Blueprint for Excellence School Improvement Process
How Is Your School Doing? (Really doing?)

Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, Inc. (BRSE), has worked over the years to develop and refine a means for a school’s own stakeholders to assess the school’s performance and design program improvement initiatives focused on the results of that assessment. The BRSE Blueprint for Excellence is designed to be a positive school improvement process that covers nine major categories of critical performance elements found in excellent schools:

  1. Student Focus and Support
  2. School Organization and Culture
  3. Challenging Standards and Curriculum
  4. Active Teaching and Learning
  5. Technology Integration
  6. Professional Community
  7. Leadership and Educational Vitality
  8. School, Family, and Community Partnerships
  9. Indicators of Success
PROCESS
  1. The school submits a letter of interest that provides specific information (see information below).
  2. The school administration completes an online demographic description of the school.
  3. The school completes the online assessment tool. Building level administrators, certified staff members, support staff members, a sample of students, and a sample of parents and community stakeholders participate.
  4. The validity and reliability of the process depends on honest responses from the entire school community.
  5. The assessment is designed to assure completely confidential data collection. Individual responses are not tracked or reported -- only group responses.
  6. The assessment can be completed in as little as one day, depending on the scheduling of your respondents.
  7. Once all the data are compiled, experts at Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, Inc., prepare a final report that cites areas of success and areas in need of improvement, as reported by the school community. The report is reviewed in complete detail with the school and/or district administrators and includes:
  8. Demographics Report
  9. School Strengths Report
  10. No Consensus Report
  11. Critical Areas Report
  12. Action Plan Report
  13. Student Grade Level Report
  14. Total Accumulation of Data Report
  15. Lighthouse Eligibility Schematic
  16. A site visitor comes to the school to validate the results by reviewing data, meeting with school representatives, and observing classrooms.
  17. An additional site visit may be conducted, if needed, to validate improvement gains suggested by the assessment.
  18. The school may decide to develop an improvement plan with assistance from representatives of Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, Inc.
COSTS

Costs for participation in the assessmentare determinedbased on the number of students in the school as shown in the chart below. Schools also will be responsible for expenses (transportation, lodging, meals, etc.) for the site visitor(s) conducting the assessment

BRSE Assessment Under 500 Students / $8,500.00
BRSE Assessment 501-999 Students / $10,500.00
BRSE Assessment 1000-1499 Students / $12,500.00
BRSE Assessment 1500-1999 Students / $14,500.00
BRSE Assessment 2000+ Students / To Be Negotiated
BRSE Assessment International Rate / To Be Negotiated
LETTER OF INTENT FORMAT

A Letter of Intent must be submitted on your school or district letterhead. Please note that a school should be in existence for at least two years prior to undertaking the process, should not be undergoing school wide testing at the time of the assessment, and site visits are to be scheduled on normal school days when students are present.

Please include the following information in one page or less:

  1. Name/Address/Telephone/Email for Principal and Superintendent
  2. Description of School (including vision/mission statement, number of students, grade levels, location: urban, suburban, rural, etc.)
  3. Statement of Need or Reason for Undertaking the Assessment
  4. Commitment to submit a minimum of three best practices employed at the school
  5. Preferred date to conduct assessment site visit (two consecutive days, possible three depending on school size), along with two alternate dates.
  6. Your understanding of the cost for an assessment as it pertains to your school's student population based on the rate schedule.

The Letter of Intent may be emailed as an attachment to or mailed to

Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, Inc.

136 Lakeside Road

Chapin, South Carolina 29036

QUESTIONS?

Call Bart Teal at 803-345-5415 or 803-422-0402, or write to .

Call Marcia Jenkins Greene at 770-316-5899 or 770-883-3835, or write to