What Are Appropriate State Interventions to Close the Achievement Gap?

1. What Are Appropriate State Interventions to Close the Achievement Gap? EPLC Final Project Alexander Grande, Cassie Budzilek Joanna Papada, Tom Chapman

2. No Child Left Behind (2001) • Since the implementation of NCLB: • The high achievement of certain students can no longer mask the low achievement of other groups • Accountability is in the forefront more than ever before nationwide

3. Pennsylvania’s Effort to Close the Achievement Gap • Getting Results! • Leading for Learning • Project 720 • PAGE 1 • Other tools: • Assessment handbooks, accommodations guidelines, item banks/samplers, assessment anchors, Adopt-An-Anchor, Anchors In Practice

4. Testing and Accountability Alone Will NOT Close the Achievement Gap • A Plea to Policymakers • Re-evaluate current resources and supports offered through the Department of Education • Assist districts in utilizing the tools put forth by the Federal Government and Department of Education • Create new policy as necessary to assist districts in utilizing tools that are currently available • (e.g. mandate voluntary programs to be mandatory)

5. High Leverage PracticesGetting Results! • Quality Teaching • Continuous Learning Ethic • Quality Leadership • Artful Use of Infrastructure

6. Quality Teaching • One of the most critical indicators of how students perform is the competence of the teacher. • High quality teachers in every classroom can positively impact student performance even when they come from struggling family backgrounds (Sanders & Rivers, 1996).

7. Importance of Strategies • Policymakers need to place more emphasis on strategies to close the gap, rather than focusing exclusively on standards-based reform and high stakes testing. • Staff professional development, especially related to research-based instructional practices, is also critical to closing the gap.

8. Putting a High Quality Teacher In Every Classroom: Key Issues • Teacher Preparation Programs • Teacher Certification/Induction • Effective Instruction/Progress Monitoring • Professional Development

9. Teacher Preparation Programs • Need for greater contribution of higher education to prepare teachers with teaching skills needed to assist in closing the gap. • Re-evaluation of coursework to include more emphasis on: • Research-based effective instructional practices • Monitoring student progress • Making instructional decisions based upon data • Working with students with disabilities • Teaching reading effectively

10. Teacher Certification • Policymakers should investigate new and innovative programs to meet the teacher quality challenge. • Alternative routes to teacher certification • Teach For America • Troops to Teachers

11. Teacher Induction: A Need for Funding • Provide funding support for teacher induction • Create more stringent and more intensive induction programs, possibly extending to a 2 year program • Incorporate detailed individual needs assessments into induction programs • Ensure new teachers are using and refining newly learned skills through stronger mentor programs

12. Progress Monitoring • Provide necessary supports and funding to ensure: • Teachers are well versed in research proven instructional practices • Teachers are monitoring the progress of their students on a regular basis, analyzing the data and making instructional adjustments based upon that data

13. Continuous Learning Ethic • Act 48 Professional Development • Required for teachers to maintain certification but often: • does not meet specific teacher needs • lacks ongoing, intensive support needed to lead teachers to take ownership of learning and applying new skills

14. Staff Development Plan • A well conceived professional development plan must: • Result in an evaluation with more value • Ensure program’s goals are clear • Guide the collection of relevant data • Increase likelihood of producing results for students National Staff Development Council (NSDC, 2001)

15. Standards for Staff Development (NSDC, 2001) • Proposal to policymakers: • The NSDC standards related to context, process and content should be the benchmark for all PA schools in increasing student performance and eliminating the achievement gap.

16. Context, Process and Content Standards

17. Context Standards • Organize adults into learning communities • Require skillful leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement • Require resources to support adult learning and collaboration

18. Process Standards • Use data to determine adult learning priorities and sustain continuous improvement • Use multiple sources of information to demonstrate impact (evaluation) • Use learning strategies appropriate to goal • Provides educators with knowledge and skills to collaborate

19. Content Standards • Prepare teachers to hold high expectations • Deepen content knowledge • Provide research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting standards • Promote family involvement

20. FROM Externally designed Summative evaluations Filed/shelved Done as an afterthought Process-focused Documentation Presentation of results TO Internally designed Planning, formative & summative evaluations Used Planned from beginning Results-focused Evaluation Reflective dialogue Needed in PA: A Paradigm Shift

21. Key Factors for Successful Staff Development • Form • Duration • Collective Participation • Content • Active Learning • Coherence

22. What should professional development look like in Pennsylvania? • Differentiated • Based upon an analysis of need • Options • Whole group instruction • Reading groups • Independent study • Study groups • Action research teams

23. Some Ideas: Differentiated Staff Development • Arrange teacher schedules to create common planning time for study groups • Use faculty meeting time • Hold breakfast colloquiums • Needs assessments

24. Quality Leadership • Effective leadership sets the tone and conditions for schools to serve children well. • Getting Results! defines quality leadership through four categories: instructional, organizational, personal and public

25. What is Needed? A redefinition of effective leadership and a redesign of how we prepare and develop educational leaders.

26. QUALITY LEADERSHIP Committed and capable leadership for public education must respond to the demographic, social and technological changes facing schools and students today in closing the achievement gap.

27. Getting Results! • Organizational Leadership …creates a compelling organizational purpose of closing the achievement gap • Instructional Leadership …provides the resources required to close the achievement gap.

28. Getting Results! • Personal Leadership … the dynamic of energy, empathy and empowerment in creating team members • Public Leadership. …frames the question of closing the achievement gap. Engages, educates, enlists and empowers public support of the objective.

29. The School Improvement Effort • Educators need to understand that school improvement is a complex process. • Even a well designed approach to closing the achievement gap through school improvement may fail unless policy makers and school leaders put in place the conditions to support its success.

30. Recommendations • Pennsylvania Department of Education review higher education training for school leaders. • Accept the Middle Atlantic proposals for reciprocity • State funding for leadership training through grants to school districts

31. Artful Use of Infrastructure Authentic Relationships Strategic Alignment of Stakeholders Intensive support

32. A School Community Circa 1960’s

33. THE FACTS: Advocacy • Courageous Conversations • We have researched the causes; • We have examples of best practices and solutions • Now, we have to talk about it- take it to the Community

34. Taking Action

35. Power- Key Relationships

36. Corridor of Orientation

37. Math Social Studies English Science Art Vo-Tech The Empty Corridor

38. Math Social Studies English Science Art Vo-Tech Civic & Political The Community Business and Industry Social, Cultural & FaithSectors Higher Education Employers The Relational Corridor

39. The Law of the Land: NCLB & Rip • The overall guidance and the intent was provided by senior leadership…but the forces in the field would not depend on intricate orders from the top. They were to use their own initiative and innovation as they went forward

40. Rapid Cognition: Trusting the Soldiers in the Field of Battle • “…to be successful at education our students our school communities must move away from a single source definition of success, just because we can measure and quantify test scores does not mean we have succeeded at out job…” • James Comer

42. Thank You For Your Attention! References for this powerpoint presentation are provided in the attached paper.