The task analysis was used to determine if schools were using a variety of approaches to achieving their results. The tasks were assumed proxies for resource allocation, different types of tasks indicating different allocations of resources. This was an appropriate approach for the schools since the bulk of the schools' resources were staff time and most of the tasks involve allocating that time. After eliminating duplication and combining reciprocal activities, such as students performing a service in the community and community members coming into a school to work with students, under one classification, 114 task classifications under four meta-categories were identified. Grouping these classifications into categories such as program delivery, communication, and broad community involvement showed the schools were in the same business. Almost all of the schools had activities under the broad categories and those that didn't identify the category as an area they were improving needed to be performing tasks that would fall under the category descriptions.
However, as the number of classifications indicates, there was variety in the type of tasks that schools undertook to achieve their results. For example, 29 schools indicated they were going to improve program delivery. All of them identified multiple approaches. Approximately 2/3 of the schools were working with assessment, meeting student needs, and providing curriculum resources. About a third picked curriculum alignment, instructional strategies, school wide themes, core related extra-curricula activities, communicating expectations for learning, tutoring, and parent-teacher-student goal setting as ways to improve. Then there were strategies such as practice test, more homework, and collaborative approaches to delivering the curriculum. Generally speaking less than 2/3 of the schools used any one approach and for most of the classifications less than 1/3 of the schools were represented. When classifications were combined into 18 groups, most schools identified six groups, seven were identified by at least 2/3 of the schools, and two were identified by about 1/3 of the schools.