Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI). User Manual and Technical Report

Building capacity within schools and districts for continuous improvement is a goal of educators at all levels across the United States of America. An important first step in capacity building is identifying schools' current strengths and weaknesses. Schools can then begin building upon existing strengths to implement improvement initiatives. Further, they can target professional development in those areas identified as weaknesses, to build readiness within the school to improve in the future. The Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI) is a tool schools can use to help determine the most appropriate focus of improvement initiatives and professional development programs. The primary purposes of the "MSCI User Manual and Technical Report" are to describe the technical aspects of the MSCI instrument and to provide users of the instrument with a practical manual to aid in the use and interpretation of the MSCI results. This manual describes the history, research base, and development of the instrument as well as its statistical properties, including its reliability and validity. Normative information, for use in interpreting results and comparing a school's performance with that of similar schools, is also included in detail. General procedures for administering the instrument are outlined; more detailed administration specifications are included with instrument packets sent to schools that decide to employ the MSCI. Chapters include: (1) Introduction to the Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI) User Manual and Technical Report; (2) The Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI): An Overview; (3) A Review of the Literature About School Capacity; (4) History and Development of the Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI); (5) Norming the Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI); (6) Instrument Properties of the Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI); and (7) Normative Information for the Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI). Appended are: (1) MSCI Normative Information Using Scaled Scores; (2) Instructions for Administering the MSCI; and (3) Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI). (Contains 42 tables and 1 exhibit.)