Resources from the Field

Resources for Addressing the 12 Key Components

Compiled by Advance Illinois

The following resources are shared in collaboration with Advance Illinois. These tools are intended for use by LEAs in the state of Illinois. Please note that these resources may not be appropriate for LEAs in other states.

Illinois SIG Toolkit

This toolkit is designed to help district administrators and local union representatives in Illinois:

  • Better understand certain ISBE-designated key components of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) application;
  • Identify options for incorporating these key components into the district's SIG application; and
  • Facilitate dialogue on the collective bargaining challenges associated with SIG implementation.

While twelve key components have been identified as critical to the implementation of the federal intervention models, this toolkit addresses the three which can be most challenging to develop and implement: 1) extended time, 2) hiring and incentives, and 3) teacher/principal evaluation.

Supporting Resources for the 12 Components:

1) Extended Time:

  • Background on Effective Extended Time: A great place for research about extended time is from Mass 2020 (it is so good that the feds include reference to it in their guidance). You can learn more about them here.

2) Transitions:

  • The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Department of Graduation Pathways in the Office of Student Support Services developed the Freshmen On-Track Handbook as a guide for educators (principals, counselors, teachers, etc) and administrators to use in developing strategies and tactics to improve the Freshmen On-Track (FOT) rate at their schools. View it here. Many of the topics in this handbook may be exclusive to CPS, but many of the ideas and strategies can be applied globally and used by non-CPS educators. This book is a collection of the promising practices that the six lab schools from the Freshmen On-Track Lab Action Research Project found that gave positive results. The Handbook will provide you with ideas on how you can develop your Freshmen On-Track Strategic Plan; collect, use and share quantitative and qualitative freshmen data; design 8-9th grade articulation activities; and develop and track student interventions. It includes 30 pages of examples and templates that you can customize to fit your individual school's needs and other promising practices that will help to improve your FOT rate.

  • Tracking 9th graders “on-track”: The Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago has gathered research showing the best predictors of high school graduation: grades and attendance. Districts can track which students are “on-track” to graduate and which need additional support. These metrics can be considered Leading Indicators. You can read more here.

3) Operational Flexibility:

  • Best Practice to Ground Your Work from Mass Insight: The school intervention work in Illinois is grounded in the research on successful school turnaround from Mass Insight. One of the best sources of info about operational flexibility required for successful turnaround is on page 44 of Mass Insight’s report called “The Turnaround Challenge”. See Section 3.2: The First C: Conditions that Enable Effective Turnaround.

4) Governance:

  • Turnaround Office: Mass Insight has a very helpful publication on building a "school turnaround office." Check it out here.

  • “School-Based Budgeting” and Reallocating Funds to the Schools that Need them Most: There is a book about the Montgomery County Public School District called Leading For Equity that talks about moving resources strategically within a school system. It would be helpful for any team member and board member to read the book. Find the book here.

  • For the strategy to be successful, it is important for each group to know what they are responsible for. The Decision Rights Matrix provides an example of how district administrators, Lead Partner staff, and others can divide up responsibilities required for the school intervention to be successful. You might consider creating and completing a document similar to this before agreeing to the terms of an MOU between the Lead Partner and the district.

5) Lead Partner:

  • The LEAs that were awarded SIG 1003g grants in Round 1 have MOUs with their Lead Partners. These MOUs will describe the activities of the Lead Partners and what the Lead Partners will be held accountable for. You might reach out to the leadership in those LEAs to get a copy. You might also view the Mass Insight template LEA-Lead Partner MOU.

6) Hiring:

  • Alternative to Pay Scale: Baltimore recently approved a collective bargaining agreement where they replaced the salary structure that rewarded staff for years of experience and advanced degrees with a salary structure that rewards staff for student gains and taking on additional leadership roles within the school building. You can read more here.

  • Hiring resource: Martin Haberman has a good model for selecting teachers for students living in poverty, called the “Star Teacher” method. Check it out here.

  • Financial Incentives: Sample bonus structures for principals and teachers can be found here.

7) Teacher/Principal Evaluation:

  • "Performance-Based Dismissals: Cross-Sector Lessons for School Turnarounds" from the Center on Innovation and Improvement is a very helpful document to address this Key Component.

  • Putting in place an Election to Work Agreement: Please reference examples of Election to Work Agreements. An Election to Work Agreement could be used with a transformation. It would help make sure that the staff at the school fully understands what is different about the school and that they want to be there. You could create a set of working conditions for the school level and codify those conditions; re-interview the whole staff – first admin, then teaching/instructional; and require that any returning staff member agree to those conditions.

  • Placing teachers within a district based on performance at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools: This Newsweek article showcases the success that follows putting a critical mass of the most talented staff into the lowest achieving schools in Charlotte. Read more here.

8) Professional Development:

9) Family and Community Outreach: * Should families and other members of the community be included among the relevant stakeholders with whom an LEA consults regarding its application for SIG funds and implementation of school improvement models in its Tier I and Tier II schools? See page 55 of the USDOE guidance.

10) Monitoring Implementation:

  • Performance Management (PM): You could monitor implementation by putting in place frequent Performance Management sessions to share data. CPS completes Performance Management sessions in which key data and action items are tracked and discussed in their turnaround schools. If you are interested in watching one of their weekly Performance Management sessions, please email Don Fraynd.

  • Leading Indicator: Super School Climate Survey: Reference several documents from the Consortium on Chicago School Research. They offer a research-based climate survey of students and teachers. The “CCSR 5 Essentials Flyer” gives a good summary of the surveys. The [“PowerPoint”](](/publications/stg-resources/134/) is from CCSR and the audience is CPS principals who have just received their school reports. It will give you a sense of how the reports are constructed for administrators. The CCSR Measures and Sample Items will give you a sense of the survey items that CCSR uses. CCSR is open to contracting with districts outside of Chicago to provide surveys and analysis.

  • Sample metrics: The metrics that CPS uses in its turnaround schools can be viewed here. These are metrics that CPS uses to measure their Annual Desired Outcomes. Put a simpler way, these are the things that CPS expects to grow throughout the years. There are different growth targets for each area based on the school's curret phase. CPS checks in on each of these action items on a quarterly basis. As some of these are annual measures, they look at proxies for them (e.g. number of completed college applications as a proxy for % of students at a postsecondary institution) on a quarterly basis. At the weekly CPS PM meetings, they look at the proxies and come up with action items to make sure that these schools are moving forward.

11) Budget:

  • Your LEA is not required to describe your “Pre-implementation” plans in your SIG application.

  • What are examples of SIG-related activities that may be carried out in the 2010–2011 school year in preparation for full implementation in the 2011–2012 school year? See page 75 of the USDOE guidance.

12) Overall SIG 1003(g) Plan:

  • We recommend putting together a plan that is coherent, clearly demonstrates how the parts work together, and removes previous reporting, curricular and programmatic requirements that do not align with the selected intervention.