To implement the recommendations of the Beat the Odds study, the Center for the Future of Arizona proposes to focus its efforts over the next three years in the following areas: disseminating the results of the report; creating leadership programs for principals and teachers; and creating a resource center to support implementation. Regional meetings with education, community, political and business leaders have been scheduled to begin the dissemination process. These will be followed by presentations to key education associations in Arizona, and to schools and school districts throughout the state. Latino leaders in Arizona and nationwide also will be convened for advice and involvement as to the best ways to incorporate the study's findings and recommendations in Latino-intensive schools.
The implementation plan will involve a regional dissemination and design approach. First steps will include dissemination meetings with stakeholders in selected regions throughout the state to communicate the findings and recommendations of the study. Next steps will include identifying and convening local collaborators and other stakeholders, including principals from the Beat the Odds schools, to engage in program design. A series of in-depth facilitated meetings will be held to help develop the design for leadership programs, training seminars and the resource center. We anticipate this groundwork will include further exploration and understanding of the study findings; discussion of the methods used by successful schools, including examples of their use of data as well as strategies to overcome implementation barriers; discussion of implementation strategies for participating schools that incorporate the keys to success described in the Report; and developing resource materials to piloted by Latino-intensive schools in the region. This design phase and initial pilot will serve a dual purpose--that of actually designing effective leadership programs and resources, as well as a process for building stakeholder support and ownership.
The Center hopes to obtain implementation funding that will ultimately allow the development resource center and statewide leadership programs. We envision that activities of the center will eventually include: disseminating "best practices"; creating an electronic network for use by teachers and principals throughout the state, allowing them to communicate with one another, and serving as a continuing dissemination device; developing materials for implementation as appropriate, including informational and instructional DVD's; and assisting schools in obtaining the necessary systems to assist in implementing the Report's recommendations.
Along with these activities, there also will be an extensive and ongoing annual assessment which will include the development of a logic model for that annual evaluation that will link project activities to desired results. In order to accomplish this, project staff will convene local principals, teachers and other stakeholders to assist in identifying desired results. This initial evaluation process will create a model to document whether activities were carried out as planned and whether desired results were achieved, and if not, why not. Finally the process will document lessons learned to be applied to future phased development and expansion. When fully developed, the ongoing assessment program will evaluate the progress of implementation and provide feedback for continuous improvement of the implementation activities of the Center.
Back to the Beat the Odds Report