Source: Fernandez, K. E. (2009). Evaluating School Improvement Plans and their Affect on Academic Performance. Educational Policy, 25(2), 338–367. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904809351693

Fernandez (2009) found that there was a strong and consistent association between the quality of school planning and overall student performance in math and reading. 252 schools were included in the analysis - these where sampled from The Clark County School District, Navada, USA.

Fernandez used 17 indicators to evaluate the SIPs. Each indicator or variable was given a score that ranged from 1 (lowest rating) to 3 (highest rating).

The following indicators correlated positive and significant with math and reading scores:

1. Monitoring Frequency: 1 = less than monthly; 2 = monthly or more; 3 = weekly
2. Timely Goals: all goals identify a specific window of time when the assessment will be administered
3. Specific Goals: targeted students and subgroups, targeted standards
4. Research-Based Strategies: all strategies/solutions address standards-based research strategies
5. Professional Development Focus: evidence that the professional development will be sustained and incorporated into routine operations within the school
6. Relevant Goals: all goals align with urgent student needs identified in comprehensive needs assessment
7. Measurable Goals: quantifiable goals with a baseline measurement and a target;

The following indicators correlated positive with math and reading scores, but where not significant for one or both of the measures:

8. Achievable Goals: goals are sufficiently challenging to close learning gaps in 3 to 5 years for targeted subgroups;
9. Professional Development Gaps: all program implementations are supported by specific action steps for professional development
10. Monitoring Plan: monitoring steps explicitly describe what people are doing to assess progress toward goal attainment
11. Evaluation Process: measures selected allow planned outcomes to be compared with achieved outcomes; evaluation plan explicitly describes how action will be taken as a result of the evaluation plan
12. Master Plan Design: action steps consistently describe how solutions will be implemented
13. Parental Involvement: evidence of frequent parent communication regarding standards, best practices, and grading
14. Inquiry Process: all causes explicitly aligned with solutions
15. Use of Time and Opportunities: described strategies address time and opportunity to meet needs of targeted subgroups; document how existing time and opportunity will be improved;

The following indicators correlated negatively with math and reading scores, but where not significant:

16. Other
17. Comprehensive: all goals are linked to identified concerns and causes

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