Middle school reform through data and dialogue - Collaborative evaluation with 17 leadership teams

This report describes a 2-year longitudinal study of one school district's effort to link site-based collaborative evaluation with formal centralized program evaluation. Participants formed a research team in partnership with a local university. Team members assisted leadership teams in identifying issues for informal, site-based assessments and then used the information t o monitor progress toward established goals. Participants collaborated in d esigning and conducting informal assessments of student achievement, school climate and safety discipline, and parent involvement. Leadership teams us ed these data in developing their school improvement plans. Researchers and administrators used these data to revise the districtwide survey. At the e nd of the 2-year cycle, analysis of school improvement plans showed that co llaborative evaluation is creating a connection between dialogue and data. These 17 middle schools are approaching school improvement in a mon integra ted fashion by actively involving key stakeholders (students, parents, and teachers) in the evaluation process.