AHDS Annual Conference 2016 - Karin Chenoweth

Slide 1

Learning fromSchools that Succeed

Karin Chenoweth

Association of Head Teachers and Deputies in ScotlandNovember 4, 2016

Lets start with what we know. 1

This scatterplot shows the elementary schools in a state arrayed by percentage of students who receive free and reduced-price lunch on the x-axis and achievement on the y-axis. Its a pretty typical pattern Im sure youve seen many such scatterplots. It shows that in general, as poverty increases academic achievement decreases.2

Now You Poll

What are the most powerful explanations for this correlation?

Lets start with what we know. 3

Look at this graph againand notice something differentit shows a few schools clearly performing above their peers.They are in a district and have pretty much the same kind of teachers, resources, standards, assessments, as other schools in the state.

They are what I CALL UNEXPECTED SCHOOLS because they are not expected to be high performing.4

Is there something we can learn from those and otherUnexpected Schools?

2011 THE EDUCATION TRUST

All the schools we will talk about today are all regular neighborhood schools there are no magnet schools or exam schools. And they are all in the upper-right quadrant of their states. Some are way up in the corner of the upper right quadrant. I have called them unexpected schools. For example

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George Hall Elementary SchoolMobile, Alabama444 students in grades preK-5

- 99 % African American- 99% Low-Income

Source: Alabama Department of Education

Source:

Karin:George Hall Elementary is in Maysville, a very low-income neighborhood in Mobile, Alabama. In 2004 it was considered a failing school, with chaotic discipline, angry parents, and demoralized teachers.6

Grade 5 ReadingSAT 10 results

Alabama Department of Education

Source:

For many years Alabama gave the SAT-10, a national norm-referenced test. You can see here that all students in Alabama were slightly above the norm (which is 50%); black students in Alabama are significantly below that, and the yellow line shows that in 2004 students at George Hall were significantly below black students in Alabama in fifth-grade reading. In 2004 Terri Tomlinson became principal, and lets see what happened.7



Source:

Here you can see the results of SAT-10, a national norm-referenced test that shows that all students in Alabama are slightly above the norm (which is 50%); black students in Alabama are significantly below that, and the yellow line shows that in 2004 students at George Hall were significantly below black students in Alabama in fifth-grade reading. Six years later, you can see that George Halls students are well above the national norm in reading8



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Grade 5 MathSAT 10 results


and at the top of the country in math.

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Graham Road Elementary SchoolFalls Church, Virginia356 students in grades K-6

13% Black16% Asian64% Latino81% Low-Income51% English language learnersFairfax County School Profiles

Source:

The next Unexpected School I want to tell you about is that of my colleague Molly Bensinger-Lacy. 16

17Graham Road Elementary School

Graham Road Elementary SchoolSource: Virginia Department of EducationNote: In 2008, 98% of Graham Road 6th graders were proficient in reading.

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Fairfax County Public Schools, VirginiaMathematics Pass Rate & School Poverty, 2007-08

GRAHAM ROAD ESAll Students = 97% Pass/Pass AdvancedHispanic = 95% Pass/Pass Advanced

Total % Students Passing% of Students Qualifying for Free/Reduced MealsGraham Road Elementary SchoolSource: Fairfax County Public School System

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I have spent more than ten years trying to identify and learn from schools like George Hall and Graham Road.

Poll

Where does your school fall?

Just for fun. Remember this is all anonymous. 21

Briefly:Unexpected schools share twenty-five characteristics, ranging from They establish an atmosphere of respect to They are nice places to work. 2007


In 2007 we published Its Being Done which profiled 15 schools and one group of schools that were all either high performing or rapidly improving and had significant populations of students of color or students from low-income families.

Educators told me that I hadnt given enough detail about how the schools achieved their successes.22

Briefly:

Unexpected Schools share five processes:They focus on what kids need to learn;They collaborate on how to teach it;They assess frequently;They study data to find patterns in instruction; They systematically build relationships.2009


So in 2009 we published HOW It Being Done with profiles of eight high-performing schools.23

Lets get a quick sense of what each of those mean.

#1 Focus on what students need to learn

That may be obvious, but American classrooms have been plagued in the past by a lack of clarity of goals and a tradition of autonomy which has led to teacher isolation, hobby teaching, and too often an emphasis on skills at the expense of content.

To ensure that their students learn everything needed, schools will often map out their instruction East Millsboro Elementary School

George Hall Elementary School

But even more pointedly , Unexpected Schools tackle head on the problem that a great deal of research has identified as being one of the key issues for children from low-income families smaller vocabularies and background knowledge. Some of them dont start out by emphasizing the systematic building of a knowledge base, but they usually develop an understanding that that is what their students need.30

George Hall Elementary School

Ricardo LeBlanc-Esparza, principalFort Logan Elementary School, Colorado

End at second 35.32

#2 Collaborate on how to teach what children need to learn

Port Chester Middle School

The education paradox:

Teachers are the most important in-school factor for student achievement.

BUT

No one teacher can be sufficiently expert in the content, the curriculum, pedagogy, and the students to teach all things to all children.

Atul Gawandes from cowboys to pit crews34

Only by working together to pool their knowledge and expertise can teachers be successful with all the students all the time.Ware Elementary School

#3 Assess frequently to see if students are learningFrequent assessment is nothing new in classrooms, but these schools use frequent formative assessment not to give a grade but to see if students are learning what they need to know and to let the teachers know what they are doing that is working and not working.

East Millsboro Elementary School

Norfork Elementary School

P.S./M.S. 124 Queens

#4 Use data to inform instruction

Graham Road Elementary

Scariest slide Laura Robbins and the most powerful conversation there is in a school.40

#5 Build personal relationships of trustGranger High School

This can take the form of daily advisory periods

Granger High School

morning meetingsFort Logan Elementary School

hugging

Bethune Elementary School

teachers working individually with students

University Park Campus School

groups of students

Imperial High School

and each other.

Norfork Elementary School

Students working together

and school leaders working with mentors.

Garfield Prep

In all of these relationships the idea is that people are helping others to do more and better. To believe in themselves and learn what they need to do to achieve their goals.49

Jason Allen, social studies teacher, Elmont Memorial High School

Heres a teacher talking about how that works. He is an example of a school being at this work long enough that it can start hiring its graduates. Jason Allen was a student at Elmont Memorial High School and when he was a student he was coached by John Capozzi, who later hired him as a social studies teacher. And this is what he had to say when I asked him about the importance of relationships.50

The need to improve the culture, climate, and interpersonal relationships in schools has received too little attention.

