Coordinated School and District Support
The Office of Coordinated School and District Support (CSDS) was established in 2019 to provide coordination of school improvement and support efforts across the NDE and with various stakeholders, such as Educational Service Units (ESU) and community organizations, with the goal of ensuring meaningful support services and resources to schools at the right time and with the right intensity.
The CSDS is focused on delivering customized support to all schools, specifically focusing on supporting schools that have been identified to receive additional support, such as Needs Improvement, Priority, Comprehensive Support and Improvement, Targeted Support and Improvement, and Additional Targeted Support and Improvement.
While every school and district engages in continuous improvement activities, schools that receive additional support may engage in school improvement activities. See the chart below to note the difference between continuous improvement and school improvement.
Continuous Improvement
Any school or instructional improvement process that unfolds progressively does not have a fixed or predetermined endpoint and is sustained over extended periods of time. The concept also encompasses the general belief that improvement is not something that starts and stops but it is something that requires an organizational or professional commitment to an ongoing process of learning, self-reflection, adaptation, and growth.
School Improvement
Dramatic and comprehensive intervention in low-performing schools. Involves turnaround leadership, culture shift, instructional transformation, and talent development.
Center on School Turn Around CST Four Domains Framework Final
Once we know each school’s needs, we can better identify the supports uniquely fitted to the school. CSDS coordinates universal and targeted support from the NDE and its partners based on the level of support needed by each school and district. CSDS is committed to providing targeted technical assistance to the identified lowest-performing schools. The graphic below illustrates the levels of support based on school needs:
School Improvement Core Beliefs
While NDE values accountability, we also value support to help low performing schools and districts make necessary improvements.
We believe:
- …in the value of work already taking place in schools.
- …all schools can improve.
- …demography is not destiny.
- …school improvement is fundamentally about supporting schools that need it the most.