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...…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.