District Partner 2012-2014
ERS worked with Michigan State University to provide training and support for state and district-level staff working with “Priority Schools,” which are among the lowest achieving in the state.
"When we turned to building or finding tools that encourage districts to strengthen, customize, and differentiate their support for low-performing schools, the ERS Resource Check diagnostic was exactly what we were looking for. It's clear, specific, practical, and leads districts to see ways they may inadvertently be getting in their schools way."
-Joann Neuroth, Former School Improvement Support Supervisor,
Michigan Department of Education
Work Focus
2013-2014:
- Support Districts with High-Needs Schools: Provide resources and training to MSU Specialists who work with districts with Priority Schools—those in the bottom 5% of state-wide academic rankings; the ultimate goal is to help districts identify the key resource misalignments they can address to turnaround schools
- MiToolkit: Provide the structure and content for an online “toolkit” of resources to be used by MSU Specialists, district leaders and school leaders of Priority Schools across the state of Michigan; the toolkit contains the training materials, background reading, and tools to support turnaround of Priority Schools
Findings and Outcomes
- School Turnaround: All Michigan districts with one or more Priority Schools (those in the lowest 5% based on student performance) or Focus Schools (those with the largest gap in performance between high- and low-achieving student subgroups within a school) are required to complete one of ERS’s self-assessment tools—Resource Check or School Check—as a part of the Michigan Statewide System of Support (SSoS); these assessments help districts understand how their current resource use compares to best practices and are used as the launching off points for discussion to meaningfully improve these schools; see the impact that Resource Check had on one of these districts
- Training: We delivered multiple training sessions to MSU Specialists, to support their use of our tools and share best practices around resource use
- Change in Understanding: Through our in-depth trainings, the MSU Office of K-12 Outreach gained insights into how districts with low-performing schools can reallocate resources to improve student achievement
- MiToolkit: We developed an organization structure and content for MiToolkit, an online toolkit to be used by leaders involved with Priority Schools across the state
Next Steps
- We are continuing to support the MiToolkit as a content partner
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