school cultures that build and sustain student achievement

School Cultures that Build and Sustain Student Achievement

Diane Lauer, Thompson School District

"When children understand how to connect the text they read to their lives,

they begin to make connections between what they read and the larger world. This nudges them into thinking about bigger, more expansive issues beyond

their universe of home, school, and neighborhood.”

Harvey & Goodvis, Strategies that Work Strategies that Work, p. 68

“A serious problem large systems face, one that becomes more

perplexing in an ever more complex, diverse world, is how to achieve a degree of cohesion and focus in an otherwise fragmented

environment.”

Michael Fullan, Six Secrets of Change

Effective change leaders create coherence.

Michael Fullan – Leading in a Culture of Change

• We need vision

• We need passion

• We need synergycreated through strong cultures and structures within our community.

Synergy

• the working together of two or more things, people, or organizations, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities

• the phenomenon in which the combined action of two things, for example, drugs or muscles, is greater than the sum of their effects individually.

Group Buzz Have a Conversation

What are your thoughts about synergy, cohesion and positive staff cultures?

Putting it Together(Today’s objectives)

① Creating a Positive, Learning Culture② Creating Strong Purposeful Structures

“There is a weak relationship between restructuring efforts (e.g. changing the

schedule or textbooks, site-based management, looping) and student

learning.

The collaborative climate and culture are greater predictors of student

achievement gains.”~ Elmore, R. (1995)

In order to sustain continuous achievement schools need to pay attention to two things:

CulturCultureeCulturCulturee

StructureStructureStructureStructure

American vs. Southwest

• Read text on Page 2• Highlight or Underline text that creates

inferences about these company’s business cultures and internal structures.

• “Share & Pass” Taking turns in your group, share a text selection and the inference this this created for you. Do not begin a conversation…Share & Pass.

• Debrief with Team – Summarize Big Ideas

Sustainable Cultures are

• Collaborative• Craftsmanlike• Trusting



Sustainable Structures are

• Purpose-driven• Capacity-building• Inquiry-based

(asset map -- table chat)

CultureStructure

Assess your Learning Culture

Reflect Upon Your School

• Look at your assessment• Where are your schools greatest

strengths?– Culture– Structure

• Share and discuss as a school team

Reflect Upon Your School

• Reflect Individually– If your school had an opportunity to work

on two or three areas of this list – which would you pick

– Whole Group – Step and Share• Schools greatest strength

– Culture or Structure

• Whole Group – Step and Share– Top Priority

Sustainable Cultures are

• Collaborative• Craftsmanlike• Trusting


Mutual Respect & Understanding

• Teachers consistently build relationships with students, families and each other.

• Teachers know their individual and collective assets so that they can develop a picture of their strengths as a whole school team.

• Teachers feel safe to take learning risks, seek help from, and offer guidance to their peers.

• Teachers are provided direction and time to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Educational Belief Systems

• Review the following information– Page 3– Prioritize Your Beliefs– Page 4 using the additional information


• Cognitive Processor• Self-Actualizer• Technologist• Academic Rationalist• Social Reconstructivist


• What have you learned about yourself?

• What have you learned about your team?

Using Educational Belief Systems

• State Standards Example• Identify a school initiative or

program being implemented• How might your initiative or

program’s positive attributes be viewed via each belief system

Academic Optimism: a Force for Student Achievement

Wayne K. Hoy, C. John Tarter, Anita Woolfolk Hoy

Academic Emphasis of the school

Collective Efficacy of the staff

Faculty Trust in students and parents

Authors studied nearly 100 diverse schools and found that high academic achievement can consistently be correlated to:

Academic Emphasis

• The extent to which a school is driven by a quest for academic excellence and/or a press for academic achievement.

• High but achievable academic goals are set for students.

• The learning environment is orderly and serious. • Students are motivated to work hard and they

respect academic achievement.

Collective Efficacy

• The judgment of teachers that the faculty as a whole can organize and execute the actions required to have positive effects on students. “We CAN do it.”

• Individuals and groups are unlikely to initiate action or change of practice without a positive sense of efficacy.

• Schools where the faculty has strong sense of collective efficacy flourish, whereas schools where faculty members have serious doubts about their collective efficacy declined in academic performance or showed little academic progress.

