leadership for raising achievement and narrowing gaps in...

Leadership for Raising Achievement

and Narrowing Gaps in Henrico County

Ronald F. Ferguson, PhD

Harvard University

and the Tripod Project for School Improvement

August 9, 2012

The Achievement Gap Initiative At Harvard University

Toward Excellence with Equity

Henrico County Public Schools Gap Closing Strategies

Build Student Self-Efficacy

Build Relationships

Make Learning Relevant

Teach Information Processing

Imagine that five years from now these strategies are deeply engrained norms, lived

out routinely in the district’s culture and lifestyle. If one student attended school in

the district during the 2011-12 school year and another attend five years later, what

would not have changed, because the district already did these things well enough

in 2011-12? What might be different? What learning experiences would be less

common in the latter period? More common? What annual rituals might there be to

help sustain the new norms? Briefly discuss.

Content Knowledge

Pedagogic Skill Relationship-Building Skills

The Tripod

Content Knowledge (Henrico: Make Learning Relevant)

Pedagogic Skill Relationship-Building Skills (Henrico: Teach Info Processing) (Henrico: Build Relationships)

The Tripod

M o v e m e n t

G o a l s

Strategies

Policies

Programs

Projects

Principles

Practices

Henrico County Movement for Excellence with Equity (Each column pertains to the strategy listed at the top.)

GOALS Students believe that they have the capacity to

excel

Stakeholders support and

value one another’s success

Students become more

ambitious about learning

Students understand

how to learn challenging

material

STRATEGIES: Build student efficacy

Build relationships

Make learning relevant

Teach information processing

POLICIES: Human resources are assigned to support this strategy

Human resources are assigned to support this strategy



PROGRAMS:

Discuss examples Discuss examples Discuss examples Discuss examples

PROJECTS:


PRINCIPLES:


PRACTICES: Discuss examples Discuss examples Discuss examples Discuss examples

Why do we care about a student’s sense of efficacy?

Measuring Efficacy

• I’m certain I can master the skills taught in this class.

• I have been able to figure out the most difficult work in this class.

• I can do almost all the work in this class if I don’t give up.

-0.30 -0.25 -0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00

Feels Anxiety in Class

Fails to Persist

Misbehaves in Class

Feels Socially Insecurity

Avoids Help

Holds Back Effort

Hides Effort

Negative engagement correlations with student reports of efficacy in the surveyed classroom [Summary?]

(Tripod data from secondary schools across the U.S.)

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50

Feels Happy to be in Class

Seeks Help if Needed

Satisfied with Performance

Mastery Oriented

Exerts High Effort

Positive engagement correlations with student reports of efficacy in the surveyed classroom [Summary?]


What can principals and district-level officials do to influence the development of efficacy in students with whom they never interact?

Promote school-based experiences that:

Build Relationships Make Learning Relevant

Teach Information Processing

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45

Challenge

Consolidate

Confer

Clarify

TEACH INFORMATION PROCESSING

Captivate

MAKE LEARNING RELEVANT

Control

Care

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

Correlations

7C's correlations with student reports of efficacy regarding the surveyed classroom


The Seven C’s What Teachers Do (What Students Experience)

1. Caring about students (Encouragement and Emotional Support)

2. Captivating students (Learning seems Interesting and Relevant

3. Conferring with students (Students Sense their Ideas are Respected)

4. Clarifying lessons (Success Seems Feasible)

5. Consolidating knowledge (Ideas get Connected and Integrated) 1. Controlling behavior (Culture of Cooperation and Peer Support)

2. Challenging students (Press for Effort, Perseverance and Rigor)

SUPPORT

PRESS

Which is the strongest predictor of value added test score gains?

High expectations teaching – if my teacher believes in me, maybe I should too! What practices predict agreement with the statement: “My teacher seems to believe in my ability?” See the next slide.

7C’s items for which students’ responses are highly correlated with:

“My teacher seems to believe in my ability.” (N=from the National Tripod Project Data Archive)

7C’s Categories

Care The teacher in this class shows that he/she will help me succeed in class.

Care The teacher in this class encourages me to do my best.

Care My teacher in this class treats me with respect.

Care My teacher knows me well.

Care My teacher really tries to understand how students feel about things.

Control (Structure) This class is organized in a way that helps students learn.

Clarify When I am confused, my teacher knows how to help me understand.

Clarify Lessons in this class are well organized.

Clarify My teacher explains difficult things clearly.

Clarify If a student does not understand something, my teacher explains it another way

Clarify My teacher has several good ways to explain each topic that we cover.

Clarify In this class, we learn to correct our mistakes.