These were the processes that I observed in what Im calling unexpected schools. And it turns out unsurprisingly -- that each of those processes has a very strong research base. Im just going to mention four lines of research. This, which grows out of an intense research focus on Chicago public schools by some top researchers, supports the idea that schools should pay close attention to relationships.

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Background knowledge takes a central role rather abruptly as reading shifts from being mostly about decoding from kindergarten through second grade to being mostly about comprehension in third grade and beyond. One consequence is that kids who dont have very rich background knowledge often those from impoverished homes start to struggle with reading in third or fourth grade, even though they had been doing fine up to that point.

This, which grows out of more than a century of cognitive science research, supports a careful focus on the systematic building of vocabulary and background knowledge. A new book aimed at educators with all the relevant research will be out early next year.52

The key question is whether teaching can shift from an immature to a mature profession, from opinions to evidence, from subjective judgments and personal contact to critique of judgments.

And I presume most of you are familiar with Visible Learning.

A meta analysis of 800 meta analysesIncluded~250,000,000 studentsRanked 138 influences from most to least effective in raising academic achievement:CurriculaHomeStudentsTeachersStudy is so significant because of its huge size and because of the credibility of the researcher.

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EFFECT SIZE: A measure of the strength of a factor on achievementEffect SizeMeaning1.0Associated with improving achievement by 2-3 years0.4The hinge point at which we judge success of all innovations. 0.2-0.4Average of what teachers normally achieve in a year0.00Indicates no influence on achievement

John Hattie, Visible Learning

Molly:Use chart to explain effect size.

Hattie says virtually everything works. One only needs a pulse and we can improve achievement. But the amount of improvement varies widely depending on the factor.

So lets take a first look as some common influences.

Background for Molly:An effect size of d = 1.0 indicates an increase of one standard deviation on the outcome in this case the outcome is student achievement. A one standard deviation increase is typically associated with advancing childrens achievement by two to three years or improving the rate of learning by 50%. When implementing a new program, an effect size of 1.0 would mean that, on average, students receiving that treatment would exceed 84% of students not receiving that treatment.

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Effect Size Factor0.93Teachers working together to evaluate their impact on student learning0.72Teachers getting maximum feedback from others about their effect on student learning

What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise:John Hattie, June 2015John Hattie, https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com/files/hattie/150526_ExpertiseWEB_V1.pdf

Karin: this is what Ive seen and Hatties research backs it upRemember: 0.57 Home Environment 0.57 SES

0.72Teachers getting maximum feedback from others about their effect on student learning

Karin: Remember: 0.57 Home Environment 0.57 SES

0.72Teachers getting maximum feedback from others about their effect on student learning

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Effect Size Factor0.93Teachers working together to evaluate their impact on student learning0.72Teachers getting maximum feedback from others about their effect on student learning0.57Home environment and socio-economic status0.23Finances0.21Lowering class size

What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise:John Hattie, June 2015John Hattie, https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com/files/hattie/150526_ExpertiseWEB_V1.pdf

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Questions so far?

No poll57


So this kind of sums up the five processes that I identified in HOW Its Being Done.58

But how do teachers in unexpected schools learn to work in these ways?

At the end of HOW Its Being Done I said that leadership seems to be important.

2012THE EDUCATION TRUST

This, too, is backed up by considerable research.


Lets see what we know about school leadership.61

- Sir Michael Rutter, reflecting in 2002 on 15,000 Hours, his 1979 study of a dozen non-selective secondary schools an economically depressed part of London. (emphasis added)The overall school organization or management features that stand out include good leadership that provides strategic vision, staff participation with a shared vision and goals, appropriate rewards for collegial collaborative working, attendance to staff needs and rewards, and effective home-school partnership.


How many of you are familiar with this study?

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-Source: Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom & Anderson (2010). Learning from leadership: Investigating the links to improved student learning. The Wallace Foundation: www.wallacefoundation.org. Leadership is necessary to improve schools.

Conclusion from a 6-year study in 9 states, 45 districts and 180 schools:To date, we have not found a single case of a school improving its student achievement record in the absence of talented leadership.

More recently - Schools need strong leaders and in the absence of leadership improving student achievement is nearly impossible to achieve.

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The effect of leaders is second only to teachers.

The total (direct and indirect) effects of leadership on student learning account for about a 1/4 of total school effects. Source: Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson and Wahlstrom. (2004). How leadership influences student learning. The Wallace Foundation: www.wallacefoundation.org.


I would argue that this actually underrates the importance of leaders because.64

Leadership attracts and retains teachers.

Although a wide range of working conditions matter to teachers, principal leadership is key.

Source: Ingersoll, Richard (2001) Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: An Organizational Analysis, American Education Research Journal


Karin

We know that good teachers, when they can, flee bad and ineffective principals and flock to good ones.65

So leaders are important.

But what is it leaders DO that is so important?


Karin66

Getting It Done was a study of 33 principals (including 3 assistant principals) in 24 high-performing and rapidly improving schools with large percentages of students of color and students from low-income families.2011


Getting It Done (2011) was the first attempt to systematically marshal the experience of unexpected schools to better understand effective leadership.

* 33 principals (including 3 assistant principals)24 schools with student achievement results that are at least similar to middle-class schools. Some are at the top of their states.Schools of all levels (63% elementary), sizes (~200-2000) and locales (54% urban). Average free and reduced price lunch: 75% Average minority student enrollment: 73%

Rigorous criteria, observation and vetting67

www.chaos-math.org/en


The metaphor that I have come up with is that when there is a powerful teacher a powerful team a powerful school a powerful district we tend to call them islands of excellence, outliers, or positive deviants.68

www.enchgallery.com


KarinI would contend that knowledgeable and skillfull leadership can make excellence part of a pattern.

Fractal patterns are infinitely complex that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop.

It is leaders who help create those fractal patterns.

Those fractal patterns begin with beliefs.


One of the major things we found was that ALL the Unexpected School principals share common beliefs. But before I tell you about those beliefs I want to ask you about yours.

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Poll

What are your beliefs?

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Instead of telling you what the unexpected school leaders believe, Im going to let them speak for themselves.

Karin:And then Im going to ask you to summarize their beliefs.72

-Molly Bensinger-Lacy, former principal Graham Road Elementary SchoolFairfax County, VirginiaThrough my teaching experiences, I learned that my students were capable of learning just about anything I was capable of teaching.


This is the second school I showed you. In four years Molly Bensinger-Lacy took what was one of the lowest achieving schools in Virginia to one of the highest achieving schools in the state73

--Von Sheppard, principal, Daytons Bluff Achievement Plus Elementary SchoolSt. Paul, MinnesotaIt is so important to dispel the myth that these children cant learn to high standards. Theres a belief system out there that theyre not as smart as white kids. Were on a mission to conquer every myth and every test.

Von took what was widely regarded as the worst school in St. Paul possibly the worst and most chaotic school in Minnesota to being an average-achieving school for the state (which is quite a high-achieving state) with no change in demographics. When he left the demographics changed and it underwent some turmoil, but happily it seems to have settled down again.74

Ricardo LeBlanc-Esparza, former principalGranger High School

Before he led an elementary schoolRicardo Esparza led huge improvement in his high-poverty high school in the Yakima Valley of Washington. 90 % qualified for free/reduced price meals and Very few of their parents had graduated from high school

Graduation rates:On arrival: about 30 %On departure: 7 years ago, 80 %.

Heres what Richard says about his driving beliefs.75

Bonnie Hess, principal, Chadwick Elementary, Baltimore County, Maryland

Bonnie Hess was not included in the Getting It Done study, but she fits right in with the others. Chadwicks student population is mostly low-income and more or less evenly divided between African American and new immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East. It was recognized with Ed Trusts Dispelling the Myth award in 2013 as one of the highest achieving schools in Maryland.76

"Many people say all children can learn. Well, that's true. But a parakeet can learn, too. We look for people who believe that children can excel.-- Jeffrey Litt, founding principal and superintendent of the Icahn Charter Schools in New York City


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Teachers have to believe that they can teach all children.

-- Sharon Brittingham, former principal Frankford Elementary School Indian River School District, Delaware


Sharon became principal of a school that was one of the lowest performing in the state of DE

By the time she left, it had been one of the top performing schools in the state for years.78

Dan St. Louis, principal, University Park Campus School, Worcester, Massachusetts

BEFORE SHOW THE VIDEO

University Park Campus School is a grade 7 through 12 school in Worcester, Massachusetts that is quite high-poverty, and has been high achieving for many years. It was recognized with Ed Trusts Dispelling the Myth award in 2005, and Dan is the third principal since then, demonstrating that high achievement can be sustained with the right leadership.

When I visited last year, Mr. St. Louis was telling me that the 8th-graders were a difficult group, and I thought I would show you what he said.79

If we are in education, it is incumbent on us to make sure we are living up to the American Dream and the promise of public education.

-- Frank Lozier, principal Laurel Street ElementaryCompton, CaliforniaLaurel Street Elementary School

High-poverty Laurel Elementary became

a California Distinguished School under

Frank Loziers leadership.

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-- Craig Gfeller, assistant superintendent, Prince William County Public Schoolsand former principal West Gate Elementary School Prince William County, VirginiaThe route for poor children out of poverty is us.


Craig took West Gate Elementary from one of the lowest performing schools in the state to one named by his district as a School of Excellence when he was tapped to be a district leader.81

At Your Table

Agree on a summary of the beliefs held by unexpected school leaders

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Please Share Out

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This is how I formulate their beliefs though as many of you have identified, there are other beliefs embedded in there.

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Although people may differ in every which way in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

And of course there is a rich research base for these beliefs as well heres just one citation.85

Its one thing to have these beliefs, but how do Unexpected School leaders institutionalize them?86

Karin:AND Its one thing to have these beliefs, but how do Unexpected School leaders institutionalize these beliefs? 86

One way is that the leaders never miss an opportunity to witness and honor the struggle, but then immediately counter the problem or the popular belief and look for solutions.

KARINSimple but not easy. For example, If a teacher raises a question about whether the students are capable, they immediately turn the conversation to what the teacher can do to make a difference at school.

They never let a comment, no matter how casual, go by in which a staff member voices an opinion that either the Ss cant do it or in some way the Ss ability to succeed is out of the schools control:

I agree that Juan would probably be making better progress in learning to read if his parents would read to him. Its frustrating bc his parents seem to be caught up in their own personal drama instead of making sure that he does his HW. AND we are the only ones who can level the field for Juan right now. Since we have no control over his home life, Lets focus on what can we do during the hours we have him here at school. Remember that you have more direct time with him here at school then his night-shift parents do. What would U think abt having the RT do a thorough assessment of his reading skills & comp and see if we use his instructional time more efficiently? Also, how many minutes per day does he get of reading instruction? Does he have a HS mentor who could read to him? If not maybe someone in the office would volunteer to do so couple Xs per week. Other ideas?

2. I agree that Janette seems to have no motivation to do well in her classes. And we know what a girls life chances are when she drops out after 9th grade. Lets brainstorm ways to get her back on track. What do you need from me?

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Terri Tomlinson, former principal, George Hall Elementary School

Poll

What are the beliefs of your teachers and staff members?

89

Making Beliefs Visible

90BELIEFSTRATEGYACTION BY UNEXPECTED SCHOOL LEADERSMY ACTIONSBuild belief that all students can meet or exceed standardsAcknowledge reality and move on to other realities.Share examples of schools, departments, or grade-level teams beating the odds with targeted groups.Celebrate small successes while keeping the more rigorous end goal in mind for each student. Insist that we focus on only those factors over which the school has significant control.Make culture one of excellenceCelebrate significant progress and achievement in gatherings, publications and visual displays.Highlight the accomplishments of departments, grade-level teams or individuals able to support all students to make significant academic gains. Expect continuous improvement for all studentslowest to highest achieving. Model high expectations and continuous improvement for self.Challenge enrichment/elective teachers and support staff to set and achieve goals of excellence.Distinguish excellence from mediocrity.

MAKING BELIEFS VISIBLEINSTRUCTIONS: How do you establish/maintain beliefs about high expectations and teachers power to change lives? List one action you already take and one from the middle column that you plan to add to your repertoire:

Now You-Making Beliefs Visible:This is an opportunity to go from words to actions.

This form is divided into three sections by the gray bars on the left corresponding to the three basic beliefs that the kids can do it, that the teachers can do it, and that the work is urgent. Each of those sections has a basic strategy and then a few actions that I have seen taken by unexpected school leaders.

Work with the others at your table to think about what you already do to make your beliefs visible to others in your school and what more you might think about doing such as adapting one of the ideas from an Unexpected School.

After you work at your table, Im going to ask folks to share out some of the things you do and some of the things you think might be helpful to try.90

Please Share Out

What seems to you be a useful practice? What doesnt? Why? What might work in some schools but not yours why?91

Time for a break?

During the break any questions?

poll93

Let's Get This Started!

(start at second 50)

PUT ON AS PARTICIPANTS ARE RETURNING FROM LUNCH

So we left off talking about how to institutionalize beliefs. 95

Instilling beliefs are key to the culture shift you need in a school.

96These beliefs give you as Ed Leaders the persistence in the face of failures/pushbacks. If you dont believe you can be successful it is simply impossible to put in the necessary work.

But beliefs are not enough.

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Beliefs mean nothing if you dont know how to build a master schedule.

-- Conrad Lopes, former principal Jack Britt High School Fayetteville, North Carolina


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In other words, unexpected school leaders organize the school around the belief that all children can learn


What do I mean by that?99

But each of those things require systems to underlie them.

What weve already seen a little bit of that in terms of institutionalizing beliefs. But unexpected school leaders cant wait until everyone believes they change systems and processes and as teachers see more success their beliefs often follow.

We wont have time to go through all the systems. But lets talk about a couple.

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M. Hall Stanton ElementaryPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania487 students, K-6

African American: 99%

Low Income: 99%Source: https://sdp-webprod.phila.k12.pa.us/school_profiles/servlet/

Let me introduce you to another school. M. Hall Stanton Elementary101

M. Hall Stanton Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), 2002 Grade 5 ReadingPennsylvania Department of Education, 2002-2009

Source:

These were the most vulnerable children in the community and because there was no belief they could learn, the children had taken ownership of that. The principal was incompetent and the teachers closed themselves in their rooms Attendance was not good. Parents were out of control....The school was dirty, it was not child-centered, it certainly wasnt safe.--Barbara Adderley

So with that, where was Barbara to start?103

You always start with the data.

--Barbara Adderley, former principal M. Hall Stanton Elementary

What data?Walkthrough observations of classroomsReading dataMath dataState assessment dataAttendance and discipline dataStudent work

You might have different data that you would look at, but this is a good start.

Before she even walked in the building she went to the central office to look at the attendance of the teachers and staff. She saw that some were there just about all the time; others missed a lot of Mondays. Two teachers had exemplary attendance and when she observed their classrooms she saw they were excellent teachers. By studying the data, she saw that overall the teachers didnt have the knowledge and skill to teach either reading or math. She made the two teachers with exemplary attendance her math and reading coaches and sent them to every training she could, training they brought back to the building. She formulated her plan for professional development.

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Data used to determine PD:Walk-through observations of classroomsReading dataMath dataState assessment dataAttendance and discipline dataStudent workEach grade level met 1x per week with principal and coaches during planning period.Each academy met 7:30 -9:30 a.m. every two months in a different teachers room for breakfast, book study, and sharing of best practices (coverage of classes and stipends were provided).Whole school met 1x a week for professional development (early dismissal of students).New teachers met every Tuesday 7:30-9 a.m. with principal and coaches to discuss pedagogy and math and literacy content (stipends provided).Additional staff development provided Saturday morning (stipends provided).

Professional development at Stanton

Some of our children live in pretty dire circumstances. But we cant dwell on that, because we cant change it. So when we come here, we have to dwell on that which is going to move our kids.

--Barbara Adderley, former principal,M. Hall Stanton Elementary, Philadelphia

M. Hall Stanton Grade 5 Reading Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA),

Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2002-2009

Source:

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M. Hall Stanton Grade 5 Reading Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA),

Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2002-2009

Source:

Now that Ive heartened you and made you feel hopeful, let me tell you that Barbara left Stanton in the middle of the 2006-7 school year and instead of appointing one of the people she had trained and developed, people who were steeped in the culture and the systems, the district made someone from the outside principal, and she undid all the systems Barbara had put in place the data meetings, the professional development everything. The school hemorrhaged staff and quickly dropped. It was closed in, I think, 2011.109

schedules

You saw that part of what Barbara was doing was developing the capacity of teachers and staff. Her initial work was very directive, but it all aimed at building leadership capacity to, among other things, study data. But if school leaders are going to do that, they need systems to support it. The first is ensuring that teachers have the time to build that capacity. 110

SchedulesK1st2nd3rd4th5th6th8:30OpeningOpeningOpeningOpeningOpeningOpeningOpening8:358:40MorningMorningMorningMorningMorningMorningMorning8:45Meeting /Meeting /Meeting /Meeting /Meeting /Meeting /Meeting /8:50Calendar MathCalendar MathCalendar MathCalendar MathCalendar MathCalendar MathCalendar Math8:55BlockBlockBlockBlockBlockBlockBlock9:00LANGUAGEMATHLANGUAGEMATHENRICH-MENTSS/SCILANGUAGE9:05ARTSSpEd IAARTSFlahertyARTS9:10AhmedREADINGGinsbergWeinerC9:15SwiftParkerMalton9:20MutispaughHammel, WeinerE9:259:309:359:409:45SS/SCI9:50Brain Break9:5510:00SS/SCIENRICH-MENT10:05WRITING10:10Ahmed--Recess10:1510:20HarrisHarris--10:25Lang. Play forextend on daysLang. Play for10:30M, T, W 30 minw/o 60 min ofR, F 30 min10:35enrichmentAhmed-WilsonLANGUAGE10:40ENRICH-MENT(2nd/3rd)ARTS10:45READINGMATH10:50SwiftRecessFlaherty10:55Hammel, E. WeinerC. Weiner11:00LunchParkerRecess11:0511:1011:15RecessLunch11:2011:25Lunch11:3011:35WRITING, WS11:40LunchENRICHMENTParker11:4511:50LunchLANGUAGE11:55ARTS12:00Writing, WSLunch12:0512:10MATH12:15Flaherty12:20SS/SCISS/SCIWeinerC12:2512:30Recess12:35LunchRecess12:4012:4512:50READING12:55Malton1:00ENRICHMENTLANGUAGEHammel, WeinerELANGUAGE1:05ARTSAhmed-CRSARTS1:10Harris 1-2(4th and 5th)WRITING, WS1:15Note: On ThursMurtispaughWeinerC1:20enrichment doesRecessSS/SCI1:25not fall exactlySS/SCIParker1:30into this block1:351:401:45READING1:50MATHMATHMalton1:55MurtispaughFlahertyHammel, WeinerE2:00MATHGinsberg2:05Ahmed2:102:152:20ENRICH-MENTENRICH-MENT2:252:302:352:402:452:502:553:00NOTE: coaches may be coaching or teaching

Which brings us to schedules.Schedules are about making sure every student and every teacher has a place to be at all times during the school is a puzzle. If you get all the pieces to fit, its a bit of a triumph. But master schedules can support teaching and learning or undermine it

Unexpected School leaders make sure their master schedules support instruction and they either build the schedules themselves or monitor it very closely. Some principals in the United States leave building the schedule to the specials teachers that is, the art, music, and p.e. teachers to build. What happens then is that, often, classroom instructional blocks are interrupted by kids going to art, music, or p.e. and by teachers not having the collaborative time they need.

