Site Visits

When will visits happen?

The school quality review will be administered between February 13 and March 30.

Why are they unannounced?

Our goal is to capture the school culture and learning environment on a normal school day.  Review teams will be trained to understand the potential events and challenges school leaders and teachers manage each and every day.  We have invited school leaders to choose a 2-week window when they would prefer the site visit to occur, and have allowed for school leaders to opt-out of specific days.

Who conducts the site visits?

The site visits will be conducted by teams of parents and community members and will be facilitated by trained professionals. The 4-hour site visit will give reviewers a sense of the learning environment, school safety, and the vision of the school leadership and faculty on a normal school day.

What rubric will community reviewers use and will I be able to see it?

The observation tool’s design was largely informed by the community reviewers themselves, through a research-based process led by the National Equity Project. Michigan State University will construct the actual tool, which will be available for school leaders by February 10.

When and how are community reviewers trained?

Community reviewers were trained on February 1^st and February 4^th. The training was co-facilitated by the National Equity Project, Detroit Parent Network, Michigan State University and Excellent Schools Detroit. 

How will the rubric be filled out?

Diverse 4-6 person teams of parents, non-profit staff, and members of the business community will be led by professional school evaluators from MSU.  The team leader will facilitate the visit and complete the final report.

Where does the data go from the visit and when will I see it?

Completed observation reports will be collected by Excellent Schools Detroit and will be available to school leaders in mid- to late-April.