Abstract

This mixed-methods study was part of a larger group of parallel studies designed by Lawrence O. Picus and Associates in partnership with the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming State Legislature. In year one of this two year study, one hundred and eighty seven schools were selected for review by twenty four University of Wyoming graduate students and two Lawrence O. Picus and Associates consultants who analyzed approximately ten schools each. The remaining Wyoming schools were selected in the second year of the study.

This researcher was assigned eight schools in northeast Wyoming. Data was collected following protocols provided by Lawrence O. Picus and Associates and included on-site interviews with teachers, principals, superintendents, and other leadership staff. Resource use and instructional improvements strategies were identified in case studies and submitted to Lawrence O. Picus and Associates. These case studies were further analyzed to address research questions about common use of instructional strategies, resource use at the school level, alignment between instructional improvement strategies and resource use, and possible implications linking resource use and/or instructional strategies to increased student performance.