School Improvement Plan

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School Improvement Plans (SIPs) have a basis in both state and federal law. In accordance with No Child Left Behind, the federal government has required under-performing schools identified as needing improvement across the nation to form SIPs since 2001. The state of North Carolina started requiring SIPs for schools even earlier. In 1996, the North Carolina General Assembly developed the School-Based Management and Accountability Program in order to enhance student achievement. As part of the program, all schools in the state are legally obligated to form an SIP, regardless of the level of student performance. In fact, the majority of schools in the U.S. schools have had formal SIPs since 2000(Fernandez, 2011).
An SIP is a formal plan of attack to improve student performance, especially in the core subjects of math and reading. This is especially true for schools identified as needing improvement (SINI), which may be required to develop an SIP by both state and federal law. An SIP includes an analysis of the problem bringing down performance and an outline of steps to be taken to remediate
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An SIP should include a mission statement, leadership team, staff roles and responsibilities, goal statements, objectives and data tables. In the case of a SINI, a federally mandated SIP definitely must include a statement about why the school has fallen behind and an SIP is necessary. There should also be a discussion of research-based strategies to bring up student performance. Those writing the plan also need to develop a list of goals and objectives towards improving the school. The parties that will be held accountable for achieving these goals are named in the plan. The SIP also needs to include strategies for improving professional development and parental involvement as well as student performance (Fernandez,