1. The District Role In Raising Student Achievement
JANE
These models were developed by the Education Commission of the States and the Aspen Program on Education through a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Development work began in February 2002 and was completed in July 2003.
February 8, 2006
Dr. Jane Armstrong
Education Commission of the States

2. Major Research Studies
Four years of the Broad Urban Prize (five finalists each year)
Just for the Kids Best Practices Studies (375 schools)
Standard & Poor’s Resource Management Study
National literature review

3. What High Achieving Districts Do
Urban districts, like D-11, that raise student achievement have a strong central office that — working with community input, the school board, principals and teacher leaders:
Create district goals and a strategic plan to achieve them
Create academic standards aligned to the state standards
Map textbooks and curriculum to district standards
Create assessments to gauge student learning and adapt instruction to individual student needs

4. What High Achieving Districts Do (cont’d)
Provide significant ongoing, high quality professional development to principals and teachers to improve teaching and learning
Recruit and support high quality teachers and continuously increase their instructional skills
Have a career progression that promotes excellent teachers to school coaches, to principals to central office staff
Recognize success and intervene when necessary
Allocate resources based on best practices

5. 3rd Grade Math Achievement Results Oleson Elementary, Aldine TX

6. Student Achievement Norfolk, VA (Broad Prize)

7. District Achievement Results Olathe, KS

8. Why It Works District wide focus Alignment to standards
Economies of scale
Use of best practices
Infrastructure of support (data, targeted professional development, teacher recruitment)
Effective use of resources