Project Summary

With support from a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, The Education Alliance developed a research-based set of supports, strategies and processes to build and support collective leadership capacity, sponsor and foster cross-stakeholder problem-solving, and mobilize and facilitate collaborative learning. Known as the CSR Support and Capacity Building Program, the primary mission of our work was to support State Education Agencies and Districts in their efforts to significantly impact district and school improvement. With this as our mission, we engaged in a multitude of activities with several states and districts along the Eastern Seaboard.

Examples of the activities, supports and outcomes include:

Intensive leadership capacity building and design work with state education agencies and districts to foster and develop the organizational conditions and strategies needed to effectively support inclusive and sustainable district and school improvement. Outcomes include (1) the refinement of existing systems of support; (2) the development of systems-based organizational structures; (3) a framework for district capacity building; and (4) targeted strategies for supporting districts and schools in need of improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.

Using a Strategic Mapping Process with states or with districts to identify prioritized needs, align those needs and assets with existing support, strategies and resources, and develop systems-based strategies to more directly address identified strategies. Outcomes include the development of a problem diagnoses map that reflects the organizations mental model of the challenges and issues influencing improvement efforts, and the identification of tangible strategies for moving forward.

Partnering with districts to develop effective district and school improvement tools, supports, and strategies, particularly in schools with diverse student populations, with a particular emphasis on communities with a high percentage of ELL students. Outcomes include revised district and school improvement plans and processes for developing such plans.

Implementing a district organizational assessment to help district leadership refine and improve their school and district improvement efforts targeting specific areas of need, including schools' support of culturally diverse student and ELL populations.

The development and use of customizable school improvement professional development modules to assist districts and schools to plan and implement systemic and coherent school improvement efforts.

The collaborative analysis of a particular school's use of resources and strategies to better support the needs of their diverse student populations, with a particular emphasis on the integrated support of ELLs.

To learn more about the specific assistance we can offer state education agencies, districts, and schools, and for a detailed description of all project activities, supports and expected outcomes, please download our Overview of Services and Supports to Districts and Schools. In addition, to learn more about our work and the Guiding Principles and Theory of Action that serves as a foundation for our work, feel free to download and review our powerpoint: Improving Systems.

Web site: /projects/csrqi

See also:

• The New York Comprehensive Center
• The New England Comprehensive Center