Washington Just for the Kids
Visiting-school Protocol

Washington Just for the Kids (JFTK) is a web-based program designed to assist schools in their school improvement efforts. This site allows schools to compare their students' achievement with the most successful schools serving equally or more disadvantaged student populations. One element of this system allows a school to identify other schools in the state that are reaching high levels of academic achievement in math, reading, writing, and/or listening. The Visiting-school Protocol that follows is designed to assist those schools who are interested in conducting a school visitation.

How to prepare for and learn from
conducting a school visitation

Visiting Top Comparable Schools
Just as teachers can collaborate regarding how to improve student achievement within a school, so schools can collaborate between and among themselves to help every student in the state reach higher standards. Washington Just for the Kids can serve as an excellent tool for identifying those schools around the state of Washington that are similar to a selected school. Once you identify high performing schools you can then arrange a school visitation to share ideas and strategies with each other.

We suggest schools follow some type of protocol while conducting a school visitation. The following resource may help guide these visitations for both parties involve.

Visiting-school Protocol
Identifying schools to visit
Preparing for a school visitation
Conducting a school visitation
Debriefing as a team
Processing information as a faculty

Identifying schools to visit

You may want to visit another school for a variety of reasons. What are the criteria that would suggest you visit a particular school? What is the purpose of the visit? Are you looking at test score success over time, schools that match your demographics, successful demonstration of the Nine Characteristics of High Performing Schools? Whatever the reason for wanting to visit another school it is important to understand the purpose of the visit upfront..

Once you understand and have documented why you want to visit other schools use data to determine which schools you may be interested in. You may be interested in visiting a school that is doing particularly well in one subject area, or maybe you want to see a school that is doing well in many areas such as reading, writing and math. Use the Top Ten Comparable schools chart to determine possible schools to visit. Be sure to check each schools multi-year charts to determine if the school has improved drastically over time or seems to be maintaining high levels of performance over several years. Try to select schools that show a pattern of success.

After you have selected a school to visit the principal, or designated teacher leader should contact the principal of the perspective host school. Be prepared to explain how you found out about their school, and explain your interest in visiting and learning from what their school has done to improve student learning.

After the host school agrees to the visitation ask if they have a protocol they would like for you to use during the visit. If so, have them send it to you. If not, send them a copy of the protocol you plan to follow. In addition, let them know how many people you plan to bring with you and set a tentative date. We also suggest you offer to pay for one or two roving substitutes to be in the building the day of the visitation so your team will be able to interview/meet with several teachers for 20 -30 minutes each.
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Preparing for a school visitation

Dialogue as a faculty or as a representative group to determine the questions you want to answer as a result of the visit. Be careful not to go in looking for programs or quick fixes, but look at deep-rooted structures and driving forces that are leading to academic success. It might be helpful to formulate these questions using the Nine Characteristics of High Performing Schools.

(The following is an excerpt for OSPI) Research has shown that there is no silver bullet- no single thing that schools can do to ensure high student performance. Rather, high performing schools tend to have the following nine characteristics:

1. Clear and Shared Vision and Purpose Everybody knows where they are going and why. That vision is shared-everybody is involved. The focus is developed from common beliefs and values, creating a consistency of purpose.

2. High Standards and Expectations for ALL Students Teachers and staff believe that ALL students can learn and that they can teach all students. There is recognition of barriers for some students to overcome, but the barriers are not insurmountable. Students become engaged in an ambitious and rigorous course of study.

3. Effective Instructional and Administrative Leadership Strong leadership is required to implement change processes within the school. This leadership takes on many forms. Principals often play this role, but so do teachers and other staff, including those in the district office. Effective leaders advocate, nurture, and sustain a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

4. High Levels of Teamwork and Staff Collaboration There is constant collaboration and communication between teachers of all grades. Everybody is involved and connected, including parents and members of the community.

5. Aligned Curriculum and Instruction with the Standards and Assessments Curriculum is aligned with the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs). Research-based materials and teaching and learning strategies are implemented. There is a clear understanding of the assessment system and how/what is measured in various assessments.

6. Closely Monitored Teaching and Learning There is a steady cycle of varied assessments to determine who needs help and the type of help needed. Teaching and learning are continually adjusted based on this monitoring of student progress and individual learning needs. The assessment results are used to improve individual student performance as well as to improve the instructional program.

7. Focused Professional Development in High Need Areas Professional development for ALL educators is aligned with the school and district's common focus, objectives, and high expectations. It is ongoing and based on the areas identified as high needs areas.

8. Supportive Learning Environment The school has a safe, civil, healthy, and intellectually stimulating atmosphere. Students feel respected and connected with the staff. Instruction is personalized and small learning environments increase student contact with teachers.

9. A High Level of Community and Parent Involvement There is a sense that all educational stakeholders have a responsibility to educate students, not just the teachers and staff in schools. Parents, as well as businesses, social service agencies, and community colleges/universities all play a vital role in this effort. (End OSPI excerpt)

Sample questions are provided in the Effective Practices protocol used to study 16 high performing elementary schools in the state of Washington.
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Conducting a school visitation

Individual team members arrive at the designated school at the agreed upon time, and they report to the main office. If required, they obtain a visitor's badge. Meet with the principal and/or teacher leader and review the agenda for the day. Make adjustments as necessary.

The day's activities may include interviews, focus groups, classroom observations, and/or a school tour. Follow the protocol as established.

After the interviews, focus groups and/or observations are completed the visiting team should meet on-site to quickly summarize what they have learned. Someone should begin outlining any themes that emerged. Then, if requested to do so, meet with members of the host school staff to share what you have learned. Once you return home someone should send a thank you letter to the school that opened it's doors to you.
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Debriefing as a team

The visitation team should plan to get together within five days of completing a school visitation. Pay for substitutes if need be. The team members should then compare and contrast the answers they gathered to the questions they originally formulated. As you discuss the answers have someone continue to take notes and organize comments into themes. If possible graph this information and prepare a synthesis report. Also decide how and with whom to share the information.
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Processing information as a faculty

The visiting team should share the information with the full faculty. Share the answers you have gathered to the questions that were prepared in advance by the staff. Time should be allotted so staff members who did not participate in the visitation have an opportunity to ask clarifying questions. Provide your faculty time to dialogue about the information and see if new questions emerge. Faculty comments and responses could be recorded on flip charts for all to see. Finally, the staff needs to decide how they will use this new knowledge. Depending on the size of the staff and time available, it might be helpful to form a smaller group of staff members to formulate a proposal about how the staff might use this information. This subgroup could then share their proposal and improvement plans could be developed.
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