State Accountability:
Rhode Island — SALT
The School Accountability for Learning and Teaching (SALT) is the most ambitious application of Practice-Based Inquiry. SALT is a 12 year initiative of the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE). SALT is part of Rhode Island’s state-wide comprehensive plan for accountability and school support.
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School Networks: Chicago Schools Alliance
The Alliance is a membership network of Chicago public schools—charter, contract, autonomous small schools, regular public schools—including elementary, middle and high schools.
The Chicago Schools Alliance is a partnership of member schools that joined together to build and sustain their excellence as institutions of learning. The Alliance is organized by Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI) and Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS).
Catalpa has designed and conducted nine visits for the Chicago Schools Alliance and two other affiliated networks in Chicago. The majority of Alliance Practice-Based Inquiry visit team members are faculty and leaders at other network-member schools. Each visited school holds the copyright to its visit report. The responses of both team members and the visited Alliance schools to the visits have been thoughtful and extremely positive.
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Individual Schools: The In-School Visit™ (Self Study)
The central focus for most Practice-Based Inquiry® visits is the individual school. The goal is to capture the particularities of how teaching and learning are proceeding within the specific school being visited is at the heart of the conceptual underpinnings of PBI.
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Program
and Policy Evaluation: Chicago Public Education Fund and The Spencer Foundation
In 2005, the Spencer Foundation and the Chicago Public Education Fund
sponsored two Catalpa projects that applied Practice-Based Inquiry® principles
to program and policy evaluation.
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Accreditation: NEASC
Under the auspices of the Lab at Brown, Catalpa conducted a thorough review
of how the high school commission of the New England Schools and Colleges
(NEASC) conducted the self-study, school visit and Commission review that led
its decision to accredit or not accredit 95% of New England's public high
schools.
This study resulted in major changes in the conduct of the high school visit in
New England. It was also important to the development of Practice-Based
Inquiry.
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International Projects
Since professional peer visits have been used in many diverse countries around the globe for over a hundred years, Catalpa Ltd. continues to build working, and networking, relationships with a number of relevant projects in other countries.
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