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Citation:

Rubenstein, M. C., & Wodatch, J. K. (2000). Stepping up to the challenge; Case studies of educational improvement and Title I in secondary schools. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education. ED446191. http://www.ed.gov/offices/PES/esed/steppingup.pdf

Annotation:
This study examined 18 high-performing Title I secondary schools to determine the role of Title I and to describe practices and issues related to improvement in these schools. Researchers found that all 18 schools recognized parent and community involvement as one important type of "non-instructional service" that supports the improvement of student performance. The study highlights communication practices that help parents stay informed about school activities and their children's progress, including holding parent-teacher conferences in community centers closer to where parents live rather than at the school. Some schools established parent or community liaisons that helped keep parents in touch with the school or parent resource centers that provided workshops, field trips, and information about social services. Although parent participation in school decisionmaking was mandated by only a few of the 18 schools, the study claimed that most schools took parent perspectives into consideration. The 18 schools were chosen for the study because they were engaged in comprehensive research-based, school-improvement efforts to raise student achievement, had a significant proportion of low-income students, and had consistently high or steadily improving student achievement. The selected schools used a variety of approaches to school improvement and were racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse. Data were collected during three-day site visits through interviews, review of school documents, and observation of classroom instruction and daily student life. Although the study does not examine the direct impact of parent involvement on student achievement and provides few examples of how Title I helped support the parent involvement practices it describes, the authors note that "schools have used non-instructional services to foster an environment in which students can focus on learning." The findings summarize the particular experiences of the 18 schools and may or may not be generalized to other schools. The study was conducted and the report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education by an outside evaluator, but did not use random sampling or comparison grouping.