AED documented Hope’s SSA implementation from 1998 to 2002. During this period, Hope took the following steps to facilitate an effective implementation of SSA:
- Developed a team of teachers to work with the principal to lead processes of inquiry into teaching and learning.
- Participated in an orientation on SSA and gained schoolwide consensus for full-fledged participation in SSA.
- Set schoolwide goals for improving student literacy, using SSA goal-setting activities.
- Participated in an internal review to assess practices in the school and their potential to improve student literacy.
- Participated in an external review to understand theschools’ strengths and needs from the perspective of other educators trained in SSA review techniques.
- Conducted a retreat, attended by the majority of staff, and parent and community representatives, in which participants set priorities for future school improvement based on a report composed by the review team.
- Renewed their commitment to literacy across the curriculum as the primary goal of the school and aligned all school initiatives and funds to address this goal.
- Set in place professional development that facilitated the development of varied instructional strategies aimed at improving literacy.
These efforts helped Hope improve standardized test scores over the same period.
Hope achieved a 21% increase in the number of students performing satisfactorily on the Grade 7 Reading MEAP1. Hope outpaced the change in district (-1.9%) and state (9.1%) reading scores for the same period.