Challenge (re: Rigor) My teacher pushes me to become a better thinker.

Challenge (re: Perseverance) In this class, when you get things wrong, you keep trying until you learn them.

Challenge (re: Perseverance) My teacher doesn’t let people give up when the work gets hard.

Captivate The things we study in this class seem worth learning.

Captivate My teacher makes lessons interesting

Confer My teacher respects my ideas and suggestions.

Confer My teacher gives us time to explain our ideas.

Confer My teacher encourages us to share ideas with one another in class

Consolidate My teacher checks to make sure we understand what s/he is teaching us.

Student engagement items for which responses are highly correlated with:

“My teacher seems to believe in my ability.” (N=from the National Tripod Project Data Archive)

Engagement Category

Cooperation I care about pleasing my teacher in this class.

Cooperation For this class, I try hard to be on time and not to be absent.

Cooperation My behavior in this class is good.

Efficacy The way my teacher treats me makes me feel smart.

Efficacy This class makes me a better thinker

Efficacy I feel smart when I am in this class.

Efficacy I’m certain I can master the skills taught in this class.

Efficacy Even if the work in this class is hard, I can learn it.

Efficacy I can do almost all the work in this class if I don’t give up.

Help Seeking I would ask the teacher for help, if I needed it.

Help Seeking I don’t mind asking questions in this class if I need to.

Mastery Orientation In this class, it is important to me to thoroughly understand my class work.

Mastery Orientation I think a lot in this class.

Mastery Orientation I do a lot of thinking about what I am trying to learn.

Mastery Orientation When doing schoolwork for this class, I try to learn as much as I can and I don't worry about

how long it takes.

Satisfaction This class is a happy place for me to be.

Satisfaction I am happy with how well I have done in this class.

Satisfaction I am satisfied with what I have achieved in this class.

Sense of Social Fit I feel respected in this class.

Sense of Social Fit My classmates like me the way I am.

Developing healthy dispositions and experiencing a high quality of life in school: classrooms that rate higher on the Seven C’s also rate higher on:

Happiness in class

Good behavior in class

Healthy responses to social pressures

(e.g., less holding back, hiding effort, help avoidance)

Academic engagement/effort

Satisfaction with performance and progress

How much do classrooms differ with regard to the Seven C’s?

19

A composite 7C inter-classroom index was formed by combining all seven of the indices—i.e., Cares, Controls, Clarifies, Challenges, Captivates, Confers and Consolidates—into one composite number. Then, the composite index was used to rank classrooms into instructional quality deciles, quintiles or quartiles.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Seven C's Deciles for the Classroom Composite Index

Percentage agreement with items in the Seven C's Composite Index, by decile of the index and GPA level.

(1260 secondary school classrooms in an urban school district.)

GPA_D

GPA_C

GPA_B

GPA_A

Average percentage agreement with items in Seven C's indices, for two middle schools in a rural district.

(Each bar represents one classroom.)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Math (20 classes) English (20 classes) Science (18 classes) SocStudies (9 classes)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Classroom average levels of agreement with Seven C's items in four urban middle schools.

(Each dot represents a classroom with between 10 and 50 students.)

School A School B School C School D Means=52.6 Mean=49.8 Mean=46.7 Mean=46.0

How about Kindergarten, 1 and 2?

7C’s Favorability Percentages by grade level for more than 3000 early elementary school classrooms.

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0

Consolidate

Confer

Clarify

Care

Captivate

Control

Challenge

Second First Kindergarten

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Consolidate

Confer

Clarify

Care

Captivate

Control

Challenge

Composite

Early elementary 7C's favorability percentages at the classroom level, by deciles of the composite distribution for over 3,000 classrooms.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Percentage agreement with items in the composite Seven C's index for 244 urban elementary classrooms, by

grade. Each of the 244 bars represents a classroom.

GRADE: K 1ST Gr. 2nd Gr. 3rd Gr. 4th Gr. 5th Gr.

A Use Case District and School Analysis

• District level leaders review results of the 7Cs analysis across all schools in the district

• School level leaders review results of the 7Cs analysis across classrooms in their schools

