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Events

Restructuring Under NCLB: What Works When?

A Technical Assistance Retreat for State Education Agencies

February 2007

On February 13th and 14th, the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) hosted a cross-center restructuring retreat in New York City, co-sponsored by the Texas Regional Comprehensive Center (TXCC) and the Center on Innovation and Improvement (CII). The retreat was held at the home of the NYCC at 60 East 42nd Street in New York, NY.

TXCC invited the NYCC to collaborate on this event after learning about the restructuring retreat modules CII had developed. While Texas currently has only two schools under NCLB restructuring, TXCC and the Texas Education Agency viewed the retreat as an opportunity to strengthen the state's ability to manage the looming mass of schools in restructuring. NYCC Director Larry Hirsch and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) viewed the event as an opportunity to build state capacity and collaboration across technical assistance centers.

The Texas Education Agency saw New York as a natural partner. Unlike Texas, it already had several years of experience with NCLB restructuring. And like Texas, it serves large concentrations of low-income, minority, and English Language Learners (ELLs) in urban centers while simultaneously serving rural districts.

State Education Agency (SEA) representatives from New York and Texas listened to presentations on research and engaged in discussion—all based on the modules in the recent CII publication The Handbook on Restructuring and Substantial School Improvement and the Learning Points Associates publication School Restructuring under No Child Left Behind: What Works When? Four objectives for participant outcomes guided the retreat. They were:

  1. Learn the research supporting optimal restructuring options for schools in differing conditions and circumstances
  2. Identify or clarify the role the SEAs should play in supporting school restructuring
  3. Enhance or begin to develop SEA technical procedures for helping districts manage school restructuring that improves student learning
  4. Develop recommendations that will guide their next level of work

Presentations included remarks by Jacquelyn Jackson from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, a keynote by Dr. James "Torch" Lytle, and PowerPoint presentations of the Handbook modules by Carole Perlman, Sam Redding, Lauren Morando Rhim, and Bryan Hassle. Adam Tanney from NYCC facilitated sessions among NYSED participants that helped them make sense of the information they had received and discuss its practical applications.

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Related Initiative: Statewide System of Support