Districts, schools, and instructional teams focus improvement efforts on strategies for improving teaching and learning. Support for focused efforts comes from the engagement of all educators in the process, the instructional leadership of principals, the use of a differentiated system
for providing support, and the allocation of relevant human and material resources.
| Characteristics of Effective Practice by Districts and Their Schools |
Acceptable Implementation |
Acceptable Scale |
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1. Establish, communicate, and promote a limited set of district goals and strategies that focus on the improvement of teaching and learning
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- The district establishes non- negotiables that focus on providing all students with ample opportunities to learn.
- The district ensures that all stakeholders understand district non-negotiables.
- The district uses its non- negotiables as the basis for identifying a limited set of goals.
- The district uses its non- negotiables as the basis for selecting a limited set of improvement strategies.
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- All schools adopt district non- negotiables or establish a set that aligns with those established by the district.
- All school leaders ensure that stakeholders understand the district and school non- negotiables.
- All schools align their goals with those of the district.
- All schools select improvement strategies that match up with the districts’ limited set of improvement strategies.
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2. Use procedures to ensure that all instruction and intervention is evidence-based
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- The district establishes procedures for identifying evidence-based strategies for instruction and intervention.
- The district specifies acceptable and unacceptable strategies for instruction and intervention.
- The district adopts instructional materials that fit with its approved evidence-based strategies.
- The district routinely engages all school leaders in discussions of evidence-based strategies for instruction and intervention.
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- All school leaders ensure that the strategies for instruction and intervention that are used in their schools are among those the district judges as acceptable.
- All school leaders ensure that the instructional materials that are used in their schools are among those the district endorses.
- All principals routinely engage their staff members in discussions of evidence-based strategies for instruction and intervention.
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3. Communicate the expectation that all adults in the system are learners
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- District leaders support principals as their schools’ “lead learners” (that is, leaders who make visible efforts to engage educator colleagues in meaningful discussions about teaching and learning).
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- School leaders in all school prioritize their own learning and the learning of all staff members.
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4. Provide staff at all levels with multiple opportunities to learn
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- The district uses its inquiry teams to provide opportunities for learning (e.g., teachers within a school learning from one another, teachers across schools learning from one another, principals learning from one another).
- The district provides ample opportunities for personnel to practice evidence-based strategies.
- The district provides coaching as part of job-embedded PD.
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- All schools use the BLT and TBTs to provide opportunities for learning.
- Educators in all schools have opportunities to practice evidence-based strategies.
- All schools use some form of coaching to support educators’ learning of evidence-based strategies.
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5. Provide resources to support district-wide PD focused on improving instructional practice on behalf of all students’ learning
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- The district allocates resources in ways that give all personnel ample access to high-quality PD (including coaching).
- The district ensures that PD focuses directly on issues relating to student learning and equity.
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- Access to high-quality PD is provided to personnel in all schools.
- All schools provide sufficient coaching to enable educators to learn the evidence-based strategies that the district endorses.
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