Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the components and strategies for improving reading achievement by districts on Program Improvement (PI) status in California school districts (K-12 unified school districts, K-6/K-8 elementary districts, and local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive Title I funding. More specifically, the purpose was to identify and examine components and strategies used by districts that moved from "in PI" in 2006 to "not in PI" in 2009. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to identify barriers to system-wide changes for successful reform efforts as perceived by superintendents, assistant superintendents, and curriculum directors. Methodology: Subjects were K-8 and K-12 California district administrators (superintendents, assistant superintendents, and curriculum directors) who implemented reform in the area of reading. Five of six school districts eligible for this study agreed to participate. From those districts, 12 participants agreed to participate in an online survey (quantitative) and 10 agreed to follow-up telephone interviews (qualitative). This study was a descriptive mixed-methods design. Findings: An examination of quantitative and qualitative data indicated that district administrators believe that district-driven reform components and strategies are important to achieving the goals expected by the state to remove their districts from PI status. Qualitative data indicated that in order to accomplish the reform necessary to remove a district from PI status that themes reflect a culture of trust, focus, commitment, consistency, change, and instructionally focused leadership need to be present. Conclusions: The findings from this study suggest reform components and strategies are important in California K-6 and K-12 school districts to increase student achievement and facilitate meeting the state criteria for improvement and removal from PI status. Districts that have accomplished this have developed cultures that include trust, focus, commitment, consistency, change, and instructionally focused leadership. Recommendations: Further research needs to be conducted on districts serving Grades 9-12 to determine whether the results would be similar. Districts that have not been removed from PI status need to be studied measuring districts against the findings in this study. Research focused on district reform at the school level should be done. This would include principals, teachers, and paraprofessionals.