School Improvement at Scale: How My School Improvement Partner Supports Districts and States

October 30, 2026

Districts and states often have clear school improvement goals, but translating those goals into effective practices across schools can be challenging.

My School Improvement Partner, an AI-powered platform created by WestEd’s Center for School Turnaround and Improvement, helps principals connect improvement priorities to daily leadership decisions.

In this Q&A, Dr. Terry Hofer, Director of School Improvement at the Center for School Turnaround and Improvement, discusses how districts and states can use the platform and the Four Domains framework to support improvement at scale. 

What distinguishes successful district turnaround efforts?

Each year, our team reviews hundreds of school improvement plans. Many have similar goals and strategies, yet outcomes can differ considerably. In schools facing persistent challenges, the approach often sounds like, “The state says we must meet these goals, and the district office says we must use these strategies and instructional materials, so everybody must do …”

In most successful turnarounds, state and district expectations remain in place, but principals lead the messaging, the approach, and the adaptations. The nuanced difference creates space for leaders and staff members to own the effort with support from the SEA and LEA partners instead of because of the SEA and LEA partners.

The difference is important. Setting expectations and monitoring progress are critical, but successful improvement also requires collaboration, continuous refinement, and a willingness to adapt when an approach isn’t producing the desired results.  

How can the Four Domains guide district and state improvement efforts?

Districts and states place considerable emphasis on measures such as student achievement, chronic absenteeism, and graduation rates. The challenge is translating those outcomes into changes in practice in schools and classrooms. A goal such as increasing proficiency from 37 percent to 42 percent provides a destination, but it doesn’t tell leaders what to do differently to get there.

The Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement help bridge that gap by providing a common vocabulary and a manageable set of research-informed practices. At the district or state level, the goal may be established centrally, along with a finite set of evidence-based strategies. Schools can then exercise freedom within those established constraints by determining which Four Domains practices will best support each strategy and how those practices should be applied within their unique context.

Our experience suggests that focusing on three to five Four Domains practices can help create the conditions needed for a strategy to achieve its potential.

Even strong strategies may fall short without paying attention to the leadership, talent, instructional, and cultural conditions required for effective implementation.

What does adopting My School Improvement Partner at scale involve?

District and state leaders identify the priorities they want reflected across schools. Principals then use My School Improvement Partner to develop and refine improvement plans that address those priorities within their school contexts or, when an approved plan is already in place, to help lead its implementation.

This creates a common improvement framework while allowing schools flexibility in how they act. My School Improvement Partner helps principals distinguish between the commitments they are responsible for honoring and the leadership decisions they are responsible for making.

It can also improve the quality of documents required for compliance. Most importantly, the time devoted to compliance-related tasks can be expedited so that implementing, monitoring, and adapting the plan becomes the priority. Each day, My School Improvement Partner proposes three leadership moves based on a range of criteria, including alignment with the school’s improvement plan.

If principals begin each day by considering those moves, the improvement plan is more likely to remain connected to their day-to-day leadership decisions, helping sustain momentum toward its goals throughout the realities of implementation during the school year.

How does the Center for School Turnaround and Improvement’s expertise inform My School Improvement Partner?

We have seen how integrating multiple Four Domains practices can accelerate progress toward identified goals. The challenge is that identifying the most relevant practices, considering how they apply in context, and determining next steps can take valuable leadership team time.

To help address this challenge, the Center for School Turnaround and Improvement developed a Goal Tuning Protocol as a free resource to support reflection during a school leadership team meeting. Used efficiently, the protocol takes about 35 minutes. My School Improvement Partner was built from the evidence-based practices and resources at the Center for School Turnaround and Improvement , including the Goal Tuning Protocol, and it offers another way to support that same thinking.

For example, a principal might ask My School Improvement Partner to identify which Four Domains practices are most relevant to a particular improvement goal and the strategies already underway. The leadership team can then review those suggestions, determine which practices are most likely to make a difference in their context, and decide what action to take.

The final step, determining who will do what and by when, remains a human-centered leadership activity. In this way, My School Improvement Partner can save meaningful time by helping surface and organize relevant options while preserving the judgment, discussion, and decision-making that belong with the leadership team.

What support does the Center for School Turnaround and Improvement provide for adoption at scale?

At the Center for School Turnaround and Improvement, positive relationships and collaboration are at the center of our work. My School Improvement Partner extends that approach by pairing consistent coaching within the platform with support from a School and District Improvement Specialist.

Every My School Improvement Partner license comes with a virtual onboarding session and four optional quarterly follow-up sessions. When the tool is adopted at scale, our team takes the time to understand SEA or LEA priorities and helps principals use My School Improvement Partner in ways that advance those priorities.

What are principals saying about My School Improvement Partner?

My School Improvement Partner is described as a thought partner that helps principals prepare for difficult conversations, stay focused on improvement priorities, and work through goals related to implementation.

The platform prompts principals to identify goals that can be tracked, refined, sustained, and achieved. In one county, two principals are working together to share their processes and strategies for using My School Improvement Partner.

“I was working on trying to figure out a goal for our literacy. And I tapped it in, and then it comes back with more questions. It really got it where we needed to focus, which was great,” one principal shared.

Not only did the platform help the principals identify their continuous improvement goal but it also “helped us write our principal goals as well, like what we’re really wanting to focus on as principals.”

The experience also reinforces the importance of fitting support into the reality of a principal’s day, where readily available, context-aware support can be particularly valuable. That matters because the value of My School Improvement Partner depends less on whether principals can learn to use another tool and more on whether it becomes useful enough to fit naturally into the work they are already doing.

Excited about their progress with the platform, the two principals have recommended that it be adopted more widely. “It would be beneficial for everybody in our county.”