Official DESE Communications

To develop a high-quality sustainable improvement plan, schools should gather meaningful input from an array of key stakeholders, incorporate that input into their plan, and continue to regularly share progress with and elicit input from stakeholders as the plan is implemented.

Districts and schools engaging in rapid school improvement and in the state's Planning for Success process tell us that soliciting input from an array of stakeholders:

• allows them to see multiple perspectives on their school's needs,
• helps to ensure that the sustainable improvement plan addresses the diverse needs of its community, and
• builds a shared sense of urgency and commitment to the sustainable improvement planning and implementation process.

Administrators and teachers from the South End Middle School in Springfield, MA, share their experience in engaging in this process in one of the latest videos in DESE's Turnaround Practices in Achievement Gain Schools Video Series.

Role of Stakeholders in the Sustainable Improvement Planning Process

Generally speaking, stakeholders serve an advisory role by offering their perspectives, feedback, and broad recommendations on how to build on the school's strengths and challenges. Their input informs the work of the school team charged with developing the sustainable improvement plan, and provides insight and input throughout the implementation of the plan. The role of stakeholders may vary depending on existing relationships between the school and different stakeholder groups.

Stakeholder Groups vs. Sustainable Improvement Planning Team

While stakeholders generally serve an advisory role, it is important to determine who at the school and district level will lead the work by serving on the school's sustainable improvement planning and implementation team - a group of school and district staff that will be most affected by the anticipated changes in the school. This could be a team that already exists in the school, like an Instructional Leadership Team (ILT), or may need to be developed with new staff. Establishing a sustainable improvement planning team early on is an essential step in the sustainable improvement planning process. Team members should be informed of the intense nature of the work involved in sustainable improvement planning and they should be willing to make the commitment to this process. This work will most likely need to involve after school, evening and/or weekend meetings to complete the sustainable improvement planning process. Most importantly, the sustainable improvement planning team should be the entity that drives the implementation of the sustainable improvement plan, supporting school and district leadership in monitoring school progress, and making mid-course corrections.

Among the team members there should be individuals who are strong in areas of literacy, math and science instruction, other key instructional areas (e.g. special education, English language learning), data analysis, technology, communication, community engagement, team building, and student services. The size of the team should be relative to the size of the school. For example, a small elementary school may decide to have only 8 members. A secondary school may have 12-14 members. Groups larger than 20 members may be too large for the core team. Sub-committees may be needed as planning intensifies. As the plan progresses, it may be necessary to make adjustments to team membership to ensure the right people are involved to support successful implementation.

Identifying and Recruiting Key Stakeholders

The specific stakeholders your school engages will depend on the unique context of your school community. Seek out individuals who can serve as champions and critical friends, who bring diverse skills and perspectives, and who serve the school in a variety of capacities. The number of stakeholders convened at any time should be large enough to include an array of perspectives, but small enough for all stakeholders to make meaningful contributions to the process. Think about the students who your school serves and make certain that they are well represented in the stakeholder engagement process so that they can speak authentically to their perspectives and needs, particularly those who have been historically marginalized (African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, English learners, students with disabilities, etc.).

• Students. Students of all ages can be valuable partners in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of school improvement efforts. Throughout this guidance, when we refer to stakeholders or the community, we include students as the first and most important customers to consider. As the recipients of the planned work, they have excellent insights into how well things are working and where they can work better.
• Consider existing advisory groups. School site councils, parent teacher organizations, Special Education Parent Advisory Councils, English Learner Parent Advisory Councils, school and district partners, and student leadership groups may yield members who are already active in the school's sustainable improvement planning and are likely to continue their involvement in the school's implementation of the sustainable improvement plan.
• Other key stakeholders. Other stakeholders may include union representatives, community organizations, SSoS regional assistance team members or social service organizations. For middle and high schools, members of the local higher education community may be relevant stakeholders. Likewise, for early grades, members of the local early education and care community should be considered.

Developing a Process for Gathering Stakeholder Input

• Seek input early. Begin seeking stakeholder input early in the process of sustainable improvement planning so that stakeholders can make recommendations to inform the direction and priorities of the sustainable improvement plan.
• Series of meetings. Many districts and schools gather stakeholder input through a series of meetings that provide ample time for discussion of the school's context, challenges, and opportunities. To support robust stakeholder attendance at meetings, schools should consider determining a calendar of meeting dates early on in the process.
• Facilitation. When convening discussions among groups of stakeholders, consider identifying a skilled facilitator to guide the group's discussion and to document group recommendations. Whenever communication is a barrier, there should also be an interpreter available to support stakeholders not fluent in English.
• Deliverables. It has proven to be important for meetings to include a published/shared agenda, attendance records, notes/minutes, and a written set of recommendations, all translated to support stakeholders who are not fluent in English.
• Other strategies for gathering input. Districts may also choose to engage with stakeholders through focus groups, surveys, interviews, or other methods appropriate to their context and needs.
• Ongoing, two-way communication. Stakeholder input should not end once the sustainable improvement plan is written. Following the guidance in the next section, include stakeholders in the vision setting process. Identify ongoing opportunities to share information about the sustainable improvement process with the school community, and to receive formative feedback from your key stakeholders as plan implementation progresses.

Suggested Topics to Address with Stakeholders

• Why sustainable improvement planning? Explain why the school is developing a sustainable improvement plan, and what the timeline and process will look like. Explain how engaging in planning and implementation can help students. Share and explain the timeline for development and implementation of the sustainable improvement plan.
• Explain how stakeholders can help. Provide stakeholders with a clear explanation of their role and purpose in the sustainable improvement planning process. Explain that they are not charged with creating or implementing the sustainable improvement plan, but with offering broad recommendations for how the school and district should address identified challenges. Clarify how your school will be engaging with stakeholders (e.g. series of meetings, surveys, etc.) to help develop the plan, as well as throughout its implementation.
• Discuss school and district context. Share and discuss data illustrating the school's challenges and opportunities. Reflect on what it is like to teach, learn and be part of the school community, especially for those that have been historically marginalized.
• Turnaround research & best practices. Identify and discuss evidence-based research and best practices for achieving rapid and sustainable school improvement. How can best practices be incorporated into the school's context? How can stakeholders support the improvement effort?
• School-level flexibilities and autonomies. What changes to collective bargaining contracts can be negotiated between management and unions?
• Funding considerations. Sustainable improvement plans should be focused on altering structures and conditions in a way that does not rely on additional funds, but rather reallocates existing funds. The sustainable improvement plan must be possible with current funds and accelerated and/or enhanced with federal and state targeted assistance funds. Stakeholders can provide guidance and/or suggestions on how sustainable improvement efforts can be funded.

Examples of some of the resources and protocols that SSoS Regional Assistance Teams frequently use with districts and schools they support appear in the Additional Resources at the end of this section.

Flexible Format Submission

Describe the following:

• The composition of the stakeholder groups that provided input into the sustainable improvement plan
• How the perspectives of historically marginalized groups are represented
• The process used to gather input from stakeholders
• The recommendations made by stakeholders and how they are reflected in the sustainable improvement plan
• The school's plans for ensuring regular, ongoing engagement with stakeholder groups as the sustainable improvement process progresses, and who is responsible for ensuring that this happens

Additional Resources Relative to Stakeholder Engagement

While not required, these resources may be helpful as your school engages in this stage of the sustainable improvement planning process:

• Sample Stakeholder Engagement Worksheet

Instructional Leadership Teams Project: Resources, articles, and protocols to help establish and act on a shared understanding of implementing and monitoring continuous improvement with ILTs.

Requirements for Underperforming Schools

State law requires that schools designated as underperforming assemble a group of stakeholders that meet specific criteria and under specific timelines. Underperforming schools only should use this resource in addition to the guidance above to ensure compliance with state law.

• LSG Guidance for Underperforming Schools