. Goals 2000: Implementing Standards Based Reform in Region III States Delaware With Goals 2000 support in 1995-96 and 1996-97, Delaware's Brandywine School District has been able to focus on bringing reform to the classroom by developing curriculum guides aligned to the standards and demonstrating lessons in mathematics, English/language arts, science, and social studies. Brandywine has seen an annual increase in the percentage of students reaching the standards (Education Week, January 8, 1998). Maryland In 1989, Maryland began Success for Schools, a state-wide school reform initiative. The comprehensive effort: mandatory kindergarten; programs for at-risk students; content standards; high school graduation requirements keyed to the standards; and an aligned state performance-based assessment system, the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). The MSPAP informs an index of school performance and a developed accountability system. In addition, with the support of Goals 2000, Maryland is developing high school exit exams that are also aligned to the standards. These will improve the rigor of the State's current competency exam which is required for graduation and benchmarked at about the 8th grade level. Ohio As one State-wide activity supported with Goals 2000 funds, Ohio initiated the Transforming Learning Communities Project (TLC) with twelve Ohio schools. The project, which began in the spring of 1997 and will continue through the fall of 1998, involves a team of researchers from Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the International for Educational Change. It will result in case studies generated by school and nearby university faculty about each school's improvement efforts. The project offers opportunities for teachers and university faculty to collectively engage in an inquiry process that includes the support of nearby universities. The study is designed to: 1) develop and examine a range of strategies for building the capacity of schools to form transforming learning communities; 2) define and represent a framework for understanding and stimulating the development of schools capable of achieving systemic reform; and 3) create resources to support schools in creating and sustaining cooperative, integrated, and inquiry-oriented learning communities (Ohio Goals 2000 Annual Report, 1997). (Goals 2000: Reforming Education to Improve Student Achievement, April 30, 1998, U.S. Department of Education)