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Wisconsin Effective Schools Case Study

Client: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL)
Term: December 1999–November 2000

The Wisconsin Department of Education in partnership with NCREL requested that the Center perform a two-phase case study of selected effective schools that were “becoming effective.” The study compared a select group of high-poverty/high-performance schools with a select group of schools funded through Comprehensive School Restructuring (CSR) in Wisconsin. Analyses of high performance schools were used to build a framework for the study of change in CSR. The primary focus of the study was to identify and analyze characteristics of these schools that contributed to their high performance using the CSR framework. Secondly, the study tested the extent to which the framework would encompass the characteristics contributing to performance and improvement-process characteristics in both sets of schools.

The study was conducted in two phases:

Phase I

Surveys and telephone interviews in both sets of schools
Site visits to high-performance schools
Technical report
Development of school vignettes, focused on professional development, high academic standards, and evidence of success

Phase II

Follow-up surveys and telephone interviews
Site visits to select CSR schools
Development of vignettes, focused on parent and community involvement and instructional practices