Perceptions of administrators and teachers on the impact of a comprehensive school reform intervention on academic achievement for students at an urban middle school in a mid-South state

In the mid-south state where this study was conducted, public schools in year three or more of school improvement were required to implement the state mandated intervention, America's Choice, to assist in their efforts to improve student achievement and remove their schools from the school improvement list. As schools in year three or more have experienced interventions prior to their current school improvement designations with less than desirable outcomes (Herman et al., 2008), their faculty and staff may feel skeptical regarding the ability of the state's intervention to perform as indicated or reach specified outcomes (Supovitz, 2006). The problem, then, is whether administrators and teachers believe the intervention prescribed for their school has the ability to improve the academic achievement of their students and remove the school from the school improvement list. This study will examine three questions: 1) What are the perceptions of administrators and teachers regarding the impact of America's Choice on increasing student achievement in the areas of literacy and mathematics? 2) What are the perceptions of administrators and teachers regarding the ability of America's Choice to increase student achievement in the areas of literacy and mathematics? 3) What are the perceptions of administrators and teachers regarding the potential of America's Choice to remove their school from the school improvement list? Data for this case study were gathered through administrator interviews, teacher interviews, and classroom observations. Participants in this study were a principal and two assistant principals, three mathematics teachers, two English teachers, and three teacher coaches. The findings revealed administrators and teachers believed America's Choice did make an impact on student achievement, the model did not have the ability to increase student achievement unless some conditions were met, and the model could not remove their school from the school improvement list because of overall implementation issues. Results of this study suggest the need for schools to choose and adopt the model that they will implement in order to foster ownership and better implementation. If a model must be mandated, then the mandating party must provide oversight and follow-up support to ensure proper adjustment and implementation fidelity.