• Reasonable, positive, public, known and consistently enforced policies and procedures are in place.
• The campus is well maintained with little litter and graffiti.
• A broad range of student work is on display throughout the school.
• Every student can name at least two adults who know her/him well and her/his work well.
• The parent’s role in supporting student learning is valued and supported through parent workshops, a parent library, and availability of social services support.
• Members of the community are seen supporting student learning; space and training are provided for this purpose.
• Teachers, parents, and students talk openly about the commitment of the principal and district to all students learning to use their minds and hearts well.
• Staff articulate a common mission that all agree transcends personal differences.
  

Curriculum

• Students are actively engaged in interdisciplinary, thematic, project-based work.
• Projects have significance to students and are based on important questions raised by students, teachers and community members.
• Curriculum respects and acknowledges the ethnography and community of the students, using this as a departure point for curriculum that explores diversity of culture and opinion within and without the community .
• Teachers individualize and modify instruction that addresses learning styles and special needs of students.
• Students comment (or proudly complain) that the work is challenging and takes time.

Instruction

• Classes are heterogeneously grouped for most of the day, with regrouping as appropriate.
• Students usually are working in small groups or independently.
• There is a well defined safety net in place to accelerate students who are falling behind in their academic progress.
• Common instructional strategies are being used in most classrooms within and across grade levels.
• When teachers ask questions, students are required to use higher order thinking skills to answer and all students have equal access to respond.
  
• When students ask questions, teachers usually reply with a question that requires thought by the student, rather than with the answer.

Assessment

• Student learning is assessed in a variety of ways, including the use of well publicized rubrics, public exhibitions and self-reflection by students.
• Individual teachers use assessment strategies on a daily basis to diagnose the learning of individual students and to adjust instruction based on this assessment.
• Teachers review student work and other assessment data together to guide school and classroom practice.
• When asked, students talk articulately about their best work.
  

• The principal knows students and student work well and is often seen engaged in conversations with teachers about individual students and their learning.
• The principal knows students and student work well and is often seen engaged in conversations with students about their learning.
• Teachers and school and district administrators have agreed on best practices in a limited number of areas of focus (literacy, habits of mind), and time, resources, and professional development are supporting implementation - including expert and peer coaching and collaborative action research.

• Time is provided for teachers to discuss classroom practice.
• Teachers talk openly about how supportive the principal and district are regarding supporting ideas and helping to provide resources.