Faculty Trust

• Trust is one's vulnerability to another in terms of the belief that the other will act in one's best interests.

• Trust is a general concept with at least five facets: benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty, and openness.

• Faculty trust is a willingness to be vulnerable to another party based on the confidence that that party is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open

• Because learning is typically a cooperative process, and distrust makes cooperation virtually impossible.

• Because learning necessitates risk-taking, distrustful people are less likely to take learning risks.

Additional Research on Trust

Trust in Schools: a Core Resource for Improvement

Anthony S. Bryk and Barbara Schneider

• There was a statistical link between improvements in relational trust and increased student achievement.

• The absence of relational trust can severely cripple reform efforts.

• The relational dynamics in each school community significantly influenced whether meaningful improvements occurred.

PASSION For Student Learning

“To truly reform American education we must abandon the longstanding assumption that the central activity is teaching and reorient

all policy making and activities around a new benchmark: student learning.”

~Fiske, 1992, p. 253

DuFour Handout

PASSION for Student Learning• The heart and soul of the school’s work and

efforts must be centered on student learning and achievement.

• Staff must come together and believe that all kids can learn at high levels, and that their job is to do whatever it takes to ensure this happens…

• Staff must feel involved in the process of school goal identification and achievement.

• Staff must feel that each is integral to the entire school’s success.

Our goal is to create a culture of trust so we are able to work together while we conduct

this great experiment called “learning”

We must be willing to keep positive minded.

We must use our creative energies to solve difficult problems.

We must work together because there is strength in our unity.

The Message…The Message…

An Exemplary School never ceases its quest to create the very best environment for students and staff; one where everyone finds success.

It embraces and is energized by continual learning and experimentation.

It is characterized by an encouraging and collaborative climate.

It understands both the importance of the individual and the strength of the collective.

How would you Change this School Definition to fit your Needs?


Sustainable Structures are

• Purpose-driven• Capacity-building• Inquiry-based

Capacity Building & Craftsmanship

• Professional reflection and self-analysis of knowledge and skills are embedded into teachers’ daily routine and practice.

• Teachers have sufficient support as well as opportunities for autonomy and self-discovery.

• Opportunities for instructional inquiry and data-collection are available to all teachers so they can improve their instructional practice.

• Teachers have opportunities to experiment and try new instructional strategies with the guidance of professional support.

How do we use structures to:• Create and/or clarify purpose?• Build capacity and competency?• Create a culture of inquiry?

What we can “structure”• Time• Communication & Collaboration• Opportunities for Autonomy, Choice,

Learning, Growth

Examples of Structures(concept organizers, models, protocols & procedures)

• Asset Maps - common language and purpose

• Implementation Plans - vision/road map

• Innovation Configuration - reflection

• Prof. Development Continuum – choice

• SMART goals – inquiry, autonomy

• PLC’s and Collaborative Groups - inquiry

Standards-Based Education practices help teachers focus on student learning.

• Always begin with the end in mind.• Use rubrics with students• Use rubrics with teachers

Using Innovation Configurations

• Standards-Based Education• Literacy Across the Content Area

Self-Assessment

How do you encourage your staff to engage in reflective practices and

assess their own strengths and potential areas for growth?

Differentiate and Provide Choice• Just like good instruction, good staff development

should be differentiated to meet the needs of individual learners.

• A variety of opportunities should be available for teachers so they can choose what they think best fits their needs.

• Use graphic organizers or other schematics to help teachers visualize their options and where specific ones might take them in their learning journeys…

Create Tiered Learning Opportunities

• Individualized Programming– See ConBall’s Staff Development

Opportunities Survey and Graphic Organizers

• Small Group - Professional Learning Community Work– SMART Goal examples and template

CBMS Staff Development Opportunities

In an attempt to create a broad picture of the comprehensive staff developmentopportunities available to you as a Conrad Ball Middle School teacher, we havedesigned the following two graphic organizers that illustrate our LiteracyIntegration Staff Development Continuum and our Differentiation/AssessmentStaff Development Continuum.

We have attempted to provide you with an array of choices that fit your needs,as we believe that we must practice what we preach about differentiation as anintegral component of effective instruction.

