The Framework
A clear vision for what districts and schools across the state do to ensure an excellent education for all Texas students.
A Clear Vision
At the core of effective schools is effective instruction: interactions between students, teachers, and content determine learning outcomes. This instructional core is strengthened and supported by strategic staffing, high-quality instructional materials and assessments, and positive school culture. Strong school leadership and careful planning encompass and ensure each of these levers.
The Effective Schools Framework consists of a set of district commitments and, for schools, essential actions. District Commitments describe what local education agencies do to ensure that schools are successful. The Essential Actions describe what the most effective schools do to support powerful teaching and learning.
The ESF Process
The ESF framework is rooted in the continuous improvement process.
IDENTIFY THE NEEDS:
Increased focus on campus practices in addition to data
PLAN:
Narrow focus on high leverage needs
IMPLEMENT AND MONITOR:
Supports and capacity builders aligned to the framework
ESF Levers
The ESF defines 5 Levers that are essential in high performing campuses. Each lever includes:
District Commitments
District commitments describe what local education agencies do to ensure that schools are set up for success.
Essential Actions
Essential Actions describe what the most effective schools do to support powerful teaching and learning.
Foundational Essential Actions
Each lever has one foundational essential action, which schools should address first in continuous improvement efforts, as they provide the foundation upon which the other essential actions develop.
Key Practices
Each Essential Action includes a set of key practices that define what the essential action entails when implemented with fidelity.
Lever 1
STRONG SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND PLANNING
Effective campus instructional leaders with clear roles and responsibilities develop, implement, and monitor focused improvement plans that address the causes of low performance.
1.1
Developing campus instructional leaders (principal, assistant principal, teacher leaders, and counselors) with clear roles and responsibilities.
1.2
Focused plan development and regular monitoring of implementation and outcomes.
Lever 2
STRATEGIC STAFFING
Campus leadership retains effective, well-supported teachers by strategically recruiting, selecting, assigning and inducting teachers so that all students have access to high-quality educators.
2.1
Recruit, select, assign, induct, and retain a full staff of highly qualified educators.
Lever 3
POSITIVE SCHOOL CULTURE
Positive school culture requires compelling and aligned vision, mission, goals and values, explicit behavioral expectations and management system, proactive and responsive student support services, and involved families and community.
3.1
Compelling and aligned vision, mission, goals, values focused on a safe environment and high expectations.
3.2
Explicit behavioral expectations and management systems for students and staff.
3.3
Proactive and responsive student support services.
3.4
Involving families and community.
Lever 4
High-Quality Instructional Materials and Assessments
All students engage daily with TEKS-aligned, high-quality instructional materials, and assessments that support learning at appropriate levels of rigor.
4.1
Daily use of high-quality instructional materials aligned to instructional planning calendars and interim and formative assessments
Lever 5
EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION
Campus leaders provide teachers with job-embedded professional development and access to time and data needed to reflect, adjust, and deliver instruction that meets the needs of all students.
5.1
Effective classroom routines and instructional strategies
5.2
Build teacher capacity through observation and feedback cycles.
5.3
Data-driven instruction.
5.4
MTSS for students with learning gaps.