Abstract
Program Improvement (PI) provisions in the 1988 Chapter 1 reauthorization were intended to improve the curricula and Chapter 1 services in ineffective Chapter 1 schools. Through site visits, we studied practices used by 15 California elementary and middle schools that had been in PI for 3 years. Following each school visit, data were summarized into a school profile. Using a uniform rating scale, we scored each school on four dimensions: staff, core curriculum, integration of Chapter 1 services, and capacity for change. Eight characteristics distinguished those schools engaged in change from those schools reluctant to change: a strong principal and site leadership team with a vision for the school, professional treatment of teaching staff, quality core curriculum, quality Chapter 1 services, a Chapter 1 coordinator as implementer, school autonomy and district support, positive administrator and teacher attitudes, and extensive parent and community involvement. In addition, findings common to all schools revealed a limited impact of PI and the negative effect of principal turnover.
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