What was the strategy for building ISD?
Principal Hoffman used a variety of strategies to implement ISD.
The central mechanism of ISD is built on reducing class size by adding special and dually certified teachers to classrooms. The design of ISD represented a mutually beneficial compromise to achieve equity in student learning while reducing class size.
Here we highlight
how she assigned teachers to create diverse
classes while removing pullouts, her efforts to acquire resources
to professional development, and how she persuaded teachers,
district, and parents to gain support for ISD.
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Restructuring classrooms
A key strategy in making ISD work was to ensure that the
students in each classroom were matched with appropriately
skilled teachers. Principal Hoffman wanted classrooms
that balanced the school environment as a whole with student
special needs. Each summer she engaged in an intricate
process of assigning students and teachers at each grade
level, balancing gender and ethnicity while assuring that
minority students would not be isolated.>>
more details
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Acquiring
resources to provide professional development
Principal Hoffman drew upon educational research
and excerpts from the reform models highlighted in the
Comprehensive School
Reform (CSR) legislation. The CSR program was built
to fund local efforts to fundamentally change the practice
of teaching and learning in schools. >>
more details
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Communicating
the need for ISD to the community
Principal Hoffman communicated changes caused by the ISD
and their supporting research to parents and the community
via the school newsletter and many meetings with parents,
staff members, union representatives, school board members,
the administration, outside organizations, and holding
forums in the Hmong, African American, and Latino neighborhoods.
>> more
details
 
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