The implementation of a focused school renewal plan to increase student achievement in a low performing rural school district

The following study was conducted using a mixed-methodology study design. The purpose of this study was to determine if a focused school renewal plan would increase student achievement at Rural Elementary. In order to accomplish this goal, baseline research data was gathered using the What Works in Schools Online Survey (Marzano, 2003) to determine what instructional areas at Rural Elementary were in the greatest need of addressing as they relate to teacher responses. The sixty-eight item survey was responded to by only fourteen out of the thirty-one faculty and staff members that were asked to participate. Teachers were assigned a random number that helped protect their identity. After survey completion, responses were compiled online into analytical reports by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development that identified teacher perceptions about the areas they deemed critical within the school that needed to be addressed in order to increase student achievement.;Data from the 2009-2010 Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment for fall and winter were analyzed to determine if student achievement improved based on one goal written in the FSRP by the school. Student test data was collected in the form of summary reports which did not include biographical data about individual students. The results were broken down based on individual class group percentages, subject area, and grade level percentages. The summary reports were obtained from local administration after the fall and winter administration of the MAP test.