School Improvement Plan

Introduction

In international literature policy documents are considered as major strategic tools for health promotion in schools. In U.S , since 1991, local municipalities are obliged to produce a politically approved school plan for compulsory schools, grades 1-9, i.e. policy instruments which should indicate the aims and objectives, the moral and political values of the municipality (McLaughlin, 149). The aim of this study was to describe the content of school plans, focusing on health and environment in 1994 in 62 municipalities in four counties in U.S, using content analysis. The study was implemented as a total investigation of the 62 municipalities based on the principles of purposeful sampling procedures in order to provide selections of informative cases for in-depth studies. The content analysis was conducted in four steps. Twelve themes were identified in the school plans, representing different issues on health and environment in the first step. Secondly, quotations illustrate and provide a broader meaning of themes.

Discussion and Analysis

According to Rist, the policy process has three stages, policy formulation, policy implementation and policy accountability. In this study of school plans we will focus on the first stage, the policy formulation. Premfors has suggested that policy documents can be either politically or societally oriented.

Thus, in U.S, policy documents regarding the school exist on three levels. The national goals, decided by the parliament, include the School Act, the curriculum, subject areas and time schedules for the mandatory school for grades 1-9. At the municipal level, local politicians, including goals and activities for schools of the municipality, decide upon a local school plan. The school plan guides the local school in developing its own work plan. In a broader sense, the school plan works as a contract between local politicians and the board of local schools on the activities in schools, and secondarily between politicians, headmasters and teachers.

It is also a foundation for discussions between politicians, administrators and parents, and an instrument of control of planning and budgetary processes of the administrative organization of the schools. It also forms the basis for priorities and savings as well as organizational changes. Also, it is important for internal as well as external evaluation, control and follow-up, and finally as a foundation for community involvement of the activities in schools. Thus, the process of policy formulation and implementation has in U.S been strongly decentralized. At a national level, also, a new National Agency for Education (Skolverket) has been established with a mandate including supervising and monitoring responsibilities. The first local school plans written between 1991 and 1992 mainly followed the goals and guidelines given in the previous national curriculum from 1980.

In a literature review it was found that research about school plans as policy instruments is a neglected area. By law, since 1 January 1991, every municipality in U.S has to produce a politically approved school plan. This is the result of a change in the American public policy process including the school system towards information as the major instrument of government, even if ...