Keeping School Improvement Moving: Insights From Three WestEd Experts

October 20, 2026

School leaders charged with improvement face a complex task, often involving multiple, persistent challenges. Reading scores may be down, attendance low, staff turnover high, and past improvement efforts may not have met expectations. Where do school leaders begin, and how do they maintain momentum?

In this Spotlight, WestEd’s Contann Dabney, Terry Hofer, and Joseph Sassone draw on decades of experience in school and district improvement to offer insights into the work, from identifying where to focus and putting plans into practice to building the capacity for sustained improvement.

Begin With a Clear Picture

Before deciding what needs to change, school leaders need to understand what’s happening now. Contann Dabney, Associate Director of WestEd’s Center for School Turnaround and Improvement, explores this starting point in Putting the Four Domains to Work: Supporting School Transformation Through Assessment, Planning, and Coaching. She explains how a needs assessment grounded in the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement can identify areas for improvement as well as strengths schools can build on.

Dabney highlights several considerations for building a strong foundation for improvement, including the following:

• Looking beyond data alone to understand a school’s context, strengths, and needs
• Identifying the organizational and leadership practices needed to support improvement strategies
• Embedding improvement practices into school systems and routines to help sustain progress

Dive deeper: Putting the Four Domains to Work: Supporting School Transformation Through Assessment, Planning, and Coaching

Navigate the Decisions That Shape Implementation

Principals are pulled in many directions, responding to immediate needs while also leading improvement efforts that require sustained focus and attention. Terry Hofer, Director of School Improvement at WestEd’s Center for School Turnaround and Improvement, explores this challenge in How Principals Can Keep School Improvement Plans Going: Introducing My School Improvement Partner.

Hofer introduces My School Improvement Partner, a human-centered AI thought partner designed to help principals think through decisions that arise as improvement plans move into practice. Grounded in the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement, it keeps principals’ knowledge of their schools and local contexts at the center while helping them think through considerations such as the following:

• Maintaining focus on improvement priorities amid competing demands
• Enlisting others to help move the work forward
• Drawing on evidence-based school improvement practices
• Identifying next leadership moves

Dive deeper: How Principals Can Keep School Improvement Plans Going: Introducing My School Improvement Partner

Lead With Intention and Purpose

For Joseph Sassone, urgency in school improvement is about where leaders focus their attention and effort. A WestEd School and District Improvement Senior Facilitator, Sassone draws on more than 20 years of experience working alongside school and district leaders, including teams in some of the country’s most challenging school environments.

In Leading With Urgency: Q&A With Joseph Sassone, he shares five levers that emerged from research, practice, and his experience with schools that made meaningful progress:

• Building relational trust and clarity
• Using time strategically
• Leading instruction
• Shifting deeply held mental models
• Implementing change with purpose

Dive deeper: Leading With Urgency: Q&A With Joseph Sassone

Keep the Work Moving

From understanding a school’s needs and strengths to navigating implementation and sustaining progress, improvement is ongoing. WestEd works alongside schools and districts throughout the process.

Learn More About School and District Transformation.