• District and school level leaders use these data to focus professional development strategies and to monitor the impact of school improvement efforts

http://reporting.qualtrics.com/Tripod.php

Care Clarify Captivate Consolidate Control Challenge Confer Mean

1 35 29 47 58 40 35 48 42

2 36 26 48 60 42 34 48 42

3 31 27 54 53 44 37 50 42

4 40 31 49 58 42 36 47 43

5 38 39 48 52 40 43 44 43

6 39 32 49 53 42 43 47 44

7 38 40 48 55 40 43 50 45

8 33 42 48 57 49 40 48 45

9 39 40 47 56 42 43 49 45

10 36 42 51 57 48 36 47 45

11 37 43 50 55 46 44 47 46

12 37 45 49 54 45 46 46 46

13 39 34 51 62 47 41 51 47

14 37 49 50 54 47 44 46 47

15 43 39 49 56 44 46 50 47

16 38 43 52 57 45 43 51 47

17 43 32 50 62 45 45 54 47

18 45 29 53 64 46 44 53 48

19 41 45 52 58 45 43 49 48

20 39 30 55 65 50 41 56 48

21 44 31 52 64 51 41 55 48

22 43 32 57 65 50 40 54 49

23 43 36 54 60 50 49 53 49

24 40 40 59 65 49 42 53 50

25 41 48 54 59 47 48 53 50

26 44 32 57 65 52 45 57 50

27 46 32 56 66 52 44 56 50

28 44 44 54 62 48 45 56 51

29 46 33 55 68 54 45 56 51

30 53 32 53 66 51 47 55 51

31 44 46 53 61 50 49 56 51

32 45 34 57 66 53 46 58 51

33 47 44 55 61 49 48 55 51

34 48 35 52 63 58 48 56 51

35 46 32 56 71 51 48 61 52

36 43 39 60 66 56 45 58 52

37 40 51 58 66 55 45 53 52

38 47 36 61 70 55 46 58 53

39 51 37 58 67 56 50 61 54

40 51 38 58 68 63 49 61 55

41 54 33 57 71 56 54 63 56

42 50 42 65 73 53 48 61 56

43 49 48 60 75 44 54 63 56

44 51 42 64 72 56 47 62 56

45 54 38 62 72 59 51 63 57

46 57 30 63 76 60 51 69 58

47 59 40 65 75 61 56 70 61

48 63 41 68 79 70 59 71 64

>= 75%

60 to 74% 50-59%

40-49% 25-39%

< 25%

District: Percent favorable, by school, for each Seven C’s category. (Each line is one of 48 secondary schools in one urban school district.)


1 35 29 47 58 40 35 48 42

2 36 26 48 60 42 34 48 42

3 31 27 54 53 44 37 50 42

4 40 31 49 58 42 36 47 43

5 38 39 48 52 40 43 44 43

6 39 32 49 53 42 43 47 44

7 38 40 48 55 40 43 50 45

8 33 42 48 57 49 40 48 45

9 39 40 47 56 42 43 49 45

10 36 42 51 57 48 36 47 45

11 37 43 50 55 46 44 47 46

12 37 45 49 54 45 46 46 46

13 39 34 51 62 47 41 51 47

14 37 49 50 54 47 44 46 47

15 43 39 49 56 44 46 50 47

16 38 43 52 57 45 43 51 47

17 43 32 50 62 45 45 54 47

18 45 29 53 64 46 44 53 48

19 41 45 52 58 45 43 49 48

20 39 30 55 65 50 41 56 48

21 44 31 52 64 51 41 55 48

22 43 32 57 65 50 40 54 49

23 43 36 54 60 50 49 53 49

24 40 40 59 65 49 42 53 50

25 41 48 54 59 47 48 53 50

26 44 32 57 65 52 45 57 50

27 46 32 56 66 52 44 56 50

28 44 44 54 62 48 45 56 51

29 46 33 55 68 54 45 56 51

30 53 32 53 66 51 47 55 51

31 44 46 53 61 50 49 56 51

32 45 34 57 66 53 46 58 51

33 47 44 55 61 49 48 55 51

34 48 35 52 63 58 48 56 51

35 46 32 56 71 51 48 61 52

36 43 39 60 66 56 45 58 52

37 40 51 58 66 55 45 53 52

38 47 36 61 70 55 46 58 53

39 51 37 58 67 56 50 61 54

40 51 38 58 68 63 49 61 55

41 54 33 57 71 56 54 63 56

42 50 42 65 73 53 48 61 56

43 49 48 60 75 44 54 63 56

44 51 42 64 72 56 47 62 56

45 54 38 62 72 59 51 63 57

46 57 30 63 76 60 51 69 58

47 59 40 65 75 61 56 70 61

48 63 41 68 79 70 59 71 64

>= 75%

60 to 74% 50-59%

40-49% 25-39%

< 25%

Line 1 is for the lowest rated high school: See the next slide.

Each row shows the percent favorable responses for a classroom in the

lowest rated high school. (Classes with at least 10 respondents)


13 23 18 23 23 17 20 20

13 15 28 29 13 21 23 20

8 28 22 27 18 26 13 20

6 40 22 31 19 8 31 22

4 15 21 28 26 33 36 23

25 23 29 39 28 28 35 29

24 19 35 50 16 36 38 31

21 24 35 45 37 26 35 32

33 26 28 42 35 37 39 34

32 25 37 49 39 45 42 38

35 35 39 42 44 41 36 39

33 41 38 43 54 37 33 40

38 32 40 45 45 47 36 41

41 32 48 47 40 38 40 41

45 21 42 53 30 44 52 41

25 50 53 47 32 51 40 43

33 42 57 51 44 40 31 43

33 29 61 64 43 41 43 45

41 44 59 67 32 46 53 49

38 29 58 67 47 50 62 50

47 57 57 60 33 55 48 51

45 42 58 65 50 56 52 52

55 42 58 63 64 49 61 56

57 61 71 68 48 61 59 61

64 55 65 73 64 64 57 63

67 76 68 70 64 59 56 66

71 73 82 83 64 66 67 •72

>= 75% 60 to 74%

50-59% 40-49% 25-39%

< 25%


1 35 29 47 58 40 35 48 42

2 36 26 48 60 42 34 48 42

3 31 27 54 53 44 37 50 42

4 40 31 49 58 42 36 47 43

5 38 39 48 52 40 43 44 43

6 39 32 49 53 42 43 47 44

7 38 40 48 55 40 43 50 45

8 33 42 48 57 49 40 48 45

9 39 40 47 56 42 43 49 45

10 36 42 51 57 48 36 47 45

11 37 43 50 55 46 44 47 46

12 37 45 49 54 45 46 46 46

13 39 34 51 62 47 41 51 47

14 37 49 50 54 47 44 46 47

15 43 39 49 56 44 46 50 47

16 38 43 52 57 45 43 51 47

17 43 32 50 62 45 45 54 47

18 45 29 53 64 46 44 53 48

19 41 45 52 58 45 43 49 48

20 39 30 55 65 50 41 56 48

21 44 31 52 64 51 41 55 48

22 43 32 57 65 50 40 54 49

23 43 36 54 60 50 49 53 49

24 40 40 59 65 49 42 53 50

25 41 48 54 59 47 48 53 50

26 44 32 57 65 52 45 57 50

27 46 32 56 66 52 44 56 50

28 44 44 54 62 48 45 56 51

29 46 33 55 68 54 45 56 51

30 53 32 53 66 51 47 55 51

31 44 46 53 61 50 49 56 51

32 45 34 57 66 53 46 58 51

33 47 44 55 61 49 48 55 51

34 48 35 52 63 58 48 56 51

35 46 32 56 71 51 48 61 52

36 43 39 60 66 56 45 58 52

37 40 51 58 66 55 45 53 52

38 47 36 61 70 55 46 58 53

39 51 37 58 67 56 50 61 54

40 51 38 58 68 63 49 61 55

41 54 33 57 71 56 54 63 56

42 50 42 65 73 53 48 61 56

43 49 48 60 75 44 54 63 56

44 51 42 64 72 56 47 62 56

45 54 38 62 72 59 51 63 57

46 57 30 63 76 60 51 69 58

47 59 40 65 75 61 56 70 61

48 63 41 68 79 70 59 71 64

>= 75%

60 to 74% 50-59%

40-49% 25-39%

< 25%

Line 48 shows the highest rated high school: See the next slide.

>= 75% 60 to 74%

50-59%

40-49%

25-39% < 25%

Each row shows the percent favorable responses for a classroom in the

highest rated high school. (Classes with at least 10 respondents) Care Clarify Captivate Consolidate

Control Challenge Confer Mean 18 30 26 32 23 26 27 26

15 24 22 35 25 46 27 28

22 25 26 35 37 32 41 31

32 34 23 56 43 31 42 37

29 34 32 60 31 32 42 37

31 37 34 55 29 42 46 39

40 32 40 47 40 39 39 40

32 28 40 45 34 53 59 42

32 23 43 70 34 46 58 44

33 38 47 51 59 52 54 48

38 30 56 63 56 41 56 49

38 58 59 78 24 40 58 51

46 65 62 51 60 42 48 53

63 45 58 68 40 54 55 55

73 30 76 73 43 65 55 59

64 60 62 66 61 60 55 61

39 68 66 71 59 53 75 62

39 60 72 78 71 63 77 66

42 54 65 83 84 64 77 67

56 74 79 70 77 58 85 71

67 82 73 80 75 68 66 73

67 76 75 77 65 70 83 73

71 65 78 78 69 80 80 75

77 80 78 85 83 70 80 79

Some findings from the Gates Foundation Measures of Effective Teaching Project, concerning how strongly the 7C’s predict learning.

Predicted differences in months of learning for classrooms at the 25th versus 75th percentiles of the composite Seven C’s distribution for the MET sample.

(Estimated using surveys from one class and gains from another class, taught by the same teacher.)

Using student survey responses in one section to predict learning gains in another.

Predicted difference per school year*

On state math tests 4.8 months

On the Balanced Assessment in Math 3.7 months

On state English Language Arts (ELA) tests 2.3 months

On the Stanford 9 Open Ended ELA 2.9 months

*Based on Table 9, p. 26: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, “Learning about Teaching: Initial findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project.” December 2010.

Which of the 7C’s do you guess most strongly predicts how much students learn?

From the MET middle school math classrooms, Top 6 Correlations with Value-Added Test Score Gains:

Survey Statement Category Rank

1

2

3

4

5

• Students in this class treat the teacher with respect

• My classmates behave the way my teacher wants them to

Control

Control

Control • Our class stays busy and doesn’t waste time

Challenge • In this class, we learn a lot every day

Challenge • In this class, we learn to correct our mistakes

6 Clarify • My teacher explains difficult things clearly.

Based on Appendix Table 1: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, “Learning about Teaching: Initial findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project.” December 2010, p. 34.

Mathematics

Simple Teacher-Level Correlations between 7C’s Student Perceptions and Value-Added Gains in Math on State Accountability Exams.*

Grade: Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Elementary Secondary

7C’s Composite

0.23* 0.12* 0.35* 0.24* 0.30* 0.17* 0.30*

Care 0.18* 0.09 0.26* 0.25* 0.17* 0.14* 0.23*

Control 0.20* 0.18* 0.40* 0.23* 0.39* 0.19* 0.34*

Clarify 0.19* 0.16* 0.34* 0.20* 0.27* 0.17* 0.27*

Challenge 0.26* 0.15* 0.32* 0.25* 0.32* 0.21* 0.29*

Captivate 0.10* 0.05 0.30* 0.17* 0.30* 0.08* 0.25*

Confer 0.19* 0.08 0.29* 0.18* 0.20* 0.13* 0.23*

Consolidate 0.16* -0.01 0.29* 0.24* 0.28* 0.07 0.26*

N Teachers 377 379 367 305 288 756 960

* indicates statistical significance at the 0.05 level or better.

English Language Arts

Simple Teacher-Level Correlations between 7C’s Student Perceptions and Value-Added Gains in ELA on State Accountability Exams.*

Grade: Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Elementary Secondary

7C’s Composite

0.19* 0.17* 0.30* 0.21* 0.05 0.17* 0.20*

Care 0.14* 0.08 0.20* 0.14* 0.03 0.10 0.14*

Control 0.17* 0.25* 0.27* 0.25* 0.05 0.21* 0.20*

Clarify 0.15* 0.13* 0.25* 0.22* 0.08 0.14* 0.19*

Challenge 0.20* 0.24* 0.37* 0.22* 0.07 0.22* 0.24*

Captivate 0.13* 0.08 0.19* 0.18* 0.07 0.10* 0.15*

Confer 0.13* 0.09 0.27* 0.11 -0.03 0.11* 0.14*

Consolidate 0.14* 0.10 0.30* 0.21* 0.07 0.12* 0.21*

N Teachers 399 407 411 367 308 806 1086

* indicates statistical significance at the 0.05 level or better.

Takeaways?

How do the 7C’s matter? How much do they vary within and across schools?

How might race matter?

Who are: John Orozco? Gabby Douglas?

How have their performances over the past week

been different?

What is stereotype anxiety? How might it matter here in Henrico County?

What is encouragement? Three-part answer (from students):

1. They know that you’ve got what it takes to be successful and they won’t be satisfied with less than your best effort.

2. They welcome the opportunity to help you if needed, but they respect your ability to do many things without their help.

3. Their satisfaction and happiness are greatest when I am most successful; how happy they are at the end of the day depends in part upon how successful I have been during the day.

Genuine encouragement reduces stereotype anxiety.

Cultural Responsiveness and the Seven C’s of Effective Teaching

1. Care: I express caring to every student, being especially sure to not neglect students from any racial, ethnic or social class background. I try to be self conscious of my biases and to avoid allowing them to affect my interaction with students.

2. Control: I try to understand students’ interpretations of the actions that I take for classroom management and I use disciplinary practices that fit and make sense to them.

3. Clarify: I try to understand and respond to any systematic patterns of misunderstanding characteristic of students who have had particular life experiences.

4. Challenge: I challenge all students to think rigorously and to persist in the face of difficulty; I don’t give up on anyone and I don’t let anyone give up on them self.

