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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):Back To Basics: The Classroom Experience is Key
And what happens in the classroom -- what a teacher teaches, when and how, and whether a student learns -- is the key to academic success in urban districts around the country. Successful urban districts have several things in common: they have clear curriculum objectives, they conduct assessments throughout the school year that are closely aligned to those objectives, they know what benchmarks students should reach and when, and they provide struggling students with immediate classroom-based support to get learning back on track. In this edition of Eye on the Prize, we explore how some Broad Prize finalist districts incorporate these effective practices to boost academic progress and close achievement gaps. Creating an Aligned Curriculum
How does Norfolk do it? One key to increasing student achievement is the adoption of a uniform, aligned curriculum containing high standards and increased expectations for all students. But simply adopting the "right" curriculum" -- which in Norfolk's case is Patrick Finn's Powerful Literacy and Powerful Mathematics -- does not in itself impact instruction enough to move achievement numbers. To ensure system-wide understanding and implementation of the curriculum, Norfolk created a "learning community" -- where everyone from teachers to principals to school board members and administrators speaks the same language and delivers the same message. To implement this, the district has adopted a set of "instructional non-negotiables." |  In the next edition...In the next edition, we explore the best practices of districts that are building teacher and administrator support systems to improve instruction. As we reach the height of summer, look for articles that demonstrate how Broad Prize-winning school systems find, hire and retain the right people, provide classroom-based teacher support, and encourage teacher collaboration.Did you know?Public schools spend an average of $5,291 per pupil on instruction and instructional staff support. That's 58 percent of total per pupil spending.(source: www.schoolmatters.org) The five 2005 Broad Prize finalist districts have a combined enrollment of 1,234,645 students and 83,439 teachers. 51,992 students graduated from the 2005 Broad Prize finalist districts last year. The average student/teacher ratio in the 2005 Broad Prize finalist districts is 16 to one. Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize: The Broad Prize Process UpdateThe 2006 Broad Prize Site Visit Committee has visited all five finalist districts, and is now analyzing data to present to the Selection Jury to determine the 2006 winner.The 2005 Broad Prize scholarship recipients were selected in May 2006. Of 2,342 applicants, 120 "Broad Scholars" were chosen to receive college scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $10,000. Applications for the 2005 Broad Prize scholarships increased by 22 percent over the previous year. |
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These instructional non-negotiables represent four key concepts:
The result of adopting this set of non-negotiables is a clear, focused message connecting every level of Norfolk's system around the same instructional expectations. Teachers in Norfolk say that this common understanding of the instructional non-negotiables has had a noticeable impact on teaching and on learning. These concepts "turned instruction around 100 percent," says one high school mathematics department chair. Says another, "Instead of working on a dry calculus worksheet, you will see students working together on a project, talking about solutions rather than just sitting in quiet rows writing." But knowing what to teach and how to teach it is no guarantee of proper instructional pacing and alignment across classrooms. In addition to providing curriculum maps at all grade levels in all core academics, Norfolk has taken its curriculum documents a step further by making them available electronically and adding hyperlinks to the state standards, quarterly test objectives, frequently asked questions and suggested learning activities. So a teacher creating a lesson on the parts of an atom, for instance, can access related lessons and activities online, look up essential questions for student discussion, and incorporate common vocabulary associated with the concept. Similarly, Aldine Independent School District in Texas clearly articulates and aligns curriculum across all schools within the district. Consistent learning objectives, benchmark assessments, instructional calendars, and model lessons ensure that students moving from kindergarten to grade 12, no matter which school they attend, are on track for academic success. Pacing guides, broken into two- or three-week increments, are followed by common assessments developed by the schools. Walk into any elementary classroom in Aldine and you will see similar word walls, posted learning objectives, and core subject warm-ups. This tight vertical and horizontal alignment between grades and among subjects has been crucial to keeping Aldine's highly mobile children on schedule. When the structure was first introduced, some educators feared that their creativity would be stifled. Instead, teachers have found an optimal blending of guidance and flexibility. "Teachers have benchmarks and know what to teach. We give them several different lessons to try, and then we talk about it," says a district administrator. "There is a lot of creativity still there, but they have to teach at a certain level to achieve mastery. How they teach it is their choice at each campus." How to Benchmark ProgressA well-aligned curriculum and pacing guides ensure that teachers know what and how to teach, but how do they know if students are actually learning? Rather than wait for required end-of-the-year state assessments, high-performing districts and schools implement benchmark tests throughout the year. In Aldine, district-mandated benchmark assessments are conducted every nine weeks in all core academics. Additionally, schools have developed common assessments in all grades and subjects, which are given in conjunction with their two- or three-week instructional pacing chart. Armed with data from these frequent assessments, the district trains teachers on how to analyze the information and use it to plan instruction for individual students. Teachers often meet in teams to identify and discuss specific instructional strengths and weaknesses. Principals and central office administrators then review benchmark results to ensure teachers and students are meeting academic expectations and have the support they need.
