Tips to Go

Audio Tip to Go—Everyone is Involved in Assessment
As the year begins, everyone at San Diego’s Los Penasquitos Elementary School knows what’s expected of them, because the assessment plan is developed collaboratively by the school staff.

Audio Tip to Go—No Excuses University: All Students Can Go to College
Los Penasquitos Elementary believes there are no limits to the academic success every student can achieve, and believes all students can go to college. Fully acting on these beliefs means overcoming some traditional barriers.

Audio Tip to Go—Endorsing the Endorsement Document
Los Penasquitos Elementary School, part of the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, is clear about one thing: everyone is held accountable for student learning — teachers, students, administrators, and parents.

Shadow Classes
Middle and high schoolers performing far below proficiency get extra help from one district’s shadow class program.

A District Focuses on Customer Service
A district-wide professional learning community works together to improve student performance and close the achievement gap.

Preview and Review Gives Students a Leg Up on New Standards
Schools in Napa Valley Unified School District have found a fun, fast-paced way to help elementary students better grasp standards they need to master in math and language arts.

Full Inclusion Helps All Students
Special education teachers team with general education teachers to raise achievement for all students at a California high school.

Bell to Bell Learning
Focus, preparation, and engagement at an Arizona elementary school lead to big gains.

Districtwide Self-review for New Teachers
Self-review process helps new teachers monitor their progress.

Parent Liaison Boosts Family Participation
New Parent Liaison position at Sanger High leads to many initiatives that dramatically increase parent involvement.

Monitoring the Needs of All Students
At Reese Elementary, each teacher meets with an administrative team every trimester to discuss individual student data. These "Co-op Meetings" are tremendously effective in helping meet the needs of all students.

Strong Leadership Helps Teachers
At Vanguard Learning Center, 70% of the teachers are on emergency credentials, which makes strong support and guidance critical to achieving student success.

Principal Transitions
Staff turnover is often challenging and jarring to an improvement effort. Prairie Vista found a way to facilitate continuity from one principal to the next.

Start Smart Gets Students to School on Time
Pounding the pavement to help children

The Gift of Reading
Garden Gate Elementary School found that some of their parents did not have the time or the skill to read with their children. The Gift of Reading helped overcome that obstacle.

Principal-Teacher Observation Journals
Observation journals provide a written history of the year for both teachers and principal.

Handheld Computers: Useful Tools for Classroom Observations
Learn how one principal uses his PalmPilot to provide quick and detailed classroom feedback to teachers.

First Camp Helps Kindergarten Students Succeed
To help at risk kindergarten students make a successful transition into first grade, California's San Juan Unified School District developed First Camp, a highly successful summer early intervention program.

Literacy Bags
Learn how one rural school helps migrant students keep up with their English while visiting their home countries.

Walking Students Home
Administrators find that walking students home decreases discipline problems and improves rapport with students and parents.

District Focuses on Supplemental Services
Toledo teachers and parents team up to get the word out about supplemental services.

Coaching—Not Just for Teachers
A new principal finds great value in coaching, and models for his teachers this important professional development strategy.

Increasing English Learner Parent Involvement
A California high school finds that food, personal attention, and valuable information help parents of English learners feel more comfortable at school.

Parent Volunteer Room
Providing a space for parents at school helps them help teachers.

Focus on Freshmen
A high school dedicates one floor of their building to ninth grade students and sees results.

Banking Time
Adding instructional minutes to school days enables teachers to have collaboration time.

Principal's Paw Wall
School finds that positive behavior reinforcement makes a big difference in school culture.

Professional Library Aids Reform Effort
Professional library helps give teachers tools to change instructional practice.

Making Better Use of Instructional Assistants
Re-allocating resources helps Horace Mann Elementary improve student achievement.

Intensive Care Kids
One California high school makes sure those students most in need get very close monitoring.

Principal Visibility
Being highly visible with students, teachers, parents, and the community helps a new principal turn around a low-performing school. n