One District’s Account of System-wide Renewal

Author: Palandra, M.
Publisher: American Association of School Administrators
Publication Date: 2008, Winter
Journal: AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice
Journal Volume: 4(4)
Pages: 18-23
Full text available online at: http://www.aasa.org/files/PDFs/Publications/JSP/Winter08FINAL.pdf

Abstract (written by WestEd)

The author of this article, now an associate professor at Hunter College, City University of New York, describes the district improvement process she initiated as superintendent. The Elmont elementary school district, a small school district adjoining New York City had a high percentage of students of color and poor students, as well as increasing enrollment, high student mobility, and the lowest per pupil expenditure in Nassau County. The most urgent problems included the following: a) a severe shortage of classroom space, b) failed budgets, c) unsettled labor contracts, and d) a general climate of distrust between the administration and the plurality of district constituencies.

To address these problems, the author and the district staff developed the following four-stage improvement process:

1. Reaching out to community leaders, parents, and residents, seeking their input and promoting a climate of total transparency.
   
   
2. Conveying high expectations the district leadership had of staff and students. A focus on creating a strong educational staff necessitated care in hiring, promoting, and reassigning teachers.
   
   
3. Focusing fully on curriculum and instruction. Curriculum maps, lesson plans written out in a standard format, training in lesson development and mentoring programs were instituted.
   
   
4. Designing a plan with a group of teachers, parents, administrators, and community members for the continuation of the 11 initiatives that had been outlined during stages two and three.

The district turnaround was recognized, and schools received various prestigious rewards. Some years later, teachers and administrators were surveyed about their opinion about the years when the changes took place. The feedback was essentially positive and also acknowledged the particular challenges of the turnaround effort.

This article appears in the American Association of School Administrators’ Journal of Scholarship and Practice issue on systems thinking in the administration of school districts. Please see the abstract for another article in this publication, “Thinking Systemically, Acting Systematically."