5. Captivate: I make an effort to use curriculum materials and to design lessons that will be interesting and relevant to students from a variety of backgrounds. I make a special effort to pay homage in my lessons and curriculum to the contributions of people from the groups represented in my class.

6. Confer: I elicit and value the classroom contributions of students from all racial, ethnic, social class and cultural backgrounds.

7. Consolidate: I help my students to build integrated understandings of the material that we cover in my class. I am conscious of the fact that my students are building their individual identities and life strategies and I help them to integrate our lessons with their own ideas so that they come away with more complete and coherent understandings of their current and future selves and the contributions they may make to their families, community and society.

Ron Ferguson, the Tripod Project, July 2011

Leadership for Improvement

Items on the next page come from a survey

of teachers in an urban school district. All

predict which schools achieve larger

achievement gains, but some of the items

are stronger predictors than others. They

are ranked from the least to the most

powerful, except for a cluster of four items

in the wrong place in the order. Which

cluster of four do you think it is? And,

should that cluster be higher or lower in

the order?

1. I understand what my role is in helping the school to improve.

2.

I collaborate with other teachers to achieve consistency on how we assess student work.

3. Teachers here feel responsible that ALL students learn.

4.

The district's curriculum I'm responsible to teach is instructionally well conceived.

5. Teachers here feel responsible that ALL students learn.

6. This school sets high standards for academic performance.

7. Teachers here hold one another accountable for working hard.

8. School leaders push teachers to deliver excellent teaching.

9. The school culture here makes everyone feel obligated to teach well.

Ranked 1-20 from least to most important, except that a cluster of 4 is out of place.

(continued on the next slide)

10.

I understand what our school is trying to achieve with professional development.

11. Our school has distributed leadership; school staff share responsibility. 12.

The professional climate at our district demands that the adults be learners.

13. Our school improvement goals are clear. 14.

Our school's improvement strategy seems well aligned with the district's strategy.

15.

Discipline at this school is handled consistently from classroom to classroom.

16. Our principal has confidence in the expertise of the teachers.

17. The professional development at our school is coherent.

18. Teachers at this school trust each other. 19.

There is continuity in our school improvement agenda from one year to the next.

20. Our school leaders communicate clearly about priorities.

The numbers on the next two slides show

the differences in percentages of teachers

agreeing with each listed statement in

highest quartile of achievement-gain

schools, minus percentages agreeing with

the same items in lowest quartile of

achievement-gain schools.

How do statements on the second slide

differ in content from those on the first?

I understand what my role is in helping the school to improve.

I collaborate with other teachers to achieve consistency on how we assess student work.

Teachers here feel responsible that ALL students learn.

The district's curriculum I'm responsible to teach is instructionally well conceived.

Teachers here feel responsible that ALL students learn.

I understand what our school is trying to achieve with professional development.

Our school has distributed leadership; school staff share responsibility.

The professional climate at our district demands that the adults be learners.

Our school improvement goals are clear.

Our school's improvement strategy seems well aligned with the district's strategy.

[PLACEHOLDER]

15

16

17

17

17

18

20

20

21

23

46

Discipline at this school is handled consistently from classroom to classroom.

Our principal has confidence in the expertise of the teachers.

The professional development at our school is coherent.

Teachers at this school trust each other.

There is continuity in our school improvement agenda from one year to the …

Our school leaders communicate clearly about priorities.

This school sets high standards for academic performance.

Teachers here hold one another accountable for working hard.

School leaders push teachers to deliver excellent teaching.

The school culture here makes everyone feel obligated to teach well.

27

27

30

32

33

34

35

38

39

46

Five Steps Schools Took

Toward Becoming Exemplary

1. Key people accepted responsibility to lead the change

2. Declared the purposes of the work in mission statements

that focused on a few key ideas and priorities that

stakeholders could understand and embrace

3. Designed strategies, plans, tools and tactics for broadly

inclusive adult learning of ways to help students learn

4. Developed and refined quality standards for judging both

teacher and student work

5. Skillfully and relentlessly implemented and monitored

plans and strategies, attending persistently and explicitly

to achieving and maintaining quality

Six Fears

1. Fear of wasting time and energy. Organizers might not follow

through on new agendas or if the ideas embedded in those agendas

might not be worth pursuing.

2. Fear of losing autonomy. New agendas might require activities,

materials or methods that differ from what the teacher would prefer.

3. Fear of experiencing incompetence when trying new things. New

agendas might require learning skills or behaviors that are difficult to

adopt successfully.

