Introduction

This section of Long Beach High School’s School Improvement Plan provides an analysis of the strengths and limitations of instructional and organizational effectiveness. The information provided in the following pages was gathered as a means of identifying ways to build on strengths and to address areas of weakness.

To assist us in identifying the strengths and limitations of Long Beach High School’s instructional and organizational effectiveness, we administered the “Survey of Instructional and Organizational Effectiveness” based on NSSE’s Indicators of Schools of Quality. The faculty of Long Beach High School took the survey in February of 2002 and again in September of 2002. The reason for this is that there was an administrative change and our committee wanted the results to reflect the most current climate of the school. The results which follow are the most recent findings.

The data collected from the administration of the NSSE’s Indicators of Schools of Quality convey that the faculty rated Long Beach High School high in the areas of student engagement in their learning, instructional design, assessment, shared vision, quality instruction, and skillful stewardship. However, the survey results indicate that our curriculum development and learning assessment system need to be strengthened; the educational faculty needs to better build a shared vision for student learning; the school needs to work on fostering community building conditions and working relationships; and our professional development programs need to be strengthened.

In light of the survey results, we gathered information regarding the types of professional development opportunities that Long Beach High School’s teachers had chosen to attend. Professional development training afforded to Long Beach High School’s teachers varied among national conventions, district-wide workshops (specifically “Capturing Kids Hearts”), college courses, curriculum training meetings, and department development meetings. We collected evidence pertaining to those areas identified as strengths as well as those areas identified as limitations. We examined the extent to which our instructional practices and organizational conditions are aligned and provide students with a coherent instructional program. The report of our analysis is outlined on page 7.

Based upon our analysis of instructional and organizational effectiveness, we identified priorities for improvement including:

Long Beach High School’s mission statement is to “produce globally competitive graduates and responsible citizens utilizing the best learning opportunities while drawing on all community resources.” Overall, the instructional practices and organizational conditions of our school are congruent with one another and are well aligned with the mission statement and Long Beach High School’s beliefs. However, three major areas that need to be strengthened include the following: