External Educational Evaluation Harrisburg, PA Public School District

Stephen R. Reed, mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania requested the services of the University of Oklahoma Center for Effective Schools (OU CES) for the performance of an external educational evaluation to begin July 16th, 2007 through October 31, 2007. When the General Assembly passed the initial Education Empowerment Act (Act 16 0f 2000) in May 2000, it provided for Mayor Stephen R. Reed to assume control of the Harrisburg School District. The OU CES external evaluation team consisted of Susan Kidd-Center Director, Robbie Canada-Center Associate, Beth Wilson-Program Specialist II, and Dr. Leon Crowley-Center Special Consultant. The OU CES team traveled to Harrisburg the weeks of July 16, 2007 and September 17, 2007 for ten on-site days in order to develop a comprehensive performance report with action steps for raising student achievement. In July, the OU CES team traveled to Harrisburg to gather district data, meet with the Mayor, district administrators and summer school principals, interviewed past and present students, parent groups, and dozens of community members. In September, the team returned to Harrisburg to observe instructional practices and methods at every school site, administered a comprehensive survey to all district teachers and administrators, and met individually with school administrators. The OU CES Performance Evaluation Team provided the completed comprehensive Performance Evaluation document to the Mayor of Harrisburg on the 31st of October.