4. Fear of becoming socially isolated. Cooperating with new agendas

might require behaviors that valued colleagues would find

objectionable (e.g., “sucking up to the principal”).

5. Fear of unpleasant surprises. New agendas increase uncertainty.

6. Fear of harder work. Complying with new agendas might require

much higher than previous levels of effort.

Resistance

Four Trust Questions

that we ask about one another:

1. Can I trust your motives?

2. Can I trust you to be competent?

3. Can I trust you to be dependable?

4. Can I trust you to respect me and

my colleagues?

Providing young people with a

high quality education is a

fundamentally moral

proposition around which the

most effective schools appear

to be organized.

Marian Brooks

• Marian Brooks of Cambridge Education

emphasized that featured speakers talked

explicitly about a moral obligation to

children as a foundation for the work. In

her words, “There are some strands of

beliefs—some real values in here—that

are common to all of these people we

heard. Teaching is a moral proposition,

that's what we heard very strongly.”

James Connell

• James Connell of the Institute for

Research and Reform in Education

pointed out that leadership teams used

their influence to insist effectively upon

broad participation, saying: “We heard

about equity, that everybody's got to play.

All the adults have to play, not just some

of the adults have to play.”

Richard Murnane

• Richard Murnane of the Harvard Graduate

School of Education pointed out that placing

such demands on staff invokes tensions, and

that leaders at featured schools did not shy

away. They had: “A willingness to have these

difficult conversations, a term we heard again

and again, and developing the capacity to

have them in a constructive way.”

Karen Chenoweth

• And, Karen Chenoweth of the Education Trust pointed out that when leaders are able to get others to act, broadly shared expectations of success are not necessary at the outset: “Several schools talked about something very profound -- that you don't have to start with everybody believing that success is possible, you have to start with somebody believing it, but as the successes build, the beliefs will build that successes are possible.”

Failure to

Implement

40

28 27

18

6 5 3

4236

29 31

10 8 8

0

10

20

30

40

50

Elementary Secondary

It was just too much, on top of everything else the school was trying to do.

There was too little support and training.

Teachers were not held accountable for doing it.

The way it was introduced didn't inspire me to try.

I never thought it could work with my students.

I really tried to make it work, but it just didn't help my students.

Doing it well would have been too much work.

Which items on the list below do you expect

were the most common reasons that teachers

gave for failing to implement professional

development lessons?

40

28 27

18

6 5 3

4236

29 31

10 8 8

0

10

20

30

40

50

Elementary Secondary

It was just too much, on top of everything else the school was trying to do.

There was too little support and training.

Teachers were not held accountable for doing it.

The way it was introduced didn't inspire me to try.

I never thought it could work with my students.

I really tried to make it work, but it just didn't help my students.

Doing it well would have been too much work.

Percentages of teachers checking each listed statement in Tripod Project

surveys, concerning “the last professional development program that had

little or no effect on teaching or learning” in their classes.

Problem Reasons for Weak Implementation To Induce Implementation:

Weak

Introduction

“The way it was introduced didn’t

inspire me to try it.”

Introduce ideas in ways

geared to foster interest

and positive anticipation.

No

Monitoring

“Teachers were not held

accountable for doing it.”

Confirm agreements,

including on design & use

of monitoring and

feedback mechanisms.

Weak

Support

“There was too little support and

training.”

Offer appropriate training

& assistance and

organize teams for peer

support & sharing.

Insufficient

Streamlining

“It was just too much, on top of

everything else the school was

trying to do.”

Establish priorities,

streamline assignments,

foster coherence of

systems.

LEADERSHIP TO AVOID WEAK IMPLEMENTATION

Revisiting Key Points Teaching in some classrooms is much more effective than in others at

fostering Seven C’s learning conditions.

Student perceptions of classroom practice on Seven C’s dimensions can help in predicting learning outcomes and should be taken seriously by policy makers and educators.

There tends to be much more Seven C’s variation within schools—from one classroom to another—than between them, from one school to another.

Generally, students are happier, more hard working and more satisfied with their achievements in classrooms that rate higher on the Seven C’s.

There are many ways that student perspectives can be used to provide useful information about patterns of teaching effectiveness, ideally in combination with other measures: we need multiple measures multiple times over multiple year.

Seven Strategic Propositions from Research and Practice in

Effective Schools and Districts

From the Preface to: Ronald F. Ferguson, Sandra Hackman, Robert Hanna, and Ann

Ballantine, December 2008. Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps in Whole School

Systems: Recent Advances in Research and Practice. Report on the 2008 Annual

Conference of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University. Report is downloadable

at www.agi.harvard.edu.

