|
|
|
In this edition of Eye on the Prize: The Road to Broad, brought to you by The Broad Foundation and the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA):And the 2006 Broad Prize Finalists Are...Collectively, they serve more than 1.5 million school children. They have high minority, high poverty student populations. And they're beating the odds by making exceptional gains in student performance. We are pleased to announce the 2006 finalists for the $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education:
The Broad Prize is an annual award that honors the nation's urban school districts making the greatest improvements in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The Broad Prize is the largest education award in the country given to a single school district. "Improving student achievement is a tough task, especially in urban school districts," said Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation. "We want to celebrate the improvement these districts have demonstrated, and we hope they are an example for other school systems." The winning district will receive $500,000 in college scholarships
for graduating seniors. Each finalist district will receive $125,000 in
scholarships. The winner of the 2006 Broad Prize will be announced on
Sept. 20 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. |  Coming in June...In our June edition, you'll read about improving instruction for all students. As we move into summer, we’ll explore how creating an aligned curriculum, benchmarking progress and building interventions for diverse student populations has helped Broad Prize finalist school districts across the country excel. Did you know?-- More than 1,100 pages of data are reviewed each year by The Broad Prize Review Board to determine the five finalist districts. -- 351 students have received Broad Prize college scholarships since 2002. -- $4 million in Broad Prize scholarships have been awarded. -- 100 districts representing 9.7 million students in 44 states were eligible for the 2006 Broad Prize. |
 |
|
Over the next two months, teams of educational researchers and practitioners will conduct site visits at each of the finalist school districts to gather statistical and qualitative information, including interviews with district administrators, focus groups with teachers and principals, and classroom observations. The teams will also talk to parents, community leaders, school board members and union representatives. The performance data and site visit reports will then be presented to a Selection Jury, comprised of 13 prominent individuals nationwide from business and industry, education and public service, to choose the winning school district. So why were these five districts selected as finalists? Boston Public Schools Bridgeport Public Schools Jersey City School District Miami-Dade County Public Schools New York City Department of Education For more information about The Broad Prize and this year's finalists, please visit www.broadprize.org. Data is a Four-Letter Word for Success
In this edition, we look at how three past Broad Prize finalists increased overall student achievement while narrowing gaps among all children by using one universal element: data. All of these districts have strong data and performance management systems and use data to guide decisions, programs and practices. They all have built a culture where teachers continually use data to hone and coordinate instruction across grades. For many years the data management system in any given district consisted of annual student assessment reports provided by the state. But the information was available long after a classroom lesson was taught and even long after students had moved on to the next grade. Prompted by the increased accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and the capabilities of the information age, districts are creating their own data systems, often with the help of outside vendors. The best systems meet four criteria:
Strong data systems are a common thread among Broad Prize districts. Three years ago, Boston Public Schools developed a web-based electronic data system called "MyBPS" that enables teachers, principals and central office administrators to easily access state, district and classroom data for individual students. "We've embraced the use of data and have made it easily accessible through the MyBPS portal down to the classroom level," says Boston Superintendent Tom Payzant. In addition to state assessment results, the secure web-based system contains student report cards, a PDF of each student's writing composition and tutorials, including tips for interpreting the data and links to state standards. The data system even allows users to determine how specific students, classrooms or schools perform on tests. For example, teachers can use the system to find out how their students perform on multiple-choice questions in English Language Arts. "It's remarkable," says a Boston teacher. "You can sort your own class by different subgroups. Instead of requiring every teacher to be a data analyst, the tool does it and teachers can focus on learning objectives." For more information on Boston's data system, please contact Chris
Coxon, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning, 617-635-9400 or
ccoxon@boston.k12.ma.us.
***** The 2005 Broad Prize winner, Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia has used data as the navigation system to keep the district on track to meet goals and standards set at the classroom, school and district level.
"We look at items where students performed poorly both within our school and across the district," says one teacher. "Through this process we work together to discuss strategies and activities that could be used to address what is necessary to boost the students' understanding of a particular problem." For more information about Norfolk's data system, please contact
Melinda Boone at 757-628-3989 or mjboone@nps.k12.va.us. *****
Just outside Houston, teachers and administrators at Aldine Independent School District use a customized student management data system called TRIAND. Teachers upload their classroom information onto the network, which also houses state test results, benchmark assessments and other student data. In districts like Aldine where students transfer schools frequently, immediate access to real-time data on individual student performance is crucial. With TRIAND, a teacher can go online and retrieve student information for the current year and/or trace back three years. If a student moves from one school to another, the new teacher has instant access to the student's transcript and test scores. To maximize effectiveness, the district requires every teacher to upload his or her classroom data into TRIAND, assisted by Scantron machines to eliminate hand entering of data. The data is then compiled into easy-to-read scorecards, which are reviewed quarterly at the district, feeder pattern, school, and sometimes classroom levels to ensure that all levels of the district are aligned with the goal of improving student achievement. "We analyze the data right down to the individual skill and the individual problem on the test," says an Aldine principal. "If every kid misses #13, we either taught it the wrong way, or there was something wrong with that problem. We have to fix it for the benefit of the students." The Texas district realizes that data is the equalizer that holds the key to student achievement. "There's no way people can deny the importance of using data to drive instruction," says an Aldine principal. "You can't say a teacher is being successful without the data. It's like going into court without evidence." For more information on how Aldine uses data, please contact Wanda Bamberg, assistant superintendent of curriculum, at 281-985-6318 or wbamberg@aldine.k12.tx.us. | ||
This year, 100 urban
school districts around the country were eligible for The Broad Prize.
The five finalists were selected based on a rigorous review of data
compiled and analyzed by the National Center for Educational
Accountability. A 
Without data, you are just another person with an
opinion. 
The district
discovered that real-time feedback in the form of student performance
data is crucial for ensuring students learn the curriculum objectives.
In addition to the district's required quarterly assessments, most
Norfolk schools administer monthly assessments to give teachers frequent
feedback on student performance. The district goes a step further by
providing weekly common planning time for teachers to review student
performance results and plan instruction. Additionally, each school has
a data team that reviews group and individual student data to identify
areas where teachers may need support.