partners4results

The Very First Question in Improving Student Performance - by Joe Crawford

With all the complexities and demands present in the new educational world created by high-stakes testing and the accountabilities of No Child Left Behind, it is hard for an educational leader to know where to begin his/her reform initiative. As an educational leader in a very complex educational system with conflicting demands and limited resources, the hardest question is frequently, 'Where do I begin?'

Do We Even Have a Curriculum - By Joe Crawford

While, at first glance, this may seem like a silly question, it is indeed a very important question to be asked. Most people assume that all of education is driven by a very tight set of expectations and academic skills that are universally taught at specific grade levels and times of the year. Nothing can be further from the truth. Every district in this country is free to determine what will be taught and when it will be taught. This freedom of what to teach and when to teach it, combined with the natural evolution of organizations, has led to a national educational system that is “all over the board” on what is taught and when it is taught.

Why You Need More than State Standards - By Joe Crawford

Frequently people will ask why schools and districts need to go beyond the state standards and do additional work when the state standards are already published and ready to use. That’s a fair question, and one that deserves an explanation.

Why We Need to Check on Our Progress - By Joe Crawford

As we have learned in our years of public education, if we are not vigilant, schools can become the masters of the Plan-Do Cycle. We plan for things; we do those things; then we move on to our next challenge. So it is with many initiatives in our careers, and it is here where Partners4results, their consultants, and their processes intervene to make sure we follow the tenets of Total Quality Management and Check on our work to make sure it is having its desired effect.

The End-of-Year Completion of the Cycle - By Joe Crawford

As we discussed in the previous sections, the entire year has been spent monitoring and measuring the implementation of the new model. Feedback has been regularly gathered throughout the year from the faculty (the ones who are actually implementing the new curriculum documents) on how the materials work, suggestions for changes, and ideas to improve the work. All of this feedback has been gathered, processed by the task force, and stored for the end-of-the-year revision of the documents.