Center for Student Success

1. Cheryl Livneh Jim Carlile Center for Student Success

2. Reasons Graduate School of Education and CE/ED Began the Center for Student Success • Develop a program that will assist PreK-12 school districts and individual schools in supporting efforts to address student success for ALL children and bridging the achievement gap. • Focus directly on helping assure that every child succeeds in meeting rigorous standards for academic learning. • Assist schools and educators to define the needs for their schools, develop plans for improving student learning, and monitor progress toward their improvement goals. • Feedback from this work will also inform our other programs on how to better prepare educators. • Provide opportunities for faculty and graduate student research to be linked with practitioners. • Provide support services for school districts including curriculum renewal, leadership development, and mentoring.

3. Purpose of the Center • Provide sustained assistance and support that helps build schools’ capacity around issues related to Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) • Continuously review the research and practices that will promote student achievement and support school improvement • Provide program evaluation services that will support student achievement and school improvement • Collaborate in obtaining grants focused on raising student achievement and supporting school improvement • Provide one place that school district personnel can contact for assistance with NCLB and other services

4. Underlying Assumptions • Center will work from a strengths-based model building on the assets of schools. • Center work will be grounded in solid research and the wisdom of practice. • Center work will be based on the Mission and Guiding Principles of the Graduate School of Education. • The Center is committed to long term results and sustained school change. • People from outside of the district can be helpful in assessing needs, developing/selecting interventions, providing professional development, and monitoring school improvement. • A productive consultative relationship lasts over time.

5. Administration of the Center • The Dean of the GSE and the Director of CE/ED will serve as the executive committee for the Center. • The Dean of the GSE and the Director of CE/ED will appoint the director. • The Center will develop an advisory council consisting of members from ODE, a variety of school districts (e.g., large, small, urban, suburban, and rural), educational service district representatives, a faculty member from each department within the Graduate School of Education, a representative from the GSE Consortium and the Teacher Education Committee. • Membership will be for a three-year term.

6. Contract Activity: • Development of book in support of teaching Oregon’s Reading Standards • Collaboration with Education Service District and CE/ED Press • Math book to support Oregon’s math standards (in progress) with supporting professional development • Developing a professional development process for mathematics

7. Contract Activity: • High School Principal development program for current high school vice-principals • Difficulty in finding high school principal candidates • Developed and taught course for aspiring administrators in area school district • School Districts desire to “grow their own” • Workshops on Scientific Literacy and Site Council development, Curriculum Integration, Differentiated Instruction, and Praxis test preparation. • One shot activities

8. Contract Activity: • Third Party Evaluator • Beaverton SD, Small Learning Communities Grant • Curriculum Renewal • Appreciative Inquiry Workshop • One-Day: November 7th • Four-Day: November 28th-December 1 • Building the Collaborative Workplace • Session I: November 15th • Session II: November 16th

9. What Have We Learned? • Marketing strategies • Individual contacts have been most valuable • Visits with area superintendents prior to opening of school • Keeping track of events in schools and districts that merit follow-up • Alternative newspaper article, re: Portland’s financial situation • Attendance at conferences, workshops, conventions, that allow for individual contact with possible clients • Appreciative Inquiry/Constructive Dialogue in Central Oregon • Oregon’s School Board’s Convention, Oregon School Administrators • Achievement Gap and Small Schools Conference • Careful attention to current research, NCLB regulations, and instructional strategies, OSBA clipping service • AASA executive, Paul Houston presentation, references to Class Action by Richard Rothstein • Less academic faculty and more field-based instruction • Consumer Orientation

10. Program Development • Need for pre-planned packages or program i.e. professional development for reading and math teachers, curriculum renewal process, Third Party Evaluations, and grant writing • Develop a cadre of consultants for quick response i.e. grant writers, program evaluators, literacy specialists, ELL specialists, curriculum integration, etc. • Drug/alcohol grant two weeks timeline/grant writer • Program evaluation for charter schools for Portland Schools/two weeks • Unusual Requests: Praxis Test Preparation