"Working with the KEYS 2.0 Initiative is a good way to organize your school around the conditions of teaching and learning.”
—Lennell Mayes Terrell, NEA School System Capacity

This introduction to the NEA KEYS 2.0 Action Guide (KEYS to Excellence for Your Schools) includes four sections: Overview, Research Summary, School Community Readiness, and Data Report and Organization of Guide.

KEYS is a comprehensive, school-based assessment and improvement system designed to provide education employees, parents, members of the community—all education stakeholders —with information useful for improving teaching and learning. School communities that embark on this initiative begin with a prescribed survey, a diagnostic instrument that provides objective data on 42 indicators of school quality that define high performing schools. The indicators are clustered into six integrated keys:

Key 1: Shared Understanding and Commitment to High Goals
Key 2: Open Communication and Collaborative Problem Solving
Key 3: Continuous Assessment for Teaching and Learning
Key 4: Personal and Professional Learning
Key 5: Resources To Support Teaching and Learning
Key 6: Curriculum and Instruction

A school community can compare its data from the survey to national norms on each of the indicators. But KEYS is far more than a school-based assessment. The survey results simply pave the way for meaningful discussions followed by professional development, planning, action, and follow-up evaluations.

KEYS, then, is essentially a process that a school community can follow to create and sustain a culture that supports sound data-based decision making and continuous improvement. The school community uses data it generates—not data from external consultants.

KEYS comes with a commitment from NEA to help the school community better understand its problems, develop a shared vision for the school, and engage in organizational and curricular activities to realize the vision.

CONTINUE >