Academy of Pacesetting States
2009
Participating States and Regional Centers
Alaska, Alaska Comprehensive Center
Arkansas, Mid-Continent Comprehensive Center
Idaho, Northwest Comprehensive Center
Illinois, Great Lakes West Comprehensive Center
Louisiana, Southeast Comprehensive Center
Michigan, Great Lakes East Comprehensive Center
Montana, Northwest Comprehensive Center
Oklahoma, Mid-Continent Comprehensive Center
Virginia, Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center
Groups and Strands
Each state will designate one person to participate in the System Leader strand, two people for
the Change Agent strand, and two people for the Instructional Specialist Strand. These will be
considered role-alike groups, as will the Regional Comprehensive Center staff who will meet as
a role-alike group for breakfast, will meet with their states in the state team meetings, and will
be part of the System Leader strand during strand sessions. Presenters will be with us
throughout the day and will attend the sessions of their choice.
Page 1 of 6
What is a Pacesetter?
Pacesetter Code: A pacesetter traces every action to its impact on a student in a classroom, acts with
courage, proceeds with urgency, focuses on essentials, accepts no excuses, embraces candor, builds
webs of trust, and holds adults to high standards of performance.
Core Principles of the Academy of Pacesetting States
1. Student learning* is the beginning point in designing and providing a statewide system of
support.
2. The instructional core of teacher, student, and content is the Golden Grail of student learning
and school improvement.
3. The school culture of candor, quality, collegiality, and productivity supports the instructional
core.
4. The principal is the key to advancing a school culture of candor, quality, collegiality, and
productivity.
5. The district provides a framework of support and expectation for continuous school
improvement.
6. Incentives, opportunity, and capacity building are the levers of change applied by a statewide
system of support.
7. Leadership, change agency, and instructional expertise are coherently utilized in a statewide
system of support.
8. Change requires courage, leadership, and relentless pursuit of high levels of performance by
adults.
9. Indicators of effective practice, candidly assessed, planned, and monitored, provide guideposts
for continuous improvement.
10. Human capital, trust, and mutual respect form the necessary foundation for school
improvement.
* A student’s learning is influenced most by proximal variables, including:
The student’s –
1. prior learning, which teachers have provided;
2. metacognitive skills, which can be taught;
3. motivation to learn and sense of self-efficacy, which a teacher nurtures;
4. effort and time on task, which a teacher expects;
5. interaction—academic and social—with teachers and other students;
6. family’s engagement and support for learning, which a teacher curries.
The teacher’s 7. instructional planning and classroom culture;
8. instructional delivery through a variety of modes;
9. personalization of instruction for each student;
10. taught and aligned curriculum, designed by teacher teams.
Goal of the Statewide System of Support: The ultimate goal of the statewide system of support is for
the people attached to each school to drive its continuous improvement for the sake of their own
children and students by candidly and continuously examining data about their own performance and
that of students and changing the way they operate to get better results.
Page 2 of 6
Objectives of the Academy of Pacesetting States
The objectives of the faculty and partners of the Academy of Pacesetting States are to
provide:
1. A learning community for state teams from states intent upon leading the way to rapid
improvement of districts and schools.
2. Training, consultation, and support to enable states to reach their goals for high quality
Statewide Systems of Support that build local capacity to initiate and sustain rapid
improvement that brings all classrooms to an optimal level of performance.
3. Training, consultation, and support to for state teams to develop skilled experts in three
critical areas:
a. System Leaders who administer the Statewide System of Support and coordinate its
components (including the people who carry it out);
b. Change Agents who understand not only effective operational practices, but also the
dynamics of change in an educational setting; and
c. Instructional Specialists who understand effective classroom instruction and how it
can be cultivated in districts and school systems to reach a critical mass of
instructional excellence.
The objectives of the member states of the Academy of Pacesetting States are to:
1. Take full advantage of the opportunities to share talents and experiences with other
states, the Academy faculty and partners.
2. Develop and achieve bold plans of action to:
a. Elevate the effectiveness of the Statewide System of Support;
b. Build local capacity to initiate and sustain rapid improvement that brings all
classrooms to an optimal level of performance;
c. Create strong programs of Change Agents and Instructional Specialists to serve as
Catalytic Teams to rapidly improve districts and schools in ways that show
substantial effects in classroom instruction and student learning.
To meet these objectives, member states will send teams of five for the full week of the
summer session, participate in monthly days of distance learning, hold monthly conference calls
with Academy faculty and their regional centers, and return for a meeting and advanced
training the following summer.
Measures of Success: 1) Improvement of Statewide System of Support as indicated by rubricsbased evaluation; 2) Achievement of Plan of Action; 3) Evidence of impact on classroom
instruction, local capacity to initiate and sustain rapid improvement.
Page 3 of 6
Page 4 of 6
Theory of Action (Change) in a Statewide System of Support
Page 5 of 6
Spheres of Influence on the Instructional Core
Page 6 of 6