Pennsylvania Projects Year 2
2006-2007
Support Pennsylvania School Improvement Committee
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has a pre-existing State Committee, called the School Improvement Committee. Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, Gerald L. Zahorchak, designated this committee as the State Committee for MACC during a meeting on April 5, 2006 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The primary role of the School Improvement Committee is to build knowledge across the PDE about resources, practices and strategies that are employed to improve student outcomes, to gather information about the effectiveness of the practices and strategies and to build skills within PDE to implement a differentiated system of supports to districts and schools in different stages of improvement.
MACC used the "MACC Survey of SEA Practices that Promote Systems of Support for Districts and Schools" to conduct an initial assessment of key SEA staff's knowledge of these practices and resources and, from there, to track changes in the knowledge of SEA staff that support internal cooperation.
MACC developed this survey to assess the needs of our states relative to the three MACC goals and to establish baseline data on state practices that assisted in planning technical assistance activities and tracking state progress toward meeting those goals. Technical assistance to the District of Columbia was determined in part by analyzing the needs revealed by this survey.
Support to the Standards-base Instructional Framework Committee
Among the roles and responsibilities of the PDE School Improvement Committee are the design and coordination of a comprehensive framework of standards-based instruction that informs and assists districts in their improvement efforts. To fulfill this assignment, the School Improvement Committee formed a sub-committee, the Standards Based Instructional Framework Committee. MACC staff attended meetings of both committees and consulted with team members to create annual technical assistance plans aligned with state priorities.
MACC provided assistance to this Committee in Year 2 by:
1. providing research on the most effective practices, policies, and exemplars of improvement efforts, collaborative planning and the practices of other states that support a Standards Based Instructional Framework which will underlie a comprehensive TA system; and
2. documenting the work of this Committee as it designs the framework of standards-based instruction.
The federal Office of Migrant Education initiated a comprehensive needs assessment (CNA) process designed to assist states with improving the quantity and quality of data collection on their migrant students.
MACC staff facilitated the meetings of the various teams that are convened to usher the CNA process through the following stages.
1. Prioritize the areas of need that were identified earlier in the process, and to devise a Data Plan.
2. Collect both qualitative and quantitative data (over the summer).
3. Convene the Needs Assessment Committee in order to analyze the data that was collected over the summer and to write need statements to form the basis for the decision-making phase of the CNA process.
4. Prepare a service delivery plan to guide the MEP for a three to five-year period. MACC assisted with the writing of the service delivery plan which impacts how MEP funds are allocated, what data is collected, as well as to enable the SEA to monitor the effectiveness of their various programs that serve migrant children and their families.
5. Upon completion of the service delivery plan, MACC can recommend and assist with the development of a differentiated approach to program improvement and professional development that increased opportunities for collaboration among state and federal agencies (such as Title I, Part A and Title III).