A few years ago I began subscribing to the Marshall Memos (www.marshallmemo.com) as a way to stay current with research and best practices related to teaching and learning. Many of the summaries have caused me to want to share and talk about issues that are related to the work we do within our schools. It is my hope that the FRPS Teaching and Learning Blog will provide us with opportunities to share our thinking.
How Schools Beat the Odds
In this American Educator article, education writer Karin Chenoweth summarizes the key factors that she found in the fifteen highly effective urban schools profiled in her new book, “It’s Being Done” (Harvard Education Press, 2007):
• These schools have very high expectations for their students. “It’s not about feeling sorry for the kids,” said Barbara Adderley, principal of Stanton Elementary School in Philadelphia. “It’s about making sure that they understand what it is they’re expected to do.”
• They use all the data they can get their hands on and embrace accountability. They realize that teachers’ perceptions of their students’ learning, while important, are fragmentary and don’t reveal overall patterns. So they gather, display, and analyze all the interim test data and other information they can get their hands on and follow up relentlessly with students. If another school outperforms them, they beat a path to that school to figure out what it did and adopt those ideas.
• They steer clear of test prep. These schools make sure that students aren’t blindsided by any material on the state tests and familiarize students with the format, but teachers spend very little time having their students practice taking sample test items and “bubbling in.” They insist on teaching a full, rich curriculum in all subject areas, including those that don’t have high-stakes tests.
• They use school time wisely. This means treating instructional time as sacred, carving out blocks of uninterrupted time when announcements and pullouts don’t happen, and cutting down on wasted time during the school day (e.g., getting out and putting away books and materials, bathroom trips, and moving from class to class). Students are engaged in productive activities almost all the time.
• They add time for students, particularly those who are struggling. Some schools use before- and after-school time, some use vacations and the summer. They all figure out how to get their students more learning time – and include enrichment activities as well.
• They don’t spend much time punishing students. They don’t need to, since they constantly teach good behavior and use incentives and positive activities to prevent discipline problems. Good teaching, high-quality curriculum materials, differentiated instruction, and student engagement keep students happily and successfully engaged most of the time. Mentors and social service agencies are also part of prevention and intervention.
• They give teachers time to meet, observe each other, and do serious professional development. Administrators create a master schedule that gives students a coherent instructional day and build in time for teacher teams to work and learn together. This is usually accomplished by having each grade level go to special subjects at the same time so all the teachers are free at the same time. “The general theory among these schools,” says Chenoweth, “is that if students are weak in a particular area, the teachers need to learn more about it.”
• Although the principals are important leaders, they are not the only leaders. Committees composed of teachers and sometimes parents and community members make important decisions on hiring, curriculum, school policies and procedures, budget, and more. “These principals are consciously trying to build enduring structures that will outlast them,” writes Chenoweth.
The article concludes by likening the work of these schools to the Wright Brothers’ tenacious struggle to get their plane off the ground at Kitty Hawk. “In much the same way,” says Chenoweth, “the schools profiled in my book demonstrate that the job of educating all kids to high levels is possible. When you overcome drag and gravity with enough thrust and lift, you get flight; when you overcome poverty and discrimination with effective leadership, thoughtful instruction, careful organization, and what can only be recognized as the kind of pig-headed optimism displayed by the Wright brothers, you get learning – even in schools where many people wouldn’t expect it.”
