As part of the final evaluation of SSA, AED is conducting case studies of two schools, Hope (in Detroit) and Roper (in the Upper Peninsula). The following is a brief summary of the schools’ efforts and progress over the last years.
An urban school on the east side of Detroit, serves over 600 students from pre-K to grade 8. Ninety seven percent of Hope’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school draws students with special needs from all over the district, who comprise 24% of Hope’s students. Hope has participated in the School Self-Assessment project since 1997, and hosted an external review in spring 1998.
AED documented Hope’s self-assessment efforts from 1998 to 2002. In this period, Hope set goals focused on improving student literacy; developed a team of teachers that works with the principal to lead processes of inquiry into teaching and learning; and set in place professional development to foster varied instructional strategies aimed at improving literacy. These efforts helped Hope improve MEAP (state standardized test) scores over the same period.
In 2000-2001, Hope began to implement ATLAS, a comprehensive school improvement program, in 2000-2001. The principal said that Hope staff selected ATLAS because it would enable them to deepen their internal review of teacher assignments and student work.
Several Hope staff participated in reviews of other schools and developed into expert SSA trainers for new schools. Hope has used self-assessment to guide hiring decisions, parent involvement strategies, and new grants that it pursues. In the principal’s words, “School Self-Assessment has given me a clear map of where to go.”
Hope is included in a list of high-poverty, high-performing schools in a national study Dispelling the Myth Revisited: Preliminary Findings from an Analysis of ‘High-Flying’ Schools by Education Trust (2001).
