Project ASSIST: A Comprehensive, Systemic Change Initiative for Middle Level Schools.

Abstract

Project ASSIST (Achieving Success through School Improvement Site Teams) is a school improvement initiative sponsored by the Middle Level Leadership Center, University of Missouri. Center staff members work directly with school leadership teams from Missouri middle level schools using a conceptual design grounded in a “student-centered, content framework” and a “vision-driven, change process framework” to build internal leadership capacity for continuous improvement. The data presented in this paper addressed three broad areas of focus that the overall initiative was established to influences: school culture and climate, pedagogical practices, and leadership. The data were from two ASSIST cohorts, 1996-1998 and 1998-2000. The findings affirm the value of using a “leadership team capacity design” of educating and supporting a nucleus of teachers and the principal to positively impact the important areas of focus analyzed for this paper.