Best Practices for School Improvement Plan

Bishop Shanahan High School, a Catholic co-educational secondary school of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is committed to sustaining excellence, provides a strong spiritual life, and challenging academic and rich extracurricular programs. The school currently finds itself coasting in an unfamiliar territory since it has been setting the standards for academic achievement for public and private education. The current issue facing the school is the decline in SAT scores in standardized testing due to the increase in class size and the reduction of track levels and personalized support systems. The issue emerged following the decision by the school’s administration to adopt drastic cost-cutting measures because of the decline in enrollment across the Archdiocese. Enhancing student SAT scores in standardized testing is an area that requires improvement at Bishop Shanahan High School. Currently, the school is addressing this issue through backtracking some of the cost saving strategies adopted by the administration, which have been at the expense of students.

Shared Vision, Mission and Goals for the Improvement Opportunity
The shared vision statement for the improvement opportunity is in line with the vision of the school. In this regard, the shared vision is to sustain excellence, provide a strong spiritual life, and challenge academic and rich extracurricular programs. Through this, the school seeks to be recognized as a leader in academic performance and scoring for both public and private education (Bishop Shanahan High School, n.d.). The goals of the school include to provide strong witness to Christian values, a commitment to academic rigor and integrity and to prepare all students to be critical thinkers and moral stewards in a rapidly evolving global environment. The mission of Bishop Shanahan High School is to enhance the academic experiences for all students through innovative student-centered learning methods and increase the curriculum opportunities available for all students, by offering a more rigorous and personalized academic plan so students may achieve the individual post-secondary goals. In light of this, the overall vision, mission and goals of the improvement opportunity is to enhance students’ academic performance and experiences in standardized testing. Consensus for the vision, mission and goals was achieved through examining or reviewing information provided in the school’s website and the school improvement plan.
Best Practice Strategy #1
The achievement of the targeted opportunity for improvement in the school’s SIP requires the use of evidence-based strategies. According to Hanover Research (2014), the achievement of the opportunity for improvement target by a school requires the use of evidence-based models and strategies. In this regard, one of the evidence-based strategies for improving students’ SAT scores in standardized testing at Bishop Shanahan High School is to adopt Daggett System for Effective Instruction. This model focuses on improving instruction and instructional capacity through providing adequate support to teachers. This strategy provides a premise through which teachers facilitate learning and adopt a student-centered approach to teaching. Daggett System for Effective Instruction is a suitable evidence-based strategy for the school since it will help improve teaching and learning practices at the school. Unlike conventional teaching approaches, this model will ensure that teachers at Bishop Shanahan High School act as facilitators of learning and adopt student-centered approaches. This in turn helps to meet the individual needs of students, which result in better performance. This strategy is expected to have positive impact for school improvement through enhancing the instructional capacity of current teachers. As a result, the strategy will address the root cause of the problem at Bishop Shanahan High School i.e. reduction of track levels and personalized support systems. By improving instructional capacity, this instructional approach will essentially improve track levels and establishment of personalized support systems for students. Students will in turn benefit from improved learning experiences, which will contribute to better SAT scores in standardized tests at the school.
Best Practice Strategy #2
The second evidence-based strategy with potential positive impacts on the improvement opportunity at Bishop Shanahan High School is the use of balanced scorecard model, which has been identified as a highly effective school improvement model (Hanover Research, 2014). Balanced scorecard is a data-driven model that facilitates achievement of targeted improvement opportunities through measuring motivates and enhancing management of the overall educational or instructional process. In addition, balanced scorecard is an evidence-based strategy that provides a framework for schools to evaluate and measure whether they have achieved their strategic objectives within a specific period of time (Yuksel & Coskun, 2013). The implementation of this strategy commences with establishment of performance targets and objectives for a specific time period. Measures and initiatives for achieving these targets and objectives are also established. The achievement of the performance targets and objectives is then measured at the end of the specified time period. This evidence-based model was selected to address the opportunity for improvement at the school because it has proven effective in promoting achievement of desired strategic objectives and performance targets. Therefore, Bishop Shanahan High School will benefit from utilizing this strategy by ensuring that performance targets are established and suitable measures for achieving them are utilized.
Best Practice Strategy #3
The third evidence-based strategy for realization of the targeted improvement opportunity is total quality management. Total quality management (TQM) is approach that focuses on enhancing organizational outputs through ongoing improvement of internal concepts (Farooq et al., 2007). As a participatory organizational management approach, total quality management promotes awareness and a commitment by everyone, a clear mission, a systems planning approach, collaborative teamwork, empowerment of all stakeholders, a focus on mastery learning, and data-based decision making and analysis. This strategy provides a premise for integration of technology in the learning process, which plays a critical role in enhancing students’ performance in standardized setting. Additionally, this strategy provides a premise for establishing professional development programs, which is currently lacking in the School Improvement Plan. This strategy was selected because it helps to ensure decisions and future plans are developed using data to drive improvements. As a result, the strategy will help the school achieve the targeted improvement area through continuous quality improvement and consistency in teaching.
In conclusion, Bishop Shanahan High School is renowned for setting the standards for academic achievement for public and private education. However, the school is currently facing challenges reflected in the decline in students’ SAT scores in standardized testing. Through collaboration with colleagues, evidence-based strategies that can help meet the opportunity for academic improvement in the SIP have been identified. This process has provided significant insights on the value of teamwork and distributed leadership in the improvement effort. In this regard, teamwork and distributed leadership facilitates the adoption of a holistic approach in identifying an opportunity for academic improvement and determination of measures to achieve it. This effort will help all students meet content and performance standards through promoting collaboration and shared responsibility in the classroom.
References
Bishop Shanahan High School. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from https://www.shanahan.org/aboutbshs.html
Farooq et al. (2007, December). Application of Total Quality Management in Education. Journal of Quality and Technology Management, 3(2), 87-97.
Hanover Research. (2014, October). Best Practices for School Improvement Planning. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from https://www.hanoverresearch.com/media/Best-Practices-for-School-Improvement-Planning.pdf
Yuksel, H. & Coskun, A. (2013). Strategy Focused Schools: An Implementation of the Balanced Scorecard in Provision of Educational Services. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 106, 2450-2459.