November 2001

BACKGROUND: Oregon’s Educational Act for the 21st Century is 10 years old. Over this time, educators have experienced increased accountability, decreased funding, and the certainty that education will continue to change. Seaside’s District School Improvement Steering Committee has proven to be a powerful tool in facilitating and supporting instructional changes.

WHAT IT DOES: The District School Improvement Steering Committee coordinates the school improvement processes for the five schools within Seaside School District. The committee includes teachers, site council chairs, and administrators representing each school and each grade level K-12. It has met before school every other Friday morning since 1992 to develop and implement strategies that increase student achievement in reading and mathematics.

WORKING TOGETHER: Several collaborative models are used to serve students and support staff. Teachers work together to determine the best strategies to increase student achievement and whenever possible, train other teachers to lead workshops.

HOW THE PROCESS EVOLVED: The following overview shows how the Steering Committee incrementally established school improvement processes. 

1991: a six-month research project was conducted in the Seaside School District to study the effects of staff working in collaborative teams. The results indicated collaborative processes break down teacher isolation, establish more creative problem solving, support the implementation of desired innovations, and naturally produce the skills and strategies that sustain these changes. It was clear teacher collaboration was the most effective means of supporting staff as they seek to increase student achievement. 

1992: it became obvious that the many requirements of Oregon’s Educational Act for the 21st Century would need coordination to provide common understanding, grade level articulation, and districtwide consistency. As Director of Curriculum and Instruction Doug Dougherty (now superintendent) established the District School Improvement Steering Committee to support and coordinate school improvement decisions. 

1994: The School Board has been extremely supportive of the Steering Committee’s work. It granted the Steering Committee’s request for schools to begin one hour late one day a week during the 1994-95 school year. Each Wednesday, all K-12 teachers spent 90 minutes meeting in teams, realigning their curricula, studying student achievement data, and writing and piloting tasks. This fit the initial need to provide frequent opportunities for on-going communication and feedback to the teachers. As the staff became more proficient, the board approved the Steering Committee’s request to change from Wednesday late starts to monthly school improvement days that provide extended time to team-score student work samples.

INSURING FUTURE SUCCESS: The District School Improvement Steering Committee is divided into sub-committees. These sub-committees are responsible for assessment analysis, curriculum alignment, staff development, work sample development, reporting systems, alternative learning opportunities at each building, school schedules that better meet student needs, and increasing parent and community communications.

For example, the Communications Sub-committee has developed a presentation entitled “Route to the CIM” to inform students, parents, and community members of the Certificate of Initial Mastery. The presentation uses the analogy of obtaining a driver license, a significant event for many sophomores, to clarify the differences between content and performance standards.

The presentation “Ingredients for Success” teaches parents and community members how to use scoring guides to score student work samples. This workshop clarifies the academic targets, reveals the importance of inter-rater reliability, and provides an understanding of performance assessment.

RESULTS: The District’s hard work has increased student achievement on the Oregon Statewide Assessment two full grade levels from where they were ten years ago.

These efforts have moved the District from its students achieving below or at the state averages in the early 1990s to consistently surpassing the state averages.

Seaside School District continues to strive to increase student performance. There are many opportunities to improve but it is clear the District School Improvement Steering Committee has been, and will continue to be an effective vehicle for school improvement that contributes to increased student achievement.