Eight Elements of High School Improvement

Research on comprehensive school reform suggests that school improvement strategies have the best opportunity for
success and sustainability when they take into account the broad array of elements that make up the system being
improved. Yet, many current high school improvement initiatives are focused only on specific priority topics (e.g., dropout
prevention, reenrollment) or intervention strategies (e.g., advisories, small schools). Although such approaches can have an
important impact, their reach is often too frequently limited to a subset of systemic reform elements. Implementing such
initiatives may lead to success in addressing specific needs, but the probability of widespread improvement is small when
initiatives are implemented in isolation from the broader education systems within which they operate.
The National High School Center's goal is to encourage researchers, policymakers, and practitioners at all levels to engage
in comprehensive, systemic efforts to maximize attainment for all high school students, with a focus on those students who
have been historically underserved. To this end, we have developed a framework that consists of eight core elements and
provides a lens for mapping school, district, and state high school improvement efforts. To help organize similar themes
within each element, the Center has also created subcategories below each element's description.

Eight Elements of High School Improvement

Element 1. Rigorous Curriculum and Instruction: Ensure that all students have access to rigorous curricula and
instruction designed to meet college and career readiness standards.

Alignment and Coherence

Instructional Strategies and Supports
College and Career Readiness

Element 2. Assessment and Accountability: Implement coherent assessment and accountability systems that cover a
broad range of formal and informal assessment policies and practices and that are consistent and coherent.

Multiple Assessment Strategies

Data for Decision Making
Evaluation and Accountability

Element 3. Teacher Effectiveness and Professional Growth: Implement teacher effectiveness and professional
development systems that recognize a teacher's need for deep content and pedagogical knowledge and skills and include a
broad set of recruitment, induction, professional growth, and retention policies and practices.

Developing Effective Teachers

Promoting Student-Centered Teaching

Element 4. Student and Family Involvement: Provide all students with positive conditions for learning that address the
whole child, including family-focused support and engagement.

Student and Family Supports

Student Engagement

Element 5. Stakeholder Engagement: Involve school and community stakeholders to leverage their interests, skills, and
resources forand create a sense of ownership ofhigh school improvement strategies and initiatives.

Cultivating Partnerships
Communication and Information Sharing

Element 6. Effective Leadership: High school improvement strategies and initiatives require a team of high-quality
instructional and organizational leaders that improve student achievement.

Leadership Development
Organizational Management

Element 7. Organization and Structure: Ensure that the school organizational and physical structures are designed and
revised to support student needs.

Organizational Innovations
Instructional Innovations

Element 8. Sustainability: Identify and commit adequate resources for supporting continuous high school improvement
strategies and initiatives.

Resources
Strategies
Knowledge

High School Improvement Process

High school improvement planning and implementation is complex, and there are a variety of strategies that can be used as
levers for change. A key factor in high school improvement is a clearly articulated vision and a focused approach for
achieving the intended goals and outcomes. The National High School Center recommends that before embarking on a
high school improvement process, a school and/or improvement team should complete the following actions:
Define the desired outcomes for high school improvement and student achievement;
Gather data and evidence of need in order to move toward the goals; and
Assemble the right team to accurately represent the high school stakeholders and take action toward achieving the
improvement goals. For consistency, the Center refers to this team as the "leadership team" throughout this text.
The high school improvement process is iterative; thus, you will need to revisit decisions about desired outcomes, needs,
and team membership as you gather evidence about the specific needs of your school.

This figure illustrates the Center's six-step high school improvement process. An overview of each step, including Center
materials pertinent to that stage, can be found by selecting the specific stages (as described below).

Assess
One way for high schools and districts to better determine areas of strength and improvement is by completing the SelfAssessment Tool: A Coherent Approach to High School Improvement (click foronline or paper and pencil versions). This tool
enables you to (a) identify the strengths and weaknesses of your current high school reform efforts, and (b) align and build
on these current and planned reform initiatives to develop a comprehensive high school improvement plan that will result in
rigorous and high-quality teaching and learning for all students. This tool is based on the Center's Eight Elements of High
School Improvement, a systemic framework that builds on the key components of comprehensive high school reform.

