Archived Information CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP Study Overview

1. Archived InformationCLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAPStudy Overview

2. Purpose of the Study To identify high schools in selected states that have shown success, over a period of years, in closing the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students.

3. State Selection Criteria Publicly available school-level state assessment data was collected from states meeting all of the following: • Standards-based or norm-referenced assessment in mathematics or English/language arts/reading in grade 10, 11, or 12 • Data available for at least 4 years • The assessment had not changed over that period • Assessment results disaggregated by race/ethnicity at the school level

4. States Meeting Criteria • Missouri • Oregon • South Carolina • Texas • Wisconsin • Arkansas • California • DC • Delaware • Kentucky • Indiana

5. Defining the Gap “Gap” Difference between school-level percent passing rate and state-level percent passing rate

6. Year Percent of African-American Students Passing (School) Percent of White Students Passing (State) Gap 1999 38.6 69.9 -31.3 2000 46.7 72.8 -26.1 2001 49.4 71.2 -21.8 2002 52.7 73.9 -21.2 Gap Example: Mathematics Assessment

7. Defining a Gap-Closing School A school with consistently diminished achievement gaps between white and minority students during each of four years.

8. GGap Measures GAP (School Minority Scores–State White Scores) Schools with 4 years of data in either reading or math African-AmericanGap READING African-American Gap MATH HispanicGap MATH HispanicGap READING

9. Number of Schools by States • g Cr • California 173 • Indiana 10 • Texas 189

10. Closing the Achievement Gap Focus Group Meeting • With the CTAG state lists serving as a starting point, the following criteria was applied to identify the most promising candidates: • Closed gap or achieved a gap decrease of at least ten percentage points in two gap measures: • African American Reading • African American Math • Hispanic Reading • Hispanic Math • For example: • El Camino narrowed the gap for Hispanic students in both math and reading. • Florin narrowed the gap for Africa American and Hispanic students in reading.

11. Closing the Achievement Gap Focus Group Meeting • Enrollment size of at least 750 students; • Minority enrollment of at least 30 percent of total enrollment; and • Holding power of at least 60 percent.

12. State School Name Gap Decrease Mathematics Gap Decrease Reading Enrollment Percent Minority Holding Power TX Del Valle CG (4) 1796 96.6 H 2.6 W 85% IN North Central 15 10 3115 34.8 AA 2.6 H 60.3 W 89% CA El Camino 24 14 2935 14.8 AA 31.6 H 40.9 W 95% CA Florin 10 AA 14 H 2301 21.7 AA 17.2 H 18 W 43.1 O 85% Schools Selected School characteristics are for 2001-2002, the latest year for which data is available from Common Core of Data (CCD)

13. www.schooldata.org TheNational Longitudinal School Level State Assessment Score Database NLSLSASD, is an effort funded by the US Department of Education to collect data from state testing programs across the country, and contains assessment scores for approximately 80,000 public schools in the U.S. for years up to 2002-2003.

14. Del Valle High SchoolExemplary Campus 1987-2004

15. DVHS Demographics & Challenges • 87.3% Free /Reduced Lunch • 97% Hispanic • Less than 2 miles from Mexico • 325 students are Mexican immigrants • 125 in ESOL classes • 2.8% dropout rate for 2000-2001

16. DVHS Graduation Requirements • 4 years of Math • 4 years of Social Studies • 4 years of Science • 4 years of English

17. Educational Reform 1992 Site Based Management 1993 National Standards Movement 1997 State Standards Become “TEKS” Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

18. Tests, Tests, Tests and more Tests • TABS • TEAMS • TAAS • RPTE • TAKS

19. What Hindered Progress? Lack of understanding of accountability Lack of understanding of common goal and a common vision for students Changes at the Principal position (lucky # 7)

20. Institution Response • Formation of Leadership Teams • Collaboration with University • Formation of CEIC Committee • Staff Development • Development of Campus Action Plan

21. Instructional Response • Higher Standards • No Remediation Classes • Focused Instruction • Block Schedule • A/B - 4 x 4 - