What you are looking at

The SALT survey asks teachers to consider a two-page list of possible barriers to school improvement efforts and rate them according to four options: not a problem, minor problem, moderate problem or major problem. You are looking at the responses of each school’s teachers against a state average of the responses of all teachers at the school’s level to six of these items, chosen because they seemed most meaningful, important or indicative of areas that need serious attention.

What you are looking for

You are looking to see if one or several of the identified areas might be signaling a serious and rectifiable roadblock to this school’s improvement efforts.

Obstacles to improvement have become intolerable

In 1998, each RI school set performance target goals to be achieved by 2001, i.e., this year’s Information Works! cycle. The goals involved both improving the percentage of proficient students as well as moving students out of the lowest levels of performance. The state recommended that the goals be realistic, between 3% to 5%, though schools were free to set higher goals. On this year’s Performance Progress lists, schools were deemed ‘improving’ when they had indeed made at least a 3% improvement from the baseline years to the current years with both the top- and the bottom-achieving students. The ambitious new federal ESEA insists that schools improve across years and across all sub-groups at an even rate over 12 years until 100% of students achieve the states’ proficiency standards.

In this environment, obstacles to improvement are intolerable. All stakeholders – teachers, community, parents, students and administrators – must do their part to collaborate on changing those aspects of schooling that stand in the way or do not support student achievement. Statewide, for example, well over 60% of the teachers report that they cannot plan and implement change because they do not have the time to do so. Clearly, time is an area that needs rethinking, reorganization and, in some cases, renegotiation when the labor contracts are too limiting.

While all stakeholders’ opinions must be respected, teachers are the front-line change agents and as such, their perspective is highlighted by Information Works!

Special to the District: Parent Contact

What you are looking at

You are looking at a district’s efforts – as represented by its individual teachers – to engage parents and guardians in their children’s education. For each of the individual parent involvement practices, the schools are grouped by level and represented against the state average for that level. On the far right is a summary of the district’s efforts.

What you are looking for

You are hoping to find evidence of high levels of contact between the schools and the home.

Parents as school improvement partners

Research shows that students tend to achieve at higher levels when schools partner closely with the families and communities. Too often, RI’s home-school partnerships are weak if not entirely undeveloped, and poor home-school communications have become a barrier to school improvement. Parents must be welcomed, readied and encouraged to participate in every aspect of the school’s life from school decision-making to making sure their child completes homework. The presence, support and collaboration of parents and the larger community are a critical component in boosting student achievement and making the school climate more positive for everyone involved.

Minor discrepancies between IW! numbers and school SALT survey databooks

The results used in IW! were computed using all teachers in the building, and no administrators. The printed databooks and the SALT survey charts on the web included assistant administrator responses.