Action: Take the self-assessment.

Guiding Questions:
1.

Who will complete the self-assessment? Are there any additional perspectives that should be included in
completing the self-assessment?
2. Will the self-assessment be taken individually or as a group? If taken individually, how will the team determine
aggregate ratings?
3. When will the assessment be completed? Does this provide sufficient planning time for the upcoming school year?
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Analyze
After a high school and/or district leadership team has completed the self-assessment, the team will need to analyze the
data to ensure a common understanding of the results. When analyzing the data, the team should consider who needs to be
part of the conversation to create a holistic understanding of what's occurring at the high school. Additionally, the leadership
team should consider and plan how to share the results of the self-assessment with other stakeholders.

Action: Review the results from the self-assessment with the leadership team.
Guiding Questions:
1.
2.
3.

Are important perspectives missing from the conversation about the results of the self-assessment?
To what extent do leadership team members agree with the results of the self-assessment?
What general observations can be made based on the results of the self-assessment? Was the team surprised by
any of the results?
4.
What are the high school's strengths? Areas of need?
5. What next steps were identified by the team or individual members?
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Prioritize
Though the Center consistently supports comprehensive improvement design strategies, it does not endorse addressing all
components of high school improvement simultaneously because such a process can be overwhelming and could disrupt
current improvement efforts. Depending on the high school's context, leadership team members might use additional data
(e.g., from the classroom, school, district, and/or state) to prioritize areas of need. Regardless of which elements and/or
indicators of effectiveness high schools select as leverage points, schools should always address "Sustainability" (Element
8).

Action: Choose two to three elements on which to focus high school improvement
efforts. Include contextual factors in the process of determining priorities.
Guiding Questions:
1.

Where are your current efforts in targeting high school improvement? How can you leverage these efforts when
determining high school priorities?
2. What existing plans (e.g., school and district improvement plans) might impact your high school improvement
efforts? How are these plans used? If there are multiple plans, how are planning efforts aligned across and within
high schools and districts? How can these plans be leveraged?
3. What other resources, initiatives, and policies should be leveraged to support planning and implementation?
4. How are fiscal resources leveraged to promote sustainability?
5. How is human capital allocated to promote sustainability?
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Plan
Once a high school has identified its needs and priorities, the team must embark on a comprehensive planning process to
select strategies and initiatives for improvement. To help high schools understand the indicators of effectiveness (as outlined
in the Center's Self-Assessment Tool) the Center has identified intermediate steps, known as school-level benchmarks.
These benchmarks can provide high schools with ways in which they can approach school improvement from the leverage
points that will be most effective in a given setting, taking into account local contexts and needs. These benchmarks are
provided only as guideposts, however, and should not be used as a sole pathway to improvement.
As part of this planning process, high schools should examine the research and evidence base to determine which
strategies and initiatives have a demonstrated link to or show promise of effectiveness. While research- and evidence-based
strategies are preferred, there may be cases in which high schools select strategies that do not have a strong research base
(e.g., innovative approaches) or have not been proven effective in particular contexts. If a high school opts to use these
approaches, it is essential that the school plans for the collection of evidence that will demonstrate the efficacy of each
approach.
The planning process should be used to develop a course of action for implementation as well as to garner stakeholder
support. It is essential to acquire buy-in from teachers and staff who will be directly involved in implementing the reform
strategies and initiatives as well as from students and their families and other stakeholders who may play supporting roles.
Stakeholder support will be essential to successful implementation of any or all of the elements and indicators of
effectiveness included in the framework.

Action: Use the Center's school-level benchmarks to formulate plans, keeping in mind
that it is imperative to include "Sustainability" (Element 8) in any high school
improvement plan.
Guiding Questions:
1.

