The School Improvement Specialist Field Guide

Improve student achievement by transforming schools as an SIS expert!

As a current or transitioning school improvement specialist, you are entrusted with helping schools turn around their performance. Now there is a proven process that can strengthen your effectiveness as well. Deb Page and Judith Hale, SIS authorities, guide new and transitioning SIS professionals in applying high-leverage practices that result in systemic, sustainable, school-wide improvement. The School Improvement Specialist Field Guide offers the voice and counsel of a trusted coach while addressing how to:

• Establish enduring interventions with viable tools and methods
• Use time-tested processes to teach 21st century skills to educators and students alike
• Seamlessly align improvement practices to the updated Institute for Performance Improvement Standards
• Transition smoothly into the school improvement specialist role

With easy-to-use tools and protocols-both in the guide and online-yoüll have the support you need to facilitate improvement. Follow the improvement process that leads to success for you, your students, and your school!

"Purposeful, intentional facilitation of the school improvement process builds a school staff¿s capacity and skills for continuous improvement that lasts beyond the consultant or leader. This book provides a framework, tools, and strategies for effective facilitation."
-Bess Scott, Director of Elementary Education
Lincoln Public Schools, NE

"There is an abundance of ideas from which an improvement specialist could develop and implement a successful school improvement process. It was great to see facilitation strategies as part of the resources provided."
-Gayle Wahlin, Educational Consultant
DuPage Regional Office of Education

Deb Page is a leading independent voice, strategy consultant, and thought leader in the areas of systemic improvement of Education Leadership and Human Capital Management. Throughout her career, Deb has established a reputation as an innovator and problem-solver that inspires and attains outstanding results. She is a former K-12 educator who spent over 20 years in corporate human capital management. She began her career as a high school teacher after graduating from the University of Georgia with a B.S. in Language Education. Her corporate career was spent in retail, service, and financial services, in Human Resources, Quality and Performance Improvement, Training, Executive Development and Coaching, and Business Development. The majority of her career she worked in subsidiaries of Citigroup, and launched and led a corporate university. In 2001 she left her position as Sr. Vice President for Instruction and Business Development for Citibank, N.A. to form Willing Learner. Training Magazine has honored Deb as one of the "new guard in training and development".

In 2002, Deb led the start up of the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement, a public/private initiative to improve education leadership, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Woodruff and Whitehead Foundations and the Wallace Foundation. Under her leadership GLISI developed a solid track record for helping school systems improve student achievement and organizational effectiveness through improved practices in talent management, performance management, and team-based improvement. She led development of over $15 million in external funding and provided grant-makers with proof of the stewardship and impact of their investment. Deb works in partnership with Dr. Judy Hale, of Hale Associates (www.HaleAssociates.com) to design, develop and deliver training and performance solutions for leaders across all sectors through a collaborative arrangement with the International Society for Performance Improvement (www.ISPI.org).

As a Senior Practice Leader on behalf of the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement, Deb continues to help state education agencies, school districts, universities and other stakeholders in education leadership build Signature Leadership Systems tailored to their local contexts, strategic intentions and performance goals. Through her private consulting practice, Deb supports the ongoing work of GLISI through social entrepreneurial action, sharing a portion of Willing Learner¿s profits to sustain GLISI initiatives.

Judith A. Hale¿s (Ph.D., CPT, and ibstpi Fellow) firm, Hale Associates, has worked with clients in all industries in the private and public sectors for over 25 years. Judy is the president of the International Society of Performance and Improvement (ISPI). She serves on the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (formerly NOCA) taskforce for accrediting assessment-based certificate programs. She has served on the ISPI President¿s Advisory Council, on the Illinois Occupational Skills Standards Credentialing Council, and was a commercial arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

Judith speaks regularly at international and national conferences on subjects related to competencies, credentialing, evaluation, implementation, needs assessment, and performance improvement.

Judy is the author of the best-selling Performance Consultant¿s Fieldbook: tools and techniques for improving organizations and people, 2^nd Ed (2007); Outsourcing Training and Development (2006); Performance-based Management: What every manager should do to get results (2003); Performance-Based Evaluation: tools and techniques for measuring the impact of training (2002); Performance-Based Certification: How to Design a Valid, Defensible, Cost-effective Program (2000); The Training Manager¿s Competencies (1989); and co-author of Achieving a Leadership Role for Training (1995).

Judy was awarded a B.A. from Ohio State University in communications, a M.A. from Miami University in communications, and a Ph.D. from Purdue University in instructional design. Her doctoral research was on how to control bias in competency studies.