The Ohio Improvement Process (OIP)
By Gina Symsek
September 29, 2009
The Ohio Improvement Process is an approach to setting district
goals that is based on measurable data (e.g., test scores). This
process in a state initiative and the purpose of it is to assist
school districts in determining goals that they need to develop and
implement. Our district has been participating in this process
since last spring with a team of educators that represent the
district (e.g., elementary teachers, junior/senior high teachers,
administrators).
Our OIP team analyzed our district’s test data and other data
measures of student performance (e.g., Curriculum Based
Measurement, CBM); Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, (KRAL), OAT
results, OGT results). The team also analyzed data related to other
indicators that impact student performance such as student
attendance and graduation rates. As a result of analyzing our
district’s data, it was determined that there are two main areas
that need to be addresses; math and reading. There will be
particular focus on increasing the performance of students with
disabilities in these academic areas. A third area that is related
to math and reading is assessment which will be embedded into our
goals related to math and reading.
The district’s OIP team is in the final stage of the development of
math and reading goals and once they care complete, the team will
communicate the goals and purpose of the goals to all the teachers
and related service personnel in the district. The purpose of such
district goals is to ensure that we are working toward a common
purpose to increase student achievement in the area of math and
reading.
Once the goals of the OIP are presented and communicated to the
district as a whole, we will work toward those goals through the
Professional Learning Community (PLC) process. The OIP process is
similar to the Strategic Plan process but is narrower in scope and
more specifically based on measurable data. The goals that our OIP
team developed are directly related to the curricular and
programming components of the district’s Strategic Plan.