What is the research or evidence base that supports the selection of high school improvement strategies and
initiatives?
2. What existing policies and procedures may need to be modified in order to support implementation?
3. How will you integrate staff into the planning process?
4. Who else in the state and district impacts high school improvement work? How are these individuals engaged in
this work?
5. To what extent do collaborations with external stakeholders support high school improvement initiatives? How do
you increase their involvement and/or leverage them to achieve goals? How do you end ineffective collaborative
relationships so that new ones can emerge to allow for innovation?
6. How will high school improvement efforts be monitored? Who will be responsible for coordinating monitoring
efforts?
7. What is the plan for monitoring implementation fidelity?
8. How are "Sustainability" (Element 8) indicators addressed in the plan(s)?
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Implement
The majority of the school-level benchmarks provide details for implementation that expand upon the planning process
referenced in the previous section. However, there are additional aspects of implementation that are important to consider
regardless of the elements and indicators of effectiveness on which a high school chooses to focus. First, we frequently refer
to "all students" when discussing interventions and outcomes. This does not mean that a single strategy or initiative must be
selected to serve all students, but rather that each student should be considered during implementation. A single strategy
should be personalized to meet diverse student needs and/or multiple strategies should be used in concert to ensure that
each student is empowered to succeed.
Second, it is also important to note that, though the planning process is essential, it is only the start of the process to
improvement. Teachers and staff must implement the plan with fidelity to ensure positive outcomes. This requires a plan to
monitor implementation, offer feedback, and provide support to the whole school, small groups, and/or individual teachers

who are struggling with implementation. Once staff buy-in has been established, high schools must provide the professional
development and supports to ensure that teachers and staff have the resources necessary to implement the outlined plans.
For additional information about the science of implementation, visit the State Implementation & Scaling-Up of EvidenceBased Practices Center.

Action: Implement high school improvement plan.

Guiding Questions:
1.
2.

How will you monitor the fidelity of implementation?

What guidance and/or supports need to be provided to high schools and districts? What written guidance is
necessary? What technical assistance is necessary?
3. How do states and districts provide technical assistance to high schools to carry out their improvement initiatives?
What written guidance supports this work?
4. How are technical assistance efforts personalized to meet the needs of specific high schools and districts?
5. What policies and/or procedures will be developed to support implementation?
6. What training or professional development is needed to support implementation? How will those activities be
aligned and integrated into practice to support new policies and procedures?
7. How will the school improvement plan be communicated to all stakeholders? How will formative feedback be
collected and used to increase buy-in and/or make midcourse corrections?
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Monitor
Though the school-level benchmarks do not directly address monitoring for each indicator of effectiveness, the Center
believes in the maxim "that which is monitored is that which gets done." To minimize the length of the school-level
benchmarks, specific benchmarks about monitoring were included only in select indicators of effectiveness. Nevertheless, it
is essential to carefully monitor any strategy or initiative to ensure fidelity of implementation, collect evidence of efficacy, and
modify any strategies that are found to be ineffective. Similar to implementation, evidence must be collected for each
student, teacher, and classroom. Data should be analyzed to ensure that each student and staff member is receiving the
support that he or she needs as a result of the new improvement strategies and initiatives rather than relying on the
aggregate "all students" or "all teachers" that examines only overall impact on the high school population.

Action: Track high school improvement efforts and make adjustments as needed.
Guiding Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

How are high schools and districts monitored? How are student outcomes monitored? How do these efforts take
into consideration the local context?
What evidence is collected (at the high school and district levels) on high school improvement initiatives, and how
is this evidence used?
What evidence do high schools and districts need to submit for reporting purposes (including in response to
federal, state, and district regulations)?
How do you ensure that practices, interventions, and other initiatives are implemented with fidelity?
How do you address ineffective practices and interventions?
What evidence supports the specific practices and interventions used by states, districts, and high schools? How is
the leadership team ensuring accountability (for all staff) for specific high school improvement responsibilities?
How are high school and district staff members held accountable for performing their specific responsibilities to
address areas of need?