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Coherence: The Foundation of Success

The importance of instructional program coherence -- the idea that instruction, curriculum and assessment are all aligned and  working together, and that other programs and activities do not distract us from these core efforts -- is one of the most significant findings to come out of the research on school improvement.

Look at the diagram below.  It shows that at the heart of schools -- and school improvement  -- is the instructional core: the relationship between teachers and students in the presence of academic content.  Everything needs to work toward improving that 3-way relationship. Establishing and strengthening the professional community within a school is an essential part of instructional program coherence.  Greater coherence, in turn, supports an improved professional community.

The resources available to schools and the requirements they are expected to meet are an important context in which schools must strive for instructional program coherence and professional community, and in which the instructional core takes place.

This systems approach to improved teaching and student achievement means we pay attention to the big picture even while we focus on the heart of improvement -- strengthening the instructional core.

 

Learn more about professional community under the tab for Indicator 8: Professional Community.  See also the March 19, 2009 presentations by Dr. Susan Printy and Jim Warnock on Leadership & Educational Vitality and Professional Community.

 

 
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March 19, 2009 marked the first official event at the new MSU Good Schools Resource Center (GSRC), located in the YouthVille Detroit facility at 7375 Woodward Avenue on the corner of Woodward and Lothrup.

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Assistant Dean for K-12 Outreach, Dr. Barbara Markle introduces the new Good Schools Detroit Resource Center

More than 100 principals and school leaders from the Detroit Public Schools, public school academies, Archdiocese of Detroit schools and other non-public schools were welcomed by Dr. Barbara Markle, assistant dean for K-12 Outreach in the MSU College of Education and executive director of the MSU GSRC, and Judith Jackson, president of YouthVille. Also welcoming these principals whose schools have received Good Schools recognition from the Skillman Foundation's Good Schools: Making the Grade initiative was DeAngelo Alexander, Skillman Foundation program officer for education. Judith Thornburg-Richmond, office manager for MSU at YouthVille, represented Dr. Hiram Fitzgerald, MSU associate provost for outreach and engagement.