Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Search tip: To find your question use the Edit/Find or "Find on This Page" toolbar function to search for key words in your question.
If you cannot find what you are looking for please summit your question to SIR@winoc.org
The Benefits of the School Technical Assistance Process Using the School Improvement Rubric (SIR)
Determine systemic improvement opportunities for impacting student achievement.
Develop powerful school improvement strategies and internal capacity to implement and sustain them.
See yourself as your stakeholders see you.
Assess your maturity at driving continuous improvement throughout your school.
Enlist the support of experts from outside your school.
What are the benefits of using this process?
See the panel at the right for a listing of the benefits of using this SIR-based school improvement process.
What is the commitment required of district leaders?
It is important that you have the support of your Superintendent before taking on this process. There is a resource commitment on you part that you will need support for and Central Office is a valuable source of external membership for the Technical Assistance Team.
What is the research basis for the Rubric?
The technical assistance process and the Rubric Dimensions/SubDimensions are adapted from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Education Criteria for Performance Excellence examination process (more). The descriptors within the Rubric are adapted from numerous sources. See the Bibliography in the Resource Center for a full list of sources.
What are the Rubric scores used for?
It is an assessment tool for identifying opportunities for improvement and for gauging improvement progress. It is not intended as a performance indicator because, though quite objective, over time scores may falter despite improvement because we tend to uncover more about just how good we can be (and adjust our expectations of ourselves accordingly).
Why are the Tiers called "Status Quo", "Early Stages", "Mature" and "Advanced"?
It is a journey toward development of improvement capacity. These descriptors are appropriate to describe where on that journey a school is. Titles that suggest a grade, as some Rubrics use, is not appropriate since even high performing schools may have be in the early stages of developing the capacity to improve further.
What is a "good" score?
To the extent that this is modeled after Baldrige we can say that Tier 2 is a good score. Why do we say that? First, we know that in Baldrige scoring it is at 50% that an applicant basically meets the Criteria; hasn't mastered it, but meets it. Second, we also know that the overwhelming number of organizations score in the 15-25% range when first assessing themselves against the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Third, we also know that 80-90% is a "world-class" Baldrige Score. So though you live in a world where 50% is not a passing grade, in the world of building your capacity for continuous improvement 50% is a good grade.
What if we do not agree with the feedback that we receive?
Though no scoring will be adjusted (they are what they are), in the Feedback Workshop you will be facilitated to filter our all improvement opportunities that you do not agreed with (you don't have the energy to work on those anyway). The remaining 80-95% (from experience) will be more than adequate.
How does this relate to our CIP/SIP planning process?
The feedback from this SIR-based technical assistance process can/will/should inform your CIP/SIP process. Your CIP/SIP committee should participate with the school leadership team (if they are different) in the Feedback Workshop. Your CIP/SIP should be updated to incorporate the learnings and new goals derived from the SIR-based process.
What is my school's resource commitment requirement to support this process?
This process has been designed to be minimally invasive in regard to your resources. You will receive as much in resources as you will give. Although local needs govern, typically these are the key resource requirements of the school:
-
The school principal and/or the school leadership team will be involved in orientation/planning meetings.
-
The school leadership team will participate in a half-day Feedback Workshop.
-
Most of the staff will participate in interviews of one school-period in length.
-
You will be asked to assign a "School Improvement Coordinator" to facilitate the process within the school, but who will also be asked to participate as a member of another school's Technical Assistance Team (TAT).
How does this compare to the Ohio Award for Excellence Baldrige-based approach?
That proven approach is actually the basis of our approach (e.g., the Rubric is based on the Baldrige model that systematic approaches, fully deployed beget results); but the OAE/Baldrige approach has been modified in a number of very significant ways.
-
No Application is required.
-
We use a Rubric rather than a comprehensive set of criteria.
-
We collapse their annual process into the equivalent of their one-week site visit process.
-
Our process continues after the feedback is given.
-
We have reworked their Categories and Scoring Items to better fit a school rather than a school district.
The Question Bank is not intended as a script for the on-site interviews, though we continue to refine it so it can better serve that purpose. It is aid for Technical Assistance Team members to prompt their line of questioning when they are conducting interviews outside of their own areas of expertise. For those who have no or little experience with this type of interview-based assessment process we expect it to be a valuable preparation tool as will. It is also a valuable training tool. And, finally, it is a valuable diagnostic tool (the next question not answered in a string of questions points to an opportunity for improvement and the last question answered points to a potential strength).
Why is there no requirement for a written feedback report?
We want the process to be minimally invasive of resources for the school and also for those who are committing their time to being on a team. Actually the most important thing to be reported out is what the school leadership team decided to do about the feedback in terms of improvement strategies and goal setting; that is, the Feedback Report, written or otherwise, has little sustained value once it has been consumed in the Feedback Workshop.
If there is a local requirement for a written report, we recommend that its preparation not delay conducting the Feedback Workshop (for which only the list of improvement opportunities and the scored Rubric is needed).
What if, after my training, I am (still) not comfortable with participating in the on-site evaluation process?
Remember, we use the buddy system for the on-site interviews... you will be paired with someone who is comfortable and more experienced with interviewing. We also try to schedule your interviews to be in areas that you most relate to. Finally, it is no crime to use the Question Bank as a script... you will still gleam very valuable information from the interview.
Can we be selective as to which portions of the Rubric we assess ourselves against?
The problem with that approach is that all the Dimensions and SubDimensions of the Rubric are interrelated so there be some value lost by being selective. If you do opt for that approach we recommend the following core SubDimensions(12 of 19), to which you can select in others as you see fit.
Leadership: Organizational Leadership, Visioning & Goal Setting and Performance Management.
Planning: Continuous Improvement Planning, Team Planning and Linkage to District & Classroom.
Student Learning: Student Achievement and Learning Support.
Learning Partners: Engagement of Learning Partners.
Curriculum & Instruction: Policies & Practices Affecting Students, Assessment and Aligned Curriculum.
Should all schools within the district use this process?
We certainly advocate this process for all schools and there are additional benefits that accrue if all schools within the district use the process; e.g., building district-level improvement capacity, standards improvement model, etc.. Some districts may develop their own criteria as to which schools within the district should participate. Criteria might include elementary versus secondary, absence of an improvement model, need for intervention, performance level of the school, level of commitment to improve at the school-level, etc.
[See also the next Q & A.]
Can this be used as a District process?
As a district process we would recommend using the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence instead of the SIR. Otherwise the answer is basically yes; after all, this is the Baldrige Award process without the Application and without the written feedback report.
[See also the prior Q & A.]
