Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) and Student Achievement

Increasing student achievement has been the benchmark of educators for centuries. The (CSR) Comprehensive School Reform initiative was developed to make sure that all children meet academic content and achievement standards as outlined by the Department of Education. The premise of the (CSR) is to address basic academics and to include parental involvement. In order for a school district to participate in the CSR, it must provide certain resources. These resources have been identified as crucial elements to continued success of the program.

Resources can present themselves in many manners. Resources may be physical as well as mental entities. For example, a baseball team has both physical and mental resources. The bats and balls are physical resources that can be bought or touched, while a player’s passion and positive attitude may be considered mental resources of a team. A successful baseball team requires both these physical and mental resources to perform at a competitive level.

The resources for a school district include both physical and mental items. Physical resources include books, computers, paper, pencils, bulletin boards, curriculum, transportation, staff, and community. Mental resources include teacher collaboration, teacher training, professional development, positive reinforcement, leadership, teamwork, and establishing realistic goals and objectives.

In order to facilitate an effective (CSR), there needs to be a healthy balance between the physical resources and the mental resources. For example, a school district can possess all the physical resources available yet if the faculty does not believe in the (CSR) it will not succeed. Justly, if a school district possesses all the mental resources (which most do already), but lack the physical resources, it will not succeed.