The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), celebrating its second year as a Broad Prize finalist, has accelerated the assessment of student achievement. Rather than waiting until students reach the third grade, the first formal testing year, NYCDOE uses several tools to monitor student progress in kindergarten through third grade. One such tool, a computer-based individual diagnostic system called Early Childhood Literacy Development System (ECLAS II), allows NYCDOE to assess the reading progress of every student. Twice a year, teachers administer the comprehensive computer-based tests that evaluate five critical areas in reading: phonics, the alphabet, decoding, site word and reading fluency. Individual, grade-level and school results are then made available on a secure website. ECLAS II has been a valuable tool in ensuring consistency of teaching, particularly when a student transfers to another school. "Although standardized tests are very important, it is the constant one-to-one measuring that helps us ensure that every child is making progress based on their learning needs," says a NYCDOE administrator. Building Interventions
NYCDOE has developed research-based help for struggling elementary and middle school students. These "Intervention Toolkits," provided as an electronic and paper-based resource to teachers, identify the target area where students need help and give suggestions on how teachers can provide additional assistance. When a child's ECLAS II results show below grade-level performance in a particular area, his or her teacher can work with an intervention specialist provided by the district or turn to the toolkit for strategies to help the student improve learning. So if a student has problems with phonics, the teacher can look in the Intervention Toolkit to find a link to the Quick Reading Test to further determine the extent of the problem. The teacher can then match the student to an appropriate program such as The Wilson Reading System or computer-based tutorials, such as the Lexia Reading SOS. NYCDOE's keen focus on structured, targeted intervention programs may explain why the district has increased the proficiency levels in elementary reading by eight percentage points over the last four years, and by five percentage points in high school reading. NYCDOE students have also shown a 15 percent increase in elementary math and 12 percent in middle school math.
Through the STAR program, this 2005 Broad Prize finalist district identified 47 low-performing schools and made the commitment to dramatically improve student achievement. The district hired a variety of specialists to demonstrate lessons to teachers and provide individualized coaching in literacy instructional strategies. Each STAR school has its own instructional reform facilitator who is responsible for coordinating reform efforts and teacher support. Assistant superintendents, central office curriculum experts and school administrators conduct regular instructional walk-throughs. Teachers have become accustomed to these visits and say that the informal feedback and follow-up conferences help them improve classroom instruction. These walk-throughs also reveal the need for additional resources such as targeted staff development, materials or additional help from teacher coaches. The STAR system also provides comprehensive services to students. By providing parent liaisons, middle school advisors, and nurses who focus on prevalent health issues like asthma, STAR schools ensure that students are healthy, present and prepared to learn. The proof of STAR's effectiveness is in the data. In the 2004-05 school year, 95 percent of STAR schools made gains in student achievement. Specifically, 90 percent of STAR schools increased the number of students reaching proficiency on the state's English Language Arts test and 80 percent of STAR schools increased the number of students proficient in mathematics. More Resources Supporting InstructionThe practices drawn from Broad Prize districts and discussed in this edition of Eye on the Prize represent a small sampling of the initiatives and innovations being implemented to support quality instruction in successful systems across the country. Other evidence of practices collected through the study of successful urban districts as part of The Broad Prize process is available at www.just4kids.org. All practice evidence is presented through NCEA's interactive Framework of Best Practices found in higher performing schools and systems. For more information about the best practices of the districts highlighted in this edition of Eye on the Prize, please contact: Aldine Independent School District New York City Department of Education Norfolk Public Schools San Francisco Unified School District For more information on The Broad Prize for Urban Education, please visit www.broadprize.org. | ||
It all comes down to the classroom.
The commitment to student achievement throughout the district is evident by how teachers monitor their students' progress through the data review. "We look at every item," says a fourth grade teacher. "If every kid misses number 13, we either taught it the wrong way or there was something wrong with that problem. We look at it and if there is something that needs to be fixed, then we fix it to benefit the progress of the child." Aldine's vigilant focus on ongoing assessment may explain why this two-time Broad Prize finalist has been a consistent high-performer for the past four years and demonstrated smaller ethnic and income achievement gaps than other districts with similar demographics in the state.
It's great if you know what's working, but even the best information about how students are performing isn't enough without the right interventions for struggling students.
In addition to classroom-based interventions, some districts identify entire schools in need of intervention based on poor student performance. In 2004, the