Proposition 1

• Leadership that Combines Passion

with Competence: Superintendents,

principals, other administrators, and even

lead teachers effectively cultivate not

only a sense of urgency but also a sense

of possibility, built on demonstrated

expertise among people in key positions

and their commitment to continuous

improvement.

Proposition 2

• Clear, Shared Conceptions of

Effective Instruction: The district

identifies key ideas concerning effective

instructional and supervisory practice,

and works to establish them as a

“common language” for approaching

instructional improvement.

Proposition 3

• Streamlined and Coherent

Curriculum: The district purposefully

selects curriculum materials and places

some restrictions on school and teacher

autonomy in curriculum decisions. The

district also provides tools (including

technology) and professional

development to support classroom-level

delivery of specific curricula.

Proposition 4

• Organizational Structures and Personnel that Embody Capacity to Teach and Motivate Adults: The district maintains routines and structures within which adult educators (sometimes consultants) engage teachers and administrators in continuous improvement of instructional and supervisory practices. Coaching, observing, and sharing make it difficult for individuals to avoid the change process, and the push for adaptive change spurs resisters to leave their comfort zones or eventually depart from the district.

Proposition 5

• Patient but Tough Accountability: The

district develops tools and routines for

monitoring teaching practices and

learning outcomes, targeting assistance

where needed, and sometimes replacing

teachers or administrators who fail to

improve.

Proposition 6

• Data-Driven Decision Making and Transparency: Teachers and administrators analyze student performance for individual students and summarize data by grade level, special education status, English as a second language status, race/ethnicity, and gender. The district publicizes strategic goals for raising achievement levels and reducing gaps and tracks progress in visible ways. Administrators identify, examine, and often emulate practices from successful schools.

Proposition 7

• Community Involvement and

Resources: The district engages a

broad range of stakeholders, including

school board members, local

businesses, and parents, to do their

parts toward achieving well-formulated

strategic goals.

Accepting Responsibility

• Where does responsibility lie for helping people to cope effectively with the complexities that overwhelm them?

• Where does responsibility lie for doing the intellectual work to design adult learning experiences and organize the ongoing work in schools and districts?

• How does a person and a leadership team earn the authority to take such responsibility effectively?

Comparisons of

Complacent HS and Brockton HS

Racial Composition Poverty

Rate

White Black Hispanic Asian Other % Free

Lunch

Brockton 31.2% 53.3% 10.4% 2.3% 2.8% 67.0%

State 71.5% 9.2% 12.5% 4.4% 2.5% 32.3%

Number of 10th Graders at Brockton: 1030

Exhibit 5.1 Tenth Grade Student Characteristics for 2008

Source: The Massachusetts Department of Education

0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Complacent HS Brockton High School

Proportions of students scoring in each decile

of the MCAS 8th grade ELA distribution

0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Proportions of students scoring in each decile

of the MCAS 8th grade Math distribution

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


MCAS math gains 8th to 10th grade,

compared to others from the same 8th grade decile (School Rank Percentile)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


MCAS ELA gains 8th to 10th grade,

compared to others from the same 8th grade decile

(School rank percentile/100)

78

0.94

0.78

0.77

0.83

0.89

0.77

0.68

0.83

1.05

0.93

0.93

0.97

0.74

0.59

0.49

0.66

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20

White

Black

Hispanic

Total

Brockton High School

White

Black

Hispanic

Total

Complacent High School

BROCKTON CLOSED MOST OF THE ELA ACHIEVEMENT GAP English Language Arts (ELA) MCAS

Percentage Correct Relative to the Statewide Mean for White Students, by Race and School

ELA Ratio 2008, 10th Grade ELA Ratio 2006, 8th Grade

79

0.92

0.67

0.67

0.75

0.84

0.67

0.56

0.80

0.97

0.74

0.77

0.83

0.88

0.68

0.58

0.79

0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20

White

Black

Hispanic

Total


White

Black

Hispanic

Total


BROCKTON NARROWED THE MATH ACHIEVEMENT GAP Math MCAS Scores:

Percentage Correct Relative to the Statewide Mean for White Students, by Race and School

Math Ratio 2008, 10th Grade Math Ratio 2006, 8th Grade

80 1.85

0.68

0.68

0.83

-1.39

-0.84

-0.57

-0.98

0.61

0.22

0.32

0.30

0.22

0.03

0.04

-0.06

-2.00 -1.50 -1.00 -0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

White

Black

Hispanic

Total


White

Black

Hispanic

Total


Fraction of the Gap (Relative to Whites Statewide) that Disappeared between Spring of 8th Grade and Spring of 10th

Grade

Math ELA

leadership for raising achievement and narrowing gaps in...

Documents