Drive south from Topeka on a county road and soon you pass through the town of Auburn, Kansas, home of Auburn-Washburn Unified School District #437. It doesn't take long to locate the elementary school, just about anyone in this small Kansas town will share directions with you with typical midwestern friendliness. When you arrive at the school, walk through the canopied entrance way and make your way to the office to meet Gail Good, the principal of Auburn Elementary School.

Auburn Elementary just finished its second cycle in what NCA CASI formerly called the Outcomes Endorsement. That model, like the new Performance Accreditation framework, fits well with Kansas's own school improvement program, Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA). So why does Auburn Elementary continue to do things "the NCA way?" Ms. Good says, "The most important result of my involvement in the NCA process is increased student learning. This, in my mind, is the whole reason we do anything within the schools." Ms. Good believes the second most important result to be "better teaching techniques and strategies by the staff. The staff increased their awareness of 'best practices,' focused on particular strategies, and measured what they taught." Steering Committee chairperson Kris Wanamaker felt one of the most important results was the implementation and success of various teaching strategies. Plus, she says, "The whole NCA process brought cohesiveness to our faculty. This promoted student success throughout the entire school."

Auburn Elementary has the data to back up their claim of increased student learning. They have become quite sophisticated at graphing their data then carefully analyzing it to make good decisions regarding instruction. Kris Wanamaker, steering committee chairperson, noted, "As a staff, we determined the success of strategies by two methods. We kept a keen eye on how our test scores were progressing. We periodically checked our results to ensure that the strategies were having a positive impact on our students. The second method was through teacher feedback. We met with the staff on a frequent basis to listen to their concerns." This feedback helped them to determine which strategies were not being implemented consistently or where other problems existed in their strategies. Principal Good states, "I believe it is imperative the building administrator have a sound understanding regarding data compilation and how to understand what it means." "But," she cautions, "I believe it is possible to have too much data. You must be able to manage it and it must be useful in making decisions regarding student learning." She and the NCA steering committee did most of the work on the final visit document. The results look like a textbook example of good school improvement processes at work (see Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1: Terra NovaReading Scores
The top quarters for the building show increases from the baseline year (1998-1999) to the documentation year (2000-2001). The standard score growth for the top two quarters averaged +.37, defined in the NCA CASI software as "substantial growth."

Figure 2: TerraNova Math Scores
The building average increased from 59 to 68 with a gain of 9 percentile points. Fifth grade had the greatest increase (from 58 to 70). All grade levels showed growth between the baseline and the end of the cycle.

The faculty members chose a variety of ways to display their data. Some graph data as percent of students in the top two quarters versus the bottom two quarters. Others are simply column graphs with multiple years of data. In all cases, the graphs are easy to understand and give the reader an instant sense that improvement in both student performance and in the program is taking place.

When asked how the school produced such a quality documentation report, Ms. Good credits the building steering committee, "I had some real perfectionists on that team, and they sure came through!" Ms. Wanamaker, however, gives the credit to the entire faculty, "The document was written and created by the entire faculty. Everyone had a part in the creation, implementation, and analysis of the document."

While hard work and new skills pay off, those are not the only critical elements Auburn Elementary cites. Ms. Good says, "Trust comes to mind first. The entire team must trust in the process, believe they are active participants and not just doing what others tell them to do." "And," she continues, "the administrator must TRUST THEM TO DO IT!!! Don't over-manage!" In-service training, both for interventions and for the school improvement process was another factor that contributed to the success of the school. Ms. Good stated, "The entire NCA Building Steering Committee participated in all the [NCA] training. I attended training with them, because I wanted them to know I wasn't out of the picture on the process." Ms. Wanamaker agreed, "Some of the most valuable discussions were during lunches or during our rides in the car to and from the training." They were fortunate enough to be able to take the entire steering committee to the NCA Annual Meeting in Chicago, the first year of the cycle. This enabled bonding among team members, an opportunity to bounce ideas off each other, the opportunity to clarify their thinking, and to help them understand "the total picture, from year one to year five." Ms. Wanamaker added, "Organization was extremely important in keeping on track with the school improvement process. The committee had a plan for success that involved the entire faculty."

Two other critical elements are choosing a strong steering committee chair and a good peer review chair. There must be a good "fit" between the steering chair and the rest of the faculty (especially the steering committee). There must also be a good fit between the school, the peer review chair, and members of the visiting team. Good interpersonal skills (or the lack thereof) in the peer review chair can mean the difference between success and failure for a school improvement cycle.

No school improvement experience is without its trials. The biggest problem Auburn Elementary encountered was staff turnover during the cycle. When some of the steering committee moved to other buildings, the staff elected not to replace those positions on the steering committee. "What began as a nice sized team ended with a team of three in year five, but it was their decision." Money and resources were a problem for Auburn Elementary as they are in many of our schools today. When the district could not provide some of the resources the faculty identified as critical, they went to the PTO. And, as is so often the case, not every one always committed to and participated in the process. At Auburn, though it was just one person, this caused the team to have to spend some summer vacation time to gather all the information they needed. "This individual only hurt colleagues by [not participating]." Time is always an issue in school improvement efforts. Ms. Good tried to provide at least a few perks for the steering committee members, "They have real lives too, and trying to manage this requires a huge time commitment. Along with their teaching responsibilities and families, something has to give." Ms. Wanamaker concurred, "Being on the NCA steering committee for our school was close to taking on a second job." She said it was often difficult to find time to get all the staff together for committee meetings, "But," she said, "we were able to find creative ways to make the situation work for us." Ms. Good worked to provide some release time for committee members as well as some compensation. "Do as much as you can for them. They deserve it and will appreciate the efforts."

What advice would Auburn Elementary offer to NCA colleagues around the region? Ms. Wanamaker suggests, "It is important to have a positive view of the school improvement process. This can be a wonderful learning experience. It is a great way for the staff to work together and make a major difference in student learning. It was a lot of work, but we made sure we had fun while we were involved with this process." Principal Good declared, "Embrace school improvement! You became an educator to make learning better for students and that is what school improvement does. Just as you want your doctor and pharmacist, lawyer, fireman, etc., to better their skills in order to make life better for you, so should we as educators seek to better student learning. School improvement is fun. It is about seeking some unknowns and making the best possible use of those unknowns to better children. And, that is why I am an educator-for children! No matter what it takes!"