Almost every unexpected leader I know reorganized the master schedule almost immediately.

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Graham Road Elementary SchoolFalls Church, Virginia356 students in grades K-6

13% Black16% Asian64% Latino81% Low-Income51% English language learnersFairfax County School Profiles

Source:

Lets talk a little more about Graham Road, which was the second school I showed you. When Molly Bensinger-Lacy arrived as principal in 2001 it was one of the lowest performing schools in Virginia.112

Constructing the Master Schedule at Graham Road

When she got there she found a school where the master schedule had been developed by the specials teachers the art, music, and p.e. teachers. That isnt uncommon in elementary schools, which often have to share those teachers with other schools. But it made for a very disrupted instructional program that didnt permit the teachers to collaborate together.

Molly:Requirements for master scheduleUninterrupted 120 min. blocks for ELA and 80 min. for Math Team common planning 60-80 minutes 2 times per week within school day.ELA and math blocks scheduled across the day so that resource teachers could be serving only one grade level at a time.Often required negotiation with cafeteria staff, bus drivers, transportation department.Karin:Add comments:Dont assume that these schedules can NEVER be changed.

This is why food services and transportation office must understand what happens in high performing schools and be wiling to work with others to make adjustments.

But even that master schedule didnt permit the grade-level teachers to meet together with the reading or math specialist, special educators, or the English-language teacher who focused on those students who were learning English.

So Molly Bensinger-Lacy essentially invented another hour. In exchange for teachers being able to leave 15 minutes early one day a week they agreed to arrive 15 minutes early one day a week and meet for 70 minutes, through the 30 minutes they would normally prepare for the day and the first 25 minutes of class.

THIS WAS ALL ABOUT SCHEDULING AND SYSTEMS IN ORDER FOR IT TO WORK!

IT WAS Mollys job TO CREATE THE SYSTEMS THAT WOULD ALLOW FOR COLLABORATION TO HAPPEN.

Who would cover the classroom Ts classes, 8:30-9:00? 2-4 classes per dayWhat would be done during those 30 minutes? Who would make the plans for those 30 minutes each week?Who would to be on duty at arrival timecrossing, cafeteria, halls, gym? Usu. used assistants and non classroom teachers.Who would sub for duty or coverage when someone was absent?Master schedule had to change couldnt begin music, art, PE, etc. classes until 9 a.m. bc those teachers were covering classes. We did it and was popular with all but 1 Ts.

Many school leaders would have simply said it was impossible. But for Molly, the research demonstrated that this kind of collaboration was key to improvement so she made it happen.

114Molly: Remind of having seen this slide before. Describe early ELA mtngs:How often: One time per weekWho: Everyone who taught/coached ELA @ a gr. level How long: 80 min. at beginning of day: 7:50-9:00 10 min bf contract time + the 1st hr of the official school day. Students in breakfast or in gym 8:00-8:30. Students report to classroom 8:30. Someone had to cover for each classroom Ts 1 time per week.Ts. Could leave 10 min. early at end of day to compensate. Worked bc of student schedule15 min bf Ts.

schedulesDiscussion protocols

But once the schedule allows for teachers to study data together, there need to be some way to ensure that the time they have to collaborate doesnt get sidetracked into questions of discipline, or complaints, or logistics. And thats where its helpful to have systems guiding discussions.115

Graham Road Elementary School

So, for example lets look at this again.

They were looking at the data to compare across classrooms in order to find patterns.

When the teachers saw how many blue kids there were in January (meaning they had already met EOY benchmarks) the K teachers decide that perhaps students werent being challenged enough. After studying BOY requirements for 1st grade reading, they realized their instructional goals needed to be more rigorous in order for their students to have a solid chance of succeeding in 1st grade.

For the students marked in red they had to come up with a different plan. 116

Like other It was my job to say these are the most important things. Not field trip logistics, not individual discipline problems.-- Molly Bensinger-Lacy, former principalGraham Road Elementary School

Karin117

cause

Action Plan:

causecausecause

causecause

Adapted from root cause graphic attributed to Kaoru Ishikawa, K. (1986). Guide to Quality Control. Protocols

118This is one possible protocol there are a lot of ways to do this, but having a protocol routinizes the form of discussion both so that all voices can be heard and participants can focus on the substance of the discussionFish bone is a cause-effect diagram to help brainstorm and solve issue or issues.

cause

Action Plan: Assign each of new students to a classroom buddy who has demonstrated excellent school citizenship to help them acculturate; principal meet with parents to discuss importance of school attendance; Pair new teacher with a teacher who is highly skilled at developing classroom routines; set aside 20 minutes per day for intervention with each of the six students, providing direct instruction of colors, numbers, etc. Revisit in two weeks.

Our Challenge6 students who have not mastered any of the objectives colors, numbers, shapes, etc.

causecausecause

causecauseFour students brand new to school who have never attended school beforeWe missed a week of school due to weather events

One of the teachers is new and hasnt mastered classroom managementStudents have received little direct instruction on shapes, colors, lettersParents dont help them at homeSome are chronically absent

Adapted from root cause graphic attributed to Kaoru Ishikawa, K. (1986). Guide to Quality Control.

119This is one possible protocol there are a lot of ways to do this, but having a protocol routinizes the form of discussion so that participants can focus on the substanceFish bone is a cause-effect diagram to help brainstorm and solve issue or issues.

Go thru the graphic

Action Plan revisit in two weeks.

Karin: What happens if it doesnt work?

Molly: We have to come up with a new plan based on a further analysis of root causes.

Molly I tried to add another circle on mr. scott but couldnt get the order right and maybe we talked ourselves out of that?

The point of discussion protocols is to make sure that data is used to identify the good, the bad and the ugly. Other points to note: Data is shared publiclyData is used to observe the effect of changes and:Avoid personal preferencesMake professional judgmentsStudying data is not about shaming but helping staff to be evaluative and creating a system that can identify problems and fix them.

This is, at root, the scientific method.

But note There are very difficult waters to tread:There is tedium involved in continually gathering and reviewing data it takes perseveranceThis process challenges teachers autonomy This process requires directly confronting the weakness of a teachers skill not to shame but to get that teacher the help needed.Some of the solutions that emerge might run antithetical to the favorite practices of teachers.

schedulesScientific methodDiscussion protocols

So those are some of the systems underlying one process each of the processes requires systems to underlie them.

IF THERES TIME, DO FOCUS ON LEARNING if NOT, SKIP TO slide 156 There are systems within systems within systems.

123

Whats another example of systems underlying a process?

schedules

Lets look at another focusing on what kids need to know. Teachers need time to focus on this question, so that means you know the schedule.125

126Reading (continued)EarlyFirstSecondThirdFourthUnderstanding, analysing and evaluating investigating and/or appreciating fiction and non-fiction texts with increasingly complex ideas, structures and specialist vocabulary for different purposesTo help me understand stories and other texts, I ask questions and link what I am learning with what I already know.LIT 0-07a / LIT 0-16a / ENG 0-17aTo show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can identify and consider the purpose and main ideas of a text.LIT 1-16aTo show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can identify and consider the purpose and main ideas of a text and use supporting detail.LIT 2-16aTo show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can:identify and consider the purpose, main concerns or concepts and use supporting detail make inferences from key statementsidentify and discuss similarities and differences between different types of text.LIT 3-16aTo show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can:clearly state the purpose, main concerns, concepts or arguments and use supporting detail make inferences from key statements and state these accurately in my own words compare and contrast different types of text.LIT 4-16aTo show my understanding, I can respond to different kinds of questions and other close reading tasks and I am learning to create some questions of my own.ENG 1-17a To show my understanding, I can respond to literal, inferential and evaluative questions and other close reading tasks and can create different kinds of questions of my own. ENG 2-17aTo show my understanding, I can comment, with evidence, on the content and form of short and extended texts, and respond to literal, inferential and evaluative questions and other types of close reading tasks. ENG 3-17aTo show my understanding, I can give detailed, evaluative comments, with evidence, on the content and form of short and extended texts, and respond to different kinds of questions and other types of close reading tasks. ENG 4-17a

I looked at your Curriculum for Excellence for the the experiences and outcomes in Literacy and English that it expects.126

SecondTo show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can identify and consider the purpose and main ideas of a text and use supporting detail.LIT 2-16aTo show my understanding, I can respond to literal, inferential and evaluative questions and other close reading tasks and can create different kinds of questions of my own. ENG 2-17a

What struck me is that this is rather a broad goal.127

Poll

How closely has your school focused on what students need to learn?(Literacy and English)

128

schedulesSystem to develop agreement on what kids need to knowSystem to develop agreement on how students will demonstrate knowledge

So you can see that there are a bunch of systems that need to be in place for a school to focus on what kids need. But there is another system needed --

129

schedulesAgreement on what kids need to knowAgreement on how students will demonstrate knowledgeMonitoring and support

What do I mean by monitoring and support? Lets look at another school for an example.

130

Elmont Memorial High SchoolElmont, New York1,739 students in grades 7-12

76% African American14% Latino9% Asian1% White44% Economically DisadvantagedNew York State Department of Education,2016

Source:

Let me give you a sense of what I mean by a system of monitoring and support. All unexpected schools have systems of observing classroom instruction and using those observations to think about how to support teachers, but Elmont Memorial High Schools is perhaps the most sophisticated and explicit. I include it because you can read a book about it as well Diane Scricca and Albert Coppola, Supportive Supervision, Corwin Books.131

New York State Department of Education, 2016

Source:

132

New York State Department of Education, 2016

Source:

Elmont Observation System

at one point in the lesson you took a sub-standard response that was not elaborated on.You admitted that, in the interest of time, you took the response and moved forward with the lesson. As we discussed, setting standards and having students meet those standards includes the proper responses..

KarinHeres just a little example from Elmont Memorial High School that gives an idea of the willingness to distinguish between mediocrity and excellence and talk about it explicitly but professionally.

135

Diane Scricca, former principal, Elmont Memorial High School

Only by working together to pool their knowledge and expertise can teachers be successful with all the students all the time.137

PollDoes your school have a system to monitor whether all students are held to high standards and provided support?

Karin

Growth is hard, and growth has a lot of stumbling blocks along the way.

-- Beth John, superintendentPass Christian School District, Mississippi138

138

Youre never done. If you think youve arrived, its time to leave.- John Capozzi, former principalElmont Memorial High School



If there is half an hour left do next few slides otherwise, skip to 149 systems within systems140

Systems of respect (discipline)

If time141

Discipline is all about building relationships.- Vincent Romano, principalMalverne High School

Malverne High School

How kids function is an absolute consequence of how adults function.

-- Deb Gustafson, principalWare Elementary

143

Karin (MAKE SHORTER)

Deb Gustafson took over Ware Elementary after it was named one of the lowest performing schools in Kansas. The first time she walked through the doors in July, 2001, she was hit with the stench of urine. She walked into her new office, sat down, and cried.

And a filthy building and low achievement were just part of the package she had inherited. Suspensions the previous year were through the roof, student and teacher absences frequent, and formal grievances were both substantive and petty. The climate of the school was one of disrespect and disorder and expectations of the students were extremely low.

At Debs first faculty meeting she told me she told the teachers that they would never be written up i.e. disciplined for anything except one thing: expressing disrespect for students. That disrespect could come in the form of yelling, sarcasm, or snide comments. The teachers bristled they said they were only responding to the disrespect shown them. And Deb said and has repeated many, many times since How kids function is an absolute consequence of how adults function.

What she meant by that was that it is the adults, not the students, who set the culture and climate of a school,

Deb knew, however, that the default mechanism for many teachers is sarcasm. It is the classic control system of the classroom, so she did a lot of training in to help teachers develop new ways to relate to students. She used Love and Logic in the Classroom, which she thought important and useful, but she is the first to say that it isnt about the program. Its about creating systems to ensure that students and teachers -- feel cared about that they belong to a community and their abilities are respected.

Source: Ware Elementary School

Karin:Ware serves the children of infantry troops on Fort Riley, and so it has a mobility rate that is often 60 percent a year. So building relationships has to be done quickly and systematically. As soon as a new student arrives he or she is assigned student ambassadors who are trained to help explain Wares culture and who are automatic companions for those first few weeks of lunches and recesses.

Partly because the school is on an army base it also has a high turnover of teachers as well. They, too, are assigned teacher ambassadors who acculturate them and make them feel welcome.

In other words, these things are not left to chance.

One secondary school had a rule that every student in every class needed to be called on every day. This was to ensure that those quiet kids didnt just slip through junior high school with no one noticing them.

