LM January 2017

IllinoisCSI: Lessons in leadership It is so exciting to see your

through this data-informed examination can districts determine school improvement goals and create objectives to achieve these goals. Districts must then strategically monitor the implementation of their plan by identifying the specific data on student performance and teaching practice they want to collect, as well as the tools to collect and analyze these data. The role of the district leadership team is to deeply implement its district or school continuous improvement plan and ensure that horizontal and vertical communication structures are in place to monitor and enhance each step in the plan, shown graphically below. Our data show that this leadership approach is a winning strategy for our team. Ninety-three percent of the districts receiving our coaching supports participate in our District Leadership Team Learning Network, Research Forums, and Principals Institutes, which have helped them make enhancements to their district improvement plans since the original design of their plans. They have put in place research-based tools and collected in our internal evaluation. Because of the communication, feedback, and monitoring of their plans, our districts are now working to ensure the alignment and strategic design of their plans. This process exemplifies how a continuous improvement process is not just a plan written on paper—it can come to life as part of the culture and climate of excellence in a district. We look forward to continuing to “team up” with our districts toward the goal of delivering an education system that meets the professional needs of educators and benefits all students to manifest our vision of high-performing districts, high- achieving students. processes and adopted a data culture to run their systems more efficiently based on data and feedback

team win! When you know their story—the hard work of team- building, the hours of practice to perfect their craft, and overcoming failure and defeat along the way—seeing them win is even more gratifying. The Illinois Center for School Improvement (Illinois CSI) was created by the Illinois State Board of Education and American Institutes for Research to provide intensive support to districts with

Betheny Lyke, Ed.D. Executive Director Center for School Improvement

underperforming schools. In the past 4 years, our “team” of Illinois CSI staff members has been happy to share the winning strategies we have learned in

our work with school districts in efforts to transform systems to deliver a better education for students. The heart of what we do is support an Intentional System of Continuous Improvement— we assist districts as they engage in a long -term process of improving teaching and increasing student achievement. The continuous

improvement planning cycle includes prioritizing needs, planning for directed improvement, implementing a focused plan, monitoring the progress of adult practices and student performance, and evaluating the results. Paramount to our work in transforming education systems are the collaborative leadership structures that infuse rich data and include feedback loops at every level to monitor effectiveness of district and school improvement plans. We have learned valuable lessons along the way. For instance, we have seen that a superintendent’s vision comes to life through a focused plan, such as a strategic plan or district continuous improvement plan. This focused plan must be informed by examining data from a needs assessment to prioritize the areas needing the greatest improvement. Only

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