Systemic Improvement Practices Review (SIPR)

The Why of the SIPR

Districts that support high-level learning among all students do so, in part, by establishing and sustaining instructional and organizational leadership practices that mobilize educators and other stakeholders on behalf of equity and instructional improvement. They find productive ways to deploy strategies that simultaneously promote both excellence and equity.

But what strategies should they use? How can educational leaders determine the extent to which the district or community school is already using those strategies? Or, following efforts to increase or develop those strategies, how can districts know whether or not improvements have actually been made?

One way to answer these questions would be to use the Systemic Improvement Practices Review (SIPR) measurement tool. The SIPR is a quick online assessment for measuring a district’s progress toward providing high-quality instructional and organizational leadership. Because it’s short and easy to complete, districts and/or community schools can use it yearly to gauge their progress.

The SIPR measures four sets of strategies. A practice profile for all four sets of strategies can be found in the SIPR Discussion Guide.

Section-based Guides:

How to Get Started

The leader of the District Leadership Team (DLT) initiates the Systemic Improvement Practices Review (SIPR) and manages the process through the Teams section of the OLAC website. If you have not already set up a team for your district, you will follow these simple steps:

Create a team for your district.
Invite members to join the team. They will receive an email invitation.
Create a SIPR assessment and assign it to your team members.

You can check on the progress of team members in the Teams section and send reminders, if needed, to members who have not yet completed the assessment. When all team members have completed the assessment, it will automatically close, and results become available.

What if I Already Have a Team?

If you have already conducted a SIPR in the past, you can use that same team for a new assessment and add new members or remove members as needed.

If you have already set up an entirely different team for another assessment, such as the Ohio Sustainability Tool (OSAT), you can set up a new team for this assessment. You can access all your teams in the “Your Teams” dashboard.