Another requires that teachers greet every student as they come through the door.

144

The point is that they have

SYSTEMS

to ensure that students and teachers feel themselves to be valued members of the community.

The principal and I would go on the playground and I would see a lone African American student playing by themselves. Id ask the principal, Look out on the playground, what do you see? Theyd look and look in frustration trying to figure out what lesson I was trying to teach them, but just couldnt see that student who was right in front of them, sad and playing by themselves.Students need a sense of belonging and the principal and teacher must [create it].-- Von Sheppard, former assistant superintendentMinneapolis, Minnesota, and Boulder, Colorado(also former principal, Daytons Bluff Elementary School)

Every level of leadership should be concerned about the question of relationships and culture.146

Optional if have time146

Systems of respectSystems of support

It is when kids and teachers are having a difficult time, however, when the systems really kick in. Each school has some system in which it pays focused attention on what individual students who are struggling need. Sometimes they need a mentor who can be anyone in the school, from the maintenance staff to the librarian to check in on them daily and provide whatever support they need. Sometimes they need help keeping organized, sometimes they need help learning how to ask the teacher for extra help. Sometimes they need to see a social worker or counselor. Different schools have different services available to them, but the schools do whatever they can. 147

Please note that the systems are where the schools differ. They all have systems that underlie these processes, but the systems are slightly different to fit their individual contexts. But it is in these systesms 148

There are systems within systems within systems.

Sergio Garcia, principal, Artesia High School


So you can see every process needs to be supported by systems and every system needs to be monitored.149

It is through these systems that leaders can help transform islands of excellenceinto patterns of excellence.

150

Which is to say -- 150

PLANNING FOR THE 5 ELEMENTS Focus on what students need to learn and for which they will be held accountableCollaborate on ways to teach so that most students get itAssess as a team which students get it and need to move on and which students need additional help; make plans for each group of studentsCollaboratively study data to find patterns in instruction and student performanceHave school-wide systems to build personal relationships that develop the trust needed to teach and learnWhat systems do we have in place to ensure we do this?(i.e. weekly meetings; quarterly retreats; regular reviews or reports of student data, etc.)What evidence (research or data) supports our practices? Has student achievement improved with our current practices?If no: what should we stop and start doing?If yes: How could what we do be strengthened?(Maybe borrow an idea from an Unexpected School)

Planning Next Steps


So lets take a few minutes to look at this. This is a planning sheet Molly Bensinger-Lacy and I developed to help school leaders think about the systems they have in place and develop plans for their next steps. One side has sections for the systems you have in place, what research supports them, and an assessment of whether student achievement has improved with the current practices. The other side has specific actions you plan on taking when you get back to your school about institutionalizing beliefs in the abilities of students and to build the systems to support the processes of focusing on instruction and building strong supportive relationships.

It is easy to come to a workshop and leave fired up and ready to go, but if you write down your intention and post it up on your wall, that will help keep your focus.

10 minutes? Longer? Judge from time.

Molly likes to say that you have to do everything but you can start anywhere. And you dont have to be perfect. You just have to start. If you have the right systems in place you will catch errors and mistakes and be able to fix them in your next cycle. You might even start by deciding to simply lead a book study of Carol Dwecks work, or Daniel Willinghams, or John Hatties to see if what you are doing is supported by a solid core of evidence or to find out that, in fact, your practices are only weakly substantiated and that other practices might give you better traction on the issues you are dealing with.

151

Share Out

152

153To return to our original question

Is there something we can learn from those and otherunexpected schools?

Clearly I think the answer is a resounding yes. The folks in these schools have figured out how to marshal the power of schools to help all students. Honestly, they operate at a much higher level than most low-poverty schools, which tend to rely heavily on the social capital their students bring with them.

This is sophisticated work and requires highly skilled and knowledgeable school leaders who have the courage to lead the processes that will help all children learn and the skill to build the systems to support them. 154

Coming in early 2017:

You can read much more about unexpected schools in these books.

Im going to end with a short video of unexpected school leaders talking about how they think about their work. The backdrop is Bethune Elementary School which is a high-poverty school in New Orleans. The leaders were at a meeting in New Orleans that included a site visit to Bethune and youll also see the principal of Bethune.155

Unexpected School Leaders

But I will leave you with a video recently made by The Education Trust when it brought together a few of the elementary school Dispelling the Myth leaders.

The school shown is Bethune Elementary in New Orleans--very high poverty --has been high achieving for years. And was recognized with the Dispelling the Myth award in 2010.

Only by working together to pool their knowledge and expertise can teachers be successful with all the students all the time.157

PollPlease tell me what you think about this presentation.

Karin

Bonus slides

Lets talk about the elephant in the room

159

Karin159

It all adds up to about 60 hours a week a little more for high school principals; a little less for primary school principalsSource: Principals time, tasks, and professional development: An analysis of Schools and Staffing Survey data, Northeast and Island Regional Educational Laboratory, IES, 2016. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northeast/pdf/REL_2017201.pdf

Legal compliance Managing business/community partnersManaging parent relationshipsProfessional development and faculty meetingsGathering and organizing dataResponding to the central officeSchool improvement plansState auditsAttending meetingsAfter-school activities and sportsCelebrations and recognition eventsMaster schedulesArrival/Dismissal duty schedulesAttendance systemBudgets SuppliesHiring staffSupervising/disciplining staffEnsuring a safe & clean environment Establishing school-wide routinesDiscipline and school culture Managing crisesThe school leader to-do listIn the Getting It Done study we found that all of the principals considered themselves to be instructional leaders but no matter how you define the job, principals and district leaders -- still have buildings to manage, which includes:

161

Karin:Thats all very well and good but Molly and I came up with this list that school and district leaders have to do or supervise that on the surface dont appear to have much to do with instruction.161

Anyone tired just thinking about that list?

Karin:

1. By putting instruction at the center of their managerial functions.

163

Molly: But what does this answer mean?

In other words:

In every one of the managerial functions a principal has, instruction can be secondary or primary. Unexpected School leaders make it primary.

In this way they build the systems necessary to support the instructional program.

Molly: You have a choice abt how u view managerial functions

But conceiving as all functions as instruction, school leaders build systems that support, not impede, the instructional program.

Small example: 1 school scheduled a fire drill for 1st month of school at exactly the same time on the same dayResult: no art instruction for first mo of school and no ELA PLC for 1 grade-level team.

Even supply management is related.165

2. They build capacity and distribute leadership among teachers and staff.

Its not my job to run the building. Its everyones job.

-- Diane Scricca, former principalElmont Memorial High School166

How can school leaders get all this work done?166

Centennial Place Elementary SchoolExample: Distributed leadership

167

Karin

Centennial Place had three leadership teams:

Grade-level chairs Responsible for communication and logistics across school would meet with principal 7:30 a.m. every Thursday, bringing any concerns from their grade level and then disseminating information back.

Design TeamResponsible for curriculum and instruction and leading collaborative planning activities.

3. School Improvement Council Responsible for all matters related to school climate and culture 168

KarinIn order to distribute leadership, leaders might need to develop capacity, and sometimes that means that things dont get done perfectly.

168

In other words, there is a lot of leadership to go around.

Note: Unexpected School principals do NOT make or approve all decisions too many decisions need to be made, and waiting for principal approval would tie a school up in knots, incapable of moving forward.

169

MollyReiterate whats on the slide.If you have the same beliefs and have agreed on big, action plans, then you have to let go!

I dont make any decisions without my team. I tell them what I see and ask what they think.

- Mary Haynes-Smith, principal Bethune Elementary School, New Orleans

Karin

Unexpected Schools distribute leadership among as large a group as possible.

Sometimes that means things dont get done perfectly but with these kinds of systems, errors are caught and corrected and not allowed to fester.

Schools do not stumble into excellence; they are led there by people who know what theyre doing.

171

Karin

That doesnt mean they dont make mistakes. They make plenty of mistakes. But because they are constantly monitoring and reflecting, they correct their mistakes.

Analytically, improvement research entails getting down into the micro details as to how any proposed set of changes is actually supposed to improve outcomes. Unfortunately, such careful on-the-ground systems thinking rarely characterizes most educational reforms. Typically, a reform's logic of action is vague and almost always underspecified. When such reforms are scrutinized closely, zones of wishful thinkinggaps in understanding, questionable assumptions about causes and effects and tacit beliefs of the form and then something good will happenregularly abound.


Molly: This point is made relentlessly by none other than Tony Bryk, one of educations most prominent, rigorous, and respected researchers, in his latest work as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Karin: What he and his team are saying here is that really improving systems requires really understanding what is being proposed and done that is, the micro details, or what Richard Elmore called the technical core. For ex., researchers have told us for least the past 40 years that teacher collaboration is the mark of schools successful with all kinds of students. But the details of what to discuss and how to collaborate are typically underspecified and thus, open to wide and conflicting interpretations at the teacher, principal, consultant, district and/or state level.

As a result, there are plenty of places where teachers say, We collaborate and its a total waste of time.

172

173Master class

How kids function is an absolute consequence of how adults function.

-- Deb Gustafson, principalWare Elementary

174

Karin (MAKE SHORTER)

Deb Gustafson took over Ware Elementary after it was named one of the lowest performing schools in Kansas. The first time she walked through the doors in July, 2001, she was hit with the stench of urine. She walked into her new office, sat down, and cried.

And a filthy building and low achievement were just part of the package she had inherited. Suspensions the previous year were through the roof, student and teacher absences frequent, and formal grievances were both substantive and petty. The climate of the school was one of disrespect and disorder and expectations of the students were extremely low.

At Debs first faculty meeting she told me she told the teachers that they would never be written up i.e. disciplined for anything except one thing: expressing disrespect for students. That disrespect could come in the form of yelling, sarcasm, or snide comments. The teachers bristled they said they were only responding to the disrespect shown them. And Deb said and has repeated many, many times since How kids function is an absolute consequence of how adults function.

What she meant by that was that it is the adults, not the students, who set the culture and climate of a school,

Deb knew, however, that the default mechanism for many teachers is sarcasm. It is the classic control system of the classroom, so she did a lot of training in to help teachers develop new ways to relate to students. She used Love and Logic in the Classroom, which she thought important and useful, and we have included it in the bibliography, but she is the first to say that it isnt about the program. Its about creating systems to ensure that students and teachers -- feel cared about that they belong to a community and their abilities are respected.

So, as an example from Ware Elementary

Heres how the folks at Graham Road Elementary thought about formative assessment:

A team-constructed COMMON ASSESMENT:

Requires everyone to analyze & arrive at a common understanding of the objective.

Strengthens teacher expertise and eliminates the educational lottery.

Establishes ownership for student performance. There are no surprises on the common assessment.Slide used by Graham Road Elementary School team at Education Trust national conference, 2009

175Cant separate use of data from assessment. Almost all of our assessment is used to formativelythat is to improve teaching

Of course, some of the same instruments maybe used summatively, as well.

Weve found the most powerful of assessment is the team-constructed CA. Have district data but not tailored to our needs.

Usually team constructs CA at beginning of unit on for example, Fractions or Cause and Effect in Reading, to establish what they want students to know & be able to do.

The way to improve reading comprehension is to improve the childs background knowledge.Note: Dan Willingham has a new book coming in 2017 that will include much more research and will be more of a resource for educators.

This, which grows out of more than a century of cognitive science research, supports a careful focus on the systematic building of vocabulary and background knowledge.176

The major purpose of assessment in schools should be to provide interpretative information to teachers and school leaders about their impact on students, so that these educators have the best information possible about what steps to take with instruction and how they need to change and adapt.-- John Hattie Education Week, October 27, 2015

177

Effect SizeFactor1.44Student self-assessment and self grading0.73Accurate feedback to and from teachers

What does research say about assessment?0.57Home Environment0.57SES

John Hattie, Visible Learning

MOLLYHattieHattie (in his 138 factors ranked from most-least effective in raising Ss achieves) incorporates assessment under feedback. Could be his way of saying that assessment is useless if not used as feedback for better teaching & learning.

Hattie includes the following into feedback:FB TO teachers FROM students as to how well they have done in teaching a concept (Assess data) FB TO teachers FROM colleagues and administrators. PLC data comparison, peer/admin obs reportsFB TO students FROM usu. Teachers.

An assessment/resulting data is most powerful when a student knows the learning targethow close his/her performance has come to the target the next step necessary to meet the target. This is what Susan Burkhart calls feedback that feeds forward. That kind of feedback gives everyone hope and shows the next concrete step t take.

Note the cf power via the slide: Ranks # of the list of 138 influences. 178

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K A R I N C H E N O W E T H

HOW EDUCATORS MARSHAL THE POWER OF SYSTEMS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Schools Succeed

that

AHDS Annual Conference 2016 - Karin Chenoweth

Education

Transcript of AHDS Annual Conference 2016 - Karin Chenoweth