In order to best create a plan that fits your individual needs and desires, we askthat you fill out the following “Staff Development Questionnaire”. Pleasecomplete and return to Diane by no later than Friday, September 23. Thanks!

Your Name School Telephone

Teaching Assignment Grade Level(s)

Literacy Integration Staff Development Opportunities

Select your interests:(in some cases you have already committed to doing some of the following, please include such in your ranking)

Book Study – Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? _____Book Study – Strategies That Work? _____Tier Two Training _____Off/On Site Classroom Visitations _____On Site Classroom Modeling and Demonstrations _____Small Group Action Research Project _____Personal Observations & Feedback _____Small Group/Peer Observations and Feedback _____Lab Classroom Teacher _____

Describe below why you are interested in these opportunities and how you hopethey will meet your needs.

(Over)

Differentiation/Assessment Staff Development Opportunities

Select your interests:(all of you are involved in a learning team activity this year – your SMART Goals!)

Book Study – Classroom Assessments for Student Learning _____Book Study – Differentiated Literacy Strategies for Student

Growth and Achievement in Grades 7-12 _____Mel Levine Follow-up – The Myth of Laziness _____Small Group Action Research Project _____Personal Observations & Feedback _____Small Group/Peer Observations and Feedback _____Lab Classroom Teacher _____

Describe below why you are interested in these opportunities and how you hopethey will meet your needs.

If you could only have two staff development opportunities listed thisyear….what would they be and why?

Higher Risk

Lower Risk

Awareness Level

Synthesis Level

Literacy Integration Staff Development Continuum

Book Study – Do I Really

Have to Teach Reading?

Book Study –Strategies That

Work

Focus Group –Tier Two Training to prepare teachers for

becoming Lab classroom teachers

Personal Observations and Feedback

Lab Classroom Teacher – Large group observations

and Feedback

Small Group/Peer Observations

and Feedback

Off/On Site Classroom Visitations

On Site Classroom Modeling and

Demonstrations

Small Group Action Research Project - Independent Study

How do you provide differentiation and choice?

Student Achievement Goal Setting Worksheet

Team Name:

Question being addressed by stated goal:

Why are 6th grade students scoring low in number sense, and what can be done to help them achieve more?

Identify a Student Achievement SMART goal for your team (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Oriented, and Time-Bound)

6th grade students will increase their ability to make sense of numbers as described in math standard 1.

Action Steps Designation Time Frame EvaluationWhat steps or activities will beinitiated to achieve this goal?

Team inquiry into what proficiencyin number sense looks like.

CSAP item map will be analyzed toget a better sense of how stateassesses number sense.

Team will determine how to assessnumber sense

Team will analyze how to betterinstruct for number sense usingstudent work to guide theirevaluation.

What products will be created?

Pre/Post and formativeassessments related to specific skilllevels in number sense

Sample lesson plans or units toteach number sense.

Who will be responsible forinitiating or sustaining the actionsteps?

Teacher 1will investigate CPM, 5th

grade texts, and work with districtTOSA to develop basis forunderstanding what proficiencylevel looks like and share withteam.

Teacher 2 will obtain CSAP itemmap, do preliminary study andpresent to team how CSAPanalyzes number sense.

Teacher 3 will analyze current textand identify other ways to assessnumber sense.

Teachers will work together todevelop an assortment ofassessments, lesson plans, andstrategies for instruction.

What is the realistic timeframefor each phase of the activity?

SeptemberAnalyze student data

OctoberAnalyze item maps and determinewhat proficiency looks like

NovemberDevelop pre and post assessmentsfor number sense

DecemberDevelop formative assessments fornumber sense

January-MarchAnalyze student work to determinecurrent 6th grade level ofunderstanding of number sense.

April-MayReflect on assessments to createinterpretations about instructionaldesign.

What evidence will you presentto show that you are makingprogress toward your goal?

Pre/Post Tests

Formative Assessments

Analysis of Student work

Case Studies on 4 individualstudents from each team membersclasses.

Sample lesson plans orcomponents for instructional design

How do you provide structured autonomy and inquiry?

Reflection

CultureStructure

Tune your School Learning Culture

Sustainability

An Aspen grove needs just the right environment to survive and flourish. The soil composition, the climate, and the nourishment must be conducive

for maximum and sustainable growth.