The Effects of Success in Sight as a School Improvement Intervention
Intervention description
Success in Sight is a two-year facilitated, comprehensive school improvement process that focuses on practices that increase student achievement. It differs from other approaches to school improvement because it is designed to build on improvement efforts already under way in schools by teaching schools how and when to make changes. It does not require schools to "start over" with a whole new model of schooling, use specific strategies, or focus on a specific subject area or population of students. Instead, it helps schools achieve their improvement goals by building on their strengths, identifying the best ways to make short- and long-term progress, and paring away unnecessary activities. Success in Sight is intended to teach schools how to set priorities in their efforts for school improvement and optimize the resources available in the school and broader school community.
Over a two-year period, school leadership teams are taught how to balance the science of effective schooling with the art of continuous improvement by attending 6 two-day face-to-face professional development sessions with other participating schools and meeting with the two change facilitators assigned to their school during 10 onsite mentoring sessions between the large group sessions.
Success in Sight is the result of years of research by the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). It has been presented in the "What Works" books (Marzano 2003; Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock 2001; Marzano, Waters, and McNulty 2005) and pilot tested across grade levels and settings, including low- and high-performing schools and urban and rural schools. Pilot-test data from schools implementing the Success in Sight model, in which McREL staff serve as the change facilitators,1 show 9 of the 11 low-performing elementary and middle schools making improvements during the first two years—either by making adequate yearly progress after failing to do so or by significantly increasing the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency.