Requirements of the Transitions School Improvement Model

In the Transitions model, schools are required to:

• Maintain records of individual student progress.
• Set performance standards in each credentialing area.
• Determine whether each student is performing well enough to be successful in the next school or life transition.
• Design and implement individual student intervention plans for students who do not meet the performance standards.
• Create a written Transitions Declaration for each student to certify readiness for the next school or life transition.
• Assist students in learning what it means to be effective employees and in developing awareness of career possibilities.
• Meet with "sending" and "receiving" schools and institutions to determine their requirements, a process known in the Transitions model as "articulation."

Schools or districts implementing Transitions would need to develop some form of monitoring system for each student and this generally is done through the creation of a credentialing form. Decisions must be made as to the areas that would be tracked (e.g., reading, math, writing, social studies, science, employability), the types of measurement to be used as evidence of performance, the scores needed for each of the measurements to warrant credentialing, and the grade levels where credentialing would be done (i.e. fifth, eighth, and twelfth). This form guides the faculty in establishing interventions where credentialing is not achieved as progress can be identified each year throughout the curriculum. Schools and districts do not have to keep students from promotion or high school graduation if they fail to reach needed scores. Some schools have chosen to allow graduation, for example, but only those meeting needed scores would have the credentialing seal affixed to their diploma to document quality achievement.

e-NEWS: December 2004 Issue