About SAM
The Schoolwide Applications Model (SAM) is a data-based approach to structural school reform. It is intended to replace categorical fragmentation of educational resources and supports within schools with fully integrated and coordinated resources focused on improving academic and social outcomes for all students. The model has originated through on-going research within the Kansas City, Kansas School District, and is now being field tested at scale in the East Palo Alto, California Ravenswood City School District.
SAM is a general education support approach which uses a response tointervention logic model to focus and direct all school and [available]community-based resources, to the measurable improvement of academicand social outcomes for all students - regardless of type, level andextent of supports required to progress in the general curriculum. Thisincludes the 1-2% of students who cannot participate in the generalassessments.Adequate yearly progress (AYP) is a primary goal of the SAM process.Data from three years of implementation in the Ravenswood SchoolDistrict suggest that faithful implementation of the fifteen criticalfeatures of SAM, as measured by its fidelity instrument SAMAN (SAMAnalysis System), is highly correlated with improved academic andsocial achievement indicators for all students after a 2-3 year period.The data indicate that initial “clusters” of schools require aboutthree years to fully implement the model and that subsequent cohortsmay require less time as SAM becomes part of the “culture” of theschool district.
SAM is designed to particularly address the needs of urban core,multicultural, low income school districts. It is our observation thata “medical model” approach to specialized categorical, targetedpopulations of students in these districts has led, in many cases, toextensive fragmentation of services and supports that are needed bynearly all students, as well as over-representation by ethnicminorities in various disability categories in special education.Implementation of SAM is an extensive systems-change process thattransforms the culture of schools from discreet, specialized functionsof resources and personnel, to a fully integrated system of supportsand services applicable to all students in accordance with a responseto intervention (RtI) logic model dictated by valid and reliable,on-going assessments of pupil academic and social progress.
Finally, SAM systems-change processes, delivered through ongoingprofessional development and technical assistance, are directed to twoprimary formative sets of variables. The first is structural elementsof school organization and service delivery. Elimination of specialclasses, for example, is an element of structural reform. The second isthe quality of instruction. As the culture of schools moves toward aunified resources approach with school teams making instructionaldecisions on the basis of repeated measures data, measurableimprovement in the quality of instruction is an expected outcome.
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