What Do Districts Need to Share
with Stakeholders About AYP?
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What Do Districts Need to Share with Stakeholders About AYP? |
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What and how you communicate about NCLB and AYP to staff and stakeholders will tell them much more about your values and beliefs than you may mean to say. Your statements and silences will let stakeholders know what you believe is the purpose of education, whether you believe that all students can learn at high levels, whether you believe staff are capable, whether you make data-driven decisions, and whether your district organization is prepared to move student achievement forward. You can choose to focus on how AYP will sink your district or how it will be the impetus to improve it. You can choose to focus on the improbability of moving 100% of students to proficiency or the probability that this focus will move many more students to proficiency than are currently achieving at that level. You could claim that all your schools will meet AYP or you could caution that some may need to make some changes. You can say the law is requiring unpopular changes or you can say the law is supporting your goals. Whatever you present, you can be sure that your message will be received in different ways by folks who have different beliefs about and experience with public education. Thinking through what you want to communicate will be important to having your message received as you want it to be. The following examples illustrate how easy it is to deliver a message you didn't mean to deliver.
Key Points [top] Key Points Staff and stakeholders need to understand the basic philosophy, implementation, and impact of NCLB and AYP. NCLB is based on the philosophy that all children can achieve at proficient levels. NCLB has a single-minded focus on this goal and does not accept and "ands," "ifs" or "buts." Districts must make crystal clear that they agree and are prepared to meet the challenge. Staff and stakeholders must understand that the district is committed to
National, state and district leaders are in the throes of communicating what NCLB and AYP means to public education. In addition to public and private presentations and press releases, they are communicating their message online via their district web sites. The Council of Chief State School Officers has assembled on their web site (http://ccsso.org/federal_programs/NCLB/2896.cfm) a number of useful resources to support you in developing your communication plan. Particularly helpful are the following: North Carolina Communications Plan The following links are some examples of how states have communicated AYP to their stakeholders:   States have used PowerPoint presentations on their web sites to help stakeholders better understand NCLB and AYP. Pennsylvania has two excellent models: one for their accountability system and one for understanding NCLB. PA Accountability System-NCLB PowerPoint Presentation(10.2 mb)No Child Left Behind No Child Left Behind Act PowerPoint Presentation School districts also use their web sites to communicate how their district is implementing NCLB. The following PowerPoint presentations are on the Baltimore City Public Schools web site. Parents’ InfoBriefs Baltimore City Public School System presentations related to this legislation.
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| How Have States Implemented AYP? |
| How Have States Designed Their Accountability Systems? |
| How Do States Report Progress? |
| How Do States Provide Technical Assistance to Districts and Schools? |
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