Positive Thoughts For The Day

Lindamood-Bell, an Approved Provider Ohio’s School Improvement Initiative

Lindamood-Bell can help with school improvement efforts.  We have successfully partnered with districts to transform even the lowest performing schools and are already a preferred provider in Colorado and Tennessee, one of the states funded under the federal Race to the Top initiative.

Our formula for success in school improvement is based on two critical research-based facts. First, there needs to be a body of evidence regarding the science behind the approaches used to teach all children to read, comprehend, and do mathematics. The second is creating a professional learning community that prepares leaders and teachers to do exactly that – explicitly teach reading, comprehension and math, all within a world class Response to Intervention (RtI) framework.

School leaders collaborate with us to establish professional learning communities that effectively change teacher and student outcomes. Our successful school partnerships provide onsite, ongoing professional development for teachers, leaders, and the systems necessary for sustainable change.

For the state of Ohio, Lindamood-Bell is an approved external provider for school improvement and can assist districts in their turnaround or transformation initiatives. The positive reform we have achieved elsewhere can be replicated in Ohio. We believe our approach is the most in sync with the education reforms outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Lindamood-Bell’s School Improvement 5-Key Features

Lindamood-Bell’s school partnerships and professional development services are well suited to substantiate or complement school plans for a turnaround or transformational model.

1. Prioritized Extensive Professional Development: To achieve a true transformation at schools, using all or part of current staff, the first step is to build staff competencies in the primary area that will change student learning profiles.  No other component of reform in school will generate as much positive outcomes for students as changing the professional development for increasing the language and cognitive processing skills for children, granting the school the “early wins” needed to demonstrate immediate progress.  Until that variable is addressed, any changes in increasing student performance will be comparatively negligible.  We offer a level of professional development unlike any other provider.   Our goal is to provide embedded and aggressive staff development so all staff can acquire the necessary competencies to improve student achievement with quality and fidelity.  In addition to interactive on-site workshops, our full-time, on-site specialists collaborate daily with school leadership and instructional staff over an entire school year (or more, if necessary).  Contrast this with provider plans that only offer brief monthly or quarterly visits with limited time to provide any quality coaching and support.  With Lindamood-Bell, a professional learning community facilitator will be fully dedicated to the initiative.

1. Building Capacity: The highest priority of our partnerships is to build capacity on a school-wide level that will ensure long-term success on a large scale.  To this end, we collaborate with schools to identify key instructional leaders who will participate in a rigorous certification process.  Our goal is to develop in-house expertise in our model and programs to meet the needs of all students. We have many proven examples of this process.  In Pueblo City Schools, one of our long-standing partnerships, staff we have certified in the elementary schools have sustained program quality and fidelity each year for the past 12 years.  In 2008-09, we certified or re-certified 47 instructional leaders across the district who have ownership of the initiative.

1. High Quality Instruction: Our process-based instructional approach is unmatched by any provider.  Our partnerships ensure students know how to learn, rather than skipping to a focus only on what to learn.  In contrast, many provider plans primarily focus on standards-based undifferentiated instruction, or simply promote a standard scope and sequence curriculum.  While standards and curriculum are important, many students lack the necessary skills to learn to their potential. Further, well-intentioned efforts to transform a school’s culture, leadership, curriculum, and professional development practices will fail students if the core issues are not directly addressed.  This phenomenon has historically plagued struggling schools. We feel the initiative at hand allows schools to side step this common pitfall, allowing schools to more aggressively address the “root causes” of low achievement.

1. Evidence of Effectiveness in Other States: We have over a decade of research and results working comprehensively with over 80 schools across America.  Our district-wide partnership in Pueblo, Colorado was independently evaluated in 2006 in the American Educational Research Journal, which found that Pueblo “went by the book in producing large scale change with much success.”   The model was also recognized for its comprehensive reform components, all of which are generally regarded as necessary for effective turnaround efforts. We have produced dramatic increases in student achievement, primarily with students with disabilities and also with students who speak English as a second language.

1. Data-driven Instruction: While this is a common buzzword with all providers, we provide an unchallenged depth of differential diagnostics, differentiated instruction and accountability.  We provide comprehensive, cohort data analyses to help leaders and teachers make the best instructional decisions possible.  Further, our paradigm for the science of reading helps teachers truly understand various data points, which is necessary to best meet the needs for all students.

Additional information about Lindamood-Bell’s school improvement efforts can be found along with research and informative videos online at: http://www.LindamoodBell.com/turnaround.

• State of Ohio approved external partner for school improvement.
• State of Tennessee approved Race to the Top provider.
• State of Colorado approved turnaround provider.
• Accredited by AdvancED.
• Accredited with Better Business Bureau (BBB).
• Professional Development Workshop Continuing Education Units (CEUs) through IACET, The International Association for Continuing Education and Training.
• Professional Development Workshop Post-graduate credits through University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Extension.

Please contact Lindamood-Bell School Services to schedule an on-site presentation to discuss your school/district’s specific needs. Our experience and proven results make Lindamood-Bell uniquely prepared to assist school leaders with their turnaround / transformation initiatives.