School Improvement Council
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL INTRODUCTION
Our school is participating in the School Improvement Institute (SI2). SI2 requires that we convene a School Improvement Council to discuss important topics about our school. To learn about SI2, visit inspiresuccess.org/si2.
COUNCIL ROLE
The School Improvement Council role will be to discuss topics related to school improvement including:
the rationale for raising academic rigor
vision for student success in our community
measurable goals
root causes (what might interfere with academic those goals)
interventions (how we will address the root causes)
After each discussion, the School Improvement Steering Team will use the Council’s input to develop a related component in the School Improvement Plan. Each component will be presented to the Council for approval by consensus.
COUNCIL DISCUSSION
All Council discussions will be available online. Some schools may also choose to have in-person discussions. Council members will receive an email from si2@inspiresuccess.org before each meeting letting them know if an in-person meeting is being held and the details for that meeting. Whether or not there’s an in-person meeting, the email will also include a unique web address for online discussion.
ONLINE DISCUSSIONS
We make all council discussions available online even when the school has opted to hold an in-person discussion. We do this so that all council members can participate even if they are not able to attend the in-person discussion.
Each council member will receive a unique web address where they will go to watch a video, review student group data (no individual student data), and then participate in an online discussion. Council members will be able to enter their thoughts and respond to the comments of other council members. Steering Team members will moderate online discussion.
COUNCIL MAKE-UP
To make discussions rich and decisions sound, the School Improvement Council is a broad group consisting of teachers, parents, and community stakeholders who bring many different perspectives to the table. Since the goal is to enable all students to succeed, this is very important.
TEACHERS
To meet SI2’s School Improvement Standards, schools must invite all teachers, counselors, and administrators to be members of the School Improvement Council. The Steering Team should ensure that at a minimum, at least one teacher from each grade level and subject area sits on the Council. In addition, the Steering Team is encouraged to invite representatives of their feeder schools and schools to which they send their students on their Council.
PARENTS
To meet SI2’s School Improvement Standards, schools must invite all parents to be members of the School Improvement Council. The Steering Team should ensure that the Council includes parents of students in every grade, parents of students in different types of educational programs (e.g. high ability, special education) and parents of students having all types of future plans including four-year college, two-year college, career college, apprenticeship programs and the military; and parents living in different communities within the school’s catchment area.
COMMUNITY
To meet SI2’s School Improvement Standards, schools must invite community members to join the School Improvement Council. The Steering Team is strongly encouraged to have a community person responsible for economic development on their Council. This may be a member of the local economic development council, the local Chamber of Commerce, or a human resources manager in a local company. In addition, the Steering Team is encouraged to have representatives of the following organizations on their Council:
Community foundations
Local government
Youth-service organizations
Faith-based organizations
Service clubs (e.g. Kiwanis)
Public libraries
JOIN OUR COUNCIL
COUNCIL SIGN UP
Council members will need to join the School Improvement online so they will be able to participate in discussions and receive email from the Steering Team. Please ask new Council members to:
Enter the school code: [4 digit code assigned by IDOE]
Enter contact information
The School Improvement Council is open to all stakeholders invested in our school. We welcome all school and community members to join our council. Please make sure that email coming from si2@inspiresuccess.org will not be blocked by their email or sent to spam.