Teams may include teachers, principals, district and state administrators, pupil services personnel, staff from Comprehensive Centers and Regional Educational Laboratories or from nearby universities and colleges. Like Texas, New York State organizes its school support teams through statewide regional networks. In schools that are taking the first steps toward change, support team members help assess needs and strengths and guide site councils and teams through planning. In schools with planning experience, support teams identify research-based instructional practices, help integrate those practices into classroom and school activities, and suggest continuing evaluation mechanisms. The SEA recruits and selects SST members on the advice of a statewide, practitioner-based advisory committee.
All candidates have experience and success in schoolwide improvement efforts.
City Schools turned to its Regional Coordinating Center to help prepare 13 schools to institute schoolwide programs. The school system combined its ESEA resources with state and local funds to underwrite a districtwide renewal process that began with training for school board members and district administrators, followed by training for principals and their quality site councils. Niagara Falls's school system first connected schools to state-sponsored assistance teams and then provided its own local support as the planning went forward. If you needed help with your schoolwide program, they helped you get a plan off the ground. Also, when we were planning, the district sent someone here to help us.