National High School Center Summer Institute Advancing High School Student Success: Building Systems of Support

1. National High School Center Summer InstituteAdvancing High School Student Success: Building Systems of Support June 11, 2007

2. Feeling Young? • The people who will start college this fall were born in 1989: • They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era and probably do not know he had ever been shot. • Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums. The expression you sound like a broken record means nothing to them. They have never owned a record player. • They may never have heard of an 8 track. The Compact Disc was introduced before they were born. • There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is. • They do not care who shot JR and have no idea who JR is. • The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was. • They don’t have a clue how to use a typewriter.

3. “School matters, but only insofar as it yields something that can be used once students leave school.” Howard Gardner, 1997

4. Send e-mail Surfing around/seeing what is out there Looking up musical groups and artists Chatting with friends online Doing homework or research Listening to music Using instant messaging Checking movies, TV, or concert listings Reading the news or magazines online Playing online games Meeting people who share interests Watching streaming videos Exchanging own creative work with friends Buying stuff Participating in online auctions 100% 98% 95% 93% 92% 90% 89% 84% 81% 80% 77% 70% 69% 61% 38% What they do online Source: TBWA/Chiat/Day Research, 2000

5. Different World Industrial workers were measured by their efficiency Knowledge workers are measured by their effectiveness

6. Academic Growth:Grades 4-8, 8-12

7. One Year Dropout Rates by Race, Grades 10-12 Source: NCES “Drop-out Rates in U.S. 1998” (1999)

8. Students Complete High School At Different Rates Age 18-24 Source: US Bureau of Census, Current Population Reports, Educational Attainment in the United States: March 2000, Detailed Tables No. 2

9. What Else Do We Know? • In 1996, students in special education had: • Lowest school completion rate • Largest unemployment rate • Higher arrest rates • Less independent living

10. Mission of Public Schools: To challenge with high expectations each child to learn, to achieve and to fulfill his or her potential…

11. Students can do no better than the expectations we have for them...

12. Since 1998, NAEP scores for students with disabilities rose from: • 231 to 245 (6%), 8th grade math Since 1998, gaps in NAEP scores between students with and without disabilities narrowed from: • 42 to 28points, 8th grade math

13. From 1996 to 2004: • Graduation rates rose from 42% to 54% • Dropout rates declined from 47% to 31% From 1987 to 2003: • Diplomas/certificates of completion rose from 54% to 70%(NLTS-1 and –2 data) From 1987 to 2001: • Postsecondary enrollment rose from 15% to 32% • 4-year college enrollment rose from 1% to 9%

14. Overcoming Barriers to Low Achievement Students who fail to achieve high standards in the early years need to be put into accelerated classes that focus on intellectual development with rigorous instruction and engaging curriculum rather then be sorted into slower paced remedial classes that compound their low achievement.

15. How Do We Overcome Low Achievement? “Rather than layering one program on top of another...(we need to)...focus on redesigning and integrating all aspects of a school--curriculum, instruction, teacher training and professional development, school management, governance, assessment, and parent and community involvement.” 1999 Education Commission of the States

21. Learning Services Division

22. What’s Needed? • Communication • Cooperation • Coordination • Collaboration

23. Communication Cooperation Collaboration Coordination

24. Communication Cooperation Collaboration Coordination

25. What Did IDEA Do(NLTS-1 and –2 data) • Ensured rigorous, challenging standards • Provided skills based on • Problem-solving • Collaboration • Technology • Provided intense interventions, not remediation • Foundation skills through application in more complex activities

26. What Did IDEA Do(NLTS-1 and –2 data) • Increased the percent of students taking academic classes (98.6% of students with disabilities average 60% academic classes) • One in five SWDs take a foreign language • From 1993 to 2003, a dramatic increase in SWDs taking challenging courses • Almost 9 of 10 secondary school SWDs participate in at least one general education class

27. What Did IDEA Do(NLTS-1 and –2 data) • 3 in 4 SWDs actually keep up with the rest of the class • Almost 2/3rds of SWDs received differentiated instruction in general education classes • More time to take tests • More time to complete assignments • Progress monitored • Individualized instruction • Use computers, books on tape

28. What Other Examples Exist? • Mapping a Course for Improved Student Learning • Diploma Plus • Providence, Rhode Island • Aiming High • Creating a High School Diploma that Counts • Youth at the Crossroads • Supporting Principals Who Break Ranks/Breaking Ranks II • Expecting Success: A Study of Five High Performing High Poverty Schools • Crisis or Possibility: Conversations About the American High School • Dispelling the Myth Revisited: High Flying Schools • Opening Doors: Promising Lessons from Five Texas High Schools

29. Mapping a Course for Improved Student Learning CPRE found high schools that used internal data—data that provided feedback on student progress to inform teacher practice—improved student performance. Data were used to: • Inform instruction • Identify low-performing students • Plan professional development • Set targets and goals • Celebrate accomplishments • Reinforce priorities • Support evidence

30. Diploma Plus • Operated by community-based organizations • Alternative programs • Academies • Charter schools • Program at community colleges • Program has two stages • Preparation in core academic competencies, other foundation skills, career pathways, and preparation for college • Each student creates a “Personal Development Plan” and a final portfolio

31. Providence Rhode Island The Providence, Rhode Island high schools engaged in an intensive redesign process that included: • Individualized learning plans for every student • High school diplomasawarded based onachievement, not hours • No grouping or moving students by grade levels • “Certificates of Mastery” • A restructured school day and year to meet individualized learning needs • Strong and continuous professional development • Multiple methods of assessing student learning

32. Creating a High School Diploma that Counts Achieve recommended that states should: • Align academic standards in high schools with what’s required for college and workplace success • Back-map standards • Define specific course-taking requirements and specify the corecontent • Insist that all students are held to the same standards • Hold post-secondary institutions accountable for the academic success of the students

33. Youth at the Crossroads Education Trust recommended: • Get up front agreement on the central goal of high school education • What should a high school diploma enable a student to do? • Eliminate curricular paths that do not equip students with the skills needed to obtain the post-secondary education they need • Assure teachers are masters of their subject matter • Require a high level of rigor in assignments • Break large schools into smaller learning communities

34. Supporting Principals Who Break Ranks NASSP calls on high school principals to increase the academic achievement of all students. What’s needed include: • Capacity building • Common beliefs about the goals for reform • Tools to improve teaching and learning • Experience with high school reform • Knowledge on best practice • Skill in implementingreformstrategies • Persistence

35. Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform Seven Cornerstone Strategies to Improve Student Performance • Establish the essential learnings • Increase the quantity and improve the quality of interactions between students, teachers and other personnel • Implement a comprehensive advisory program • Ensure that teachers use a variety of instructional strategies and assessments • Implement flexible schedules • Institute structural leadership changes • Align schoolwide comprehensive professional development with individual learning plans

36. Expecting Success: A Study Of Five High Performing High Poverty Schools Strategies identified by these schools: • The best teachers with the students who need them most • Time and support • Continuous diagnosis • Professional development • Working collaboratively • A focus on standards • A continuous invitation to parents • A focus on accountability

37. Crisis or Possibility: Conversations About the American High School (NGA, CCSSO, & National High School Alliance) • Connecting K-12 and postsecondary education • Making college preparation the default curriculum • Improving teacher preparation and professional development • Ensuring all students can read at or above grade level • Addressing the high dropout rate • Fostering smaller, more personalized environments • Revisiting state academic content standards so that they are more flexible and give students a variety of options for meeting them

38. capacity building restructured school day and year inform teacher practice variety of instructional strategies assure teachers are masters reform diplomasawarded onachievement • best practice feedback align high schoolswith college and workplace rigor in assignments data flexible schedules all studentssame standards • Persistence back-map standards essential learnings student progress quality core academic competencies smaller learning communities professional development post-secondary institutions accountable

39. High Schools as Sorting Machines “Every year hundreds of thousands of 9th graders make a decision (or have the decision made for them) that sorts them for years… They decide not to take Algebra I. This decision, made at the age of 14, lowers their chances of attending college and raises their risk of forfeiting the future.”

40. Opening Doors: Promising Lessons from Five Texas High Schools Strategies identified by effective high schools: • Set goals; establish high expectations • Use data to guide instruction • Focus on improving instruction and on individual learning • Support teachers and enhance collaboration • Foster an environment of respect

41. “We take the adage “all kids can learn” seriously. It’s not just words, (we) believe it. You have to accept it. You can have all the goals in the world and they’re just words unless somebody internalizes them, and this school did.”Brazosport teacher

42. “I have a roadmap now for each of my students. I know where they’re at, and I know where I need to take them. And with the data that’s provided me, now I know the most efficient way to get there.”Brazosport testing coordinator

43. Students can do no better than the assignments they are given...

44. Grade 10 Writing Assignment: A frequent theme in literature is the conflict between the individual and society. From literature you have read, select a character who struggled with society. In a well-developed essay, identify the character and explain why this character’s conflict with society is important.

45. Grade 10 Writing Assignment: Write a composition of at least 4 paragraphs on Martin Luther King’s most important contribution to this society. Illustrate your work with a neat cover page. Neatness counts.

46. “Many times people think at this age group they’re too old, too mature for kindness and love, but that’s not true. They all still need someone to say, “You’re a good kid. Keep it up.”Brazosport assistant principal

47. “The teachers, if they notice you need help, they’re here before school, they’re here after school, during lunch, during the SAT class. There is always help. That’s what makes us better because there is no way you can’t pass, because there is always help.”Mountain View student

48. “We teach students; we don’t teach classes.”Uvalde High School teacher

49. If student achievement is truly to be redefined as a constant rather than a variable, we have the obligation to re-examine the array of conditions, contexts, attitudes, and excuses we have come to accept as educational norms. . . we need to figure out ways to restructure or reinvent the routines of teaching and learning. Donna Marriott - Education Week - 2-21-01

50. “Success is that old ABC: Ability, Breaks & Courage.”Charles Luckman Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.