The HiPlaces Assessment is a self-study tool used to provide schools with reliable and systematic information for use in planning and monitoring school improvement efforts. It provides a mechanism for making important decisions by raising key questions that lead to deep engagement of all staff in the school's transformation.
The Assessment helps to address the following issues which affect the ability of schools to gather data and use it effectively for school improvement planning:
- Schools often have limited amounts of time for data gathering and careful reflection.
- Schools that collect data need relatively rapid feedback to determine the extent to which their improvement efforts are "on course" and to ensure that improvements continue to gain momentum.
- School staff need to use the knowledge gained from the self-study for both short and long term school improvement planning.
The self-study Assessment addresses all of these issues. Schools that have used the Assessment have gained rich and comprehensive data collected with minimal teacher and student disruptions. Most of the data are gathered through machine scannable forms that can be analyzed and returned to schools relatively quickly. The Assessment's results serve as a structure for continued discussion of the improvement process.
Given these general goals, the Assessment has a few specific objectives. These include:
- To help schools understand the relationship between the implementation of practices that are part of their school improvement plan and student success in their school;
- To provide schools with specific, reliable data concerning the extent to which the changes, practices, and processes that are targeted in a school's improvement plan are being implemented at the school, grade, and classroom levels. For example, teachers are asked to indicate how often certain teaching practices are used in the classroom (e.g., small group teaching and learning strategies, integration of health concepts into thematic units, etc.); and
- To provide schools, local and state agencies, and other policy makers with critical information on the value and impact of bringing school improvement plans to life.
Using the links either below or above, you make access more information about the HiPlaces Assessment or go directly to the list of Santa Monica-Malibu schools for their results.
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