SERVICES
AIM
works with schools for three or more years (see Scope
and Sequence of AIM Implementation) to build the internal capacity
for continuous improvement. Below are the key services that AIM offers
to schools so that all students achieve success.
School Leadership Team
Creating Tomorrow
Support for Faculty Inquiry Teams
Teaching for Understanding Institutes
Annual Leadership Symposium
Ongoing and Intensive Technical Assistance
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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP TEAM
AIM facilitates the establishment of a school Leadership Team that includes
administrators, teachers, and parents. The Leadership Team is responsible
for assessing the current status of teaching and learning in the school,
building a shared vision, creating the conditions under which school improvement
can occur, monitoring progress, and making sure the school meets implementation
benchmarks. In addition to receiving on-site coaching and support
from the site developer, the Leadership Team attends an annual Leadership
Symposium (see below) that provides members with the knowledge and skills
they need to facilitate change.
CREATING TOMORROW
Through a process called Creating Tomorrow, an AIM site developer, along
with other AIM staff, facilitates a school's examination of its current
status, including goals, student performance on statewide tests and other
measures, and student population characteristics.
Creating Tomorrow provides an opportunity for the whole faculty, district
administrators, and parent representatives to learn about the key elements
of high-performing middle schools, measure the school's progress on each,
and commit to AIM's intensive, focused improvement process. The six
key design elements of the AIM model are these:
By the time they have completed the Creating Tomorrow process, AIM schools
have developed a long-term plan for school improvement, and both faculty
and community members own responsibility for both the plan and its results.
SUPPORT FOR FACULTY INQUIRY TEAMS
Research shows that the leading correlate of school success is a strong
learning community in which faculty work collaboratively to bring about
improvements in teaching and learning. After completing the Creating Tomorrow
process, AIM schools work, with assistance from AIM staff, to create the
organizational structures and processes that support ongoing learning,
reflection, and dialogue.
All members of the faculty are expected to participate fully in Faculty
Inquiry Teams, small groups that meet regularly by grade level and/or
discipline. Each team reflects on and analyzes teaching practice; examines
student work; tries out research-based approaches to curriculum, instruction,
and assessment; and reflects on results.
In addition, AIM provides training to coaches who facilitate the work of
the Faculty Inquiry Teams and support other voluntary groups that want to
address critical challenges at the school, classroom, or personal level.
These groups provide a safe and supportive environment in which individuals
can present challenges, receive feedback from various perspectives, and
identify potential strategies for addressing the issue or concern.
TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING INSTITUTES
AIM has no dictated curriculum but enables each school to develop a rigorous
and developmentally appropriate curriculum based on its needs and local
and state requirements. Once the school has established collaborative structures
and begun to examine teaching and learning, the faculty as a whole participates
in a three-day Teaching for Understanding Institute conducted by
AIM staff. This professional development program provides a formal structure
for designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment aligned with performance
standards at each grade level.
Two key questions are at the center of all conversations among colleagues:
Click here for more information
about the practice of Teaching for Understanding.
ANNUAL LEADERSHIP SYMPOSIUM
Leadership teams from each AIM site meet annually to learn about the change
process, strengthen instructional leadership, share successes, and discuss
common challenges. At the 2003 Leadership Symposium,
held in New Orleans, Louisiana, participants explored their own beliefs
about leadership and, using AIM's implementation benchmarks as a guide,
created strategies for increasing leadership capacity in their schools.
ONGOING AND INTENSIVE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
AIM establishes a strong working relationship with schools that is built
on mutual respect and recognizes that continual growth and improvement require
ownership and internal capacity. In addition to the professional development
opportunities described above, AIM provides a site developer who
visits the school frequently.
The site developer facilitates the school improvement process in many ways,
by:
By challenging assumptions and unexamined practices, site developers keep AIM schools focused on improving outcomes for all students.
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