Empowering leaders at each level of the implementation of improvement processes is essential if public schools are to survive moving forward. The story of Kentucky's continuous improvement can be evidenced from the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990, and the intensive systems work since 2009 outlined in Senate Bill 1 and amended by House Bill 176 (2010). Even with a significantly different governance and support approach outlined in Senate Bill 1 (2017) by aligning federal statute regulation and initiatives, state statute and regulation, state school board goals, local school board policies and school improvement plans, a consistent message of expectation is clarified for schools and classrooms. Key core work processes aligned behind those policies lead to systems that can be flexible and adjust to the political and economic climates that surround the work of learning without total disruption of the system. The use of transparent design and common instruction while monitoring quality tools is making a recognizable difference. Funding from the sometimes-maligned School Improvement Grant (SIG) process from the United States Department of Education and work with key partners enables the establishing of sustainable systems for continuous improvement in the areas of planning, use of data, fiscal management, student support, and teacher support owned by leaders at each level of implementation. The pertinent data and reports, the human story, the tools used, and lessons learned are a continuous improvement story into sustainability which will resonate with all who lead in education at any level reaffirming that we can do this!
Forward- Terry K. Holliday, PhD former Kentucky Commissioner of Education Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Part I. A National Context and How Sustainability Can Be Built and Measured Chapter 1: A Perspective on Status of Low Performing Schools Intervention Chapter 2: The Empowering Information and Data Mass Insight District 180 School Data TELL Survey National Recognition Part II. The Kentucky Reality of Designing, Deploying and Monitoring Systems Chapter 3: The Backstory. State Legislation Chapter 4: Needs Assessment, Research, Visionary Leadership, A Plan Chapter 5: From Theory into Action - Two Stories Part III. Strategies and Tools to Empower for Sustainability Chapter 6: State Strategies and Support Technology Platform Diagnostic Review Process Alignment of Federal/State Laws and Regulations with Requirements 30-60-90 Day Planning The Art of System Questioning/Data Questions Professional Learning Communities Use of PDSA Improvement Process Special Two-Way Partnerships Chapter 7: Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement Through Application of Quality Tools Part IV. Case Studies and Lessons Learned with Continued Challenges Chapter 8: Case Studies A small rural high school and a district without capacity to support it Two rural school districts with re-starts A large urban traditional high school The largest district in the state with the most priority schools Chapter 9: Lessons Learned with Continued Challenges Appendices I.Sustainability Plan Example II.30-60-90 Day Plan Example III.A Guide for Using the Data Questions IV.PLC Tools/Templates V.PDSA Examples-State multi-year, District and template VI.Quality tools-plus/delta and linkage examples VII.HUB School information Glossary: The Letters Unscrambled Bibliography About the Authors
