District and School Improvement

Image of young adults talking in a libraryBetter schools help make better communities and improve students’ chances of success. Our work in school improvement and effectiveness encompasses a broad range of issues, including comprehensive school reform, high school improvement, turnaround schools, and standards-based reform, as well as policies and practices that influence teacher effectiveness.
 

For more about our client services in this topic area, visit the District and School Improvement Center >>

Latest Work

Image of map of Arizona showing Chinle
11 Mar 2019
In the Field

Building Leadership Skills to Strengthen Schools in Chinle, Arizona

The Chinle Unified School District faced both leadership challenges and teacher retention problems prior to the 2016-2017 school year. In fall 2017, AIR began providing competency-based turnaround leadership coaching, focusing on the patterns of thinking, feeling, acting, or speaking that cause a principal to be successful.
4 Mar 2019
Service

Assess and Improve │ Early Warning Systems in Education

An early warning system can be a powerful strategy to provide data to inform educators’ practices and help students get back on track. An EWS is implemented as a continuous improvement process, improving practices through review and refinement of practice. Through analysis of process, practice, and data, our clients receive recommendations to take action that improve student outcomes.
4 Mar 2019
Service

Launch and Implement │ Early Warning Systems in Education

In close collaboration with education leaders, AIR experts help clients use a seven-step, research-based continuous improvement process that enables educators to keep a close eye on at-risk students and to intervene early—and often—to improve student outcomes.
4 Mar 2019
Service

Customize Tools and Supports │ Early Warning Systems in Education

AIR translates research and evidence-based practices into ready-to-use, effective models to identify students early and support them with appropriate interventions to achieving key educational milestones.
4 Mar 2019
Service

Validate Indicators │ Early Warning Systems in Education

AIR researchers work with schools’, districts’, and states’ own data to identify the indicators that signal students’ readiness for key educational milestones. Starting with indicators drawn from the literature, AIR experts perform appropriate statistical analysis using state-, district-, or school-level data to identify which indicators accurately predict which students are on track.
4 Mar 2019
Service

Synthesize Research │ Early Warning Systems in Education

AIR researchers explore the indicators that signal students’ readiness to reach key educational milestones. By synthesizing the latest research on early warning indicators and systems, we put research evidence into useable formats that can be easily turned into action at the state, district, and school levels.
28 Feb 2019
Q & A

Meet the Expert: Monique M. Chism

Monique M. Chism, Ph.D., a vice president for Policy, Practice, and Systems Change, leads AIR’s six federally funded comprehensive and content centers and District and School Improvement portfolios. Prior to joining AIR, she served as deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. She also brings experience from the Illinois State Board of Education, Learning Point Associates (now AIR), and her time as a teacher.
15 Feb 2019
Service

Early Warning Systems in Education

States, districts, and schools use research-based indicators to identify students at risk of failing to meet key educational milestones such as reading at grade level, on-time graduation, or college readiness and college persistence. By identifying students early, educators can target interventions and supports to help students to achieve readiness and success. AIR works with education leaders to customize and refine early warning systems based on the best available research and evidence.
Image of kindergarten teacher and student
8 Jan 2019
Video

REL Midwest Documentaries

The Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest (REL Midwest), one of ten regional educational laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, serves the educational needs of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Explore these documentaries to learn more about the topics we cover.
12 Dec 2018
Service

IL-EMPOWER Launch Package │ The District and School Improvement Center at AIR

Many district and school leaders find it challenging to chart a course to meet continuous improvement goals. AIR’s IL-EMPOWER Launch Package was developed to help Illinois district and school leaders assess their continuous improvement needs and put plans into action to improve educator effectiveness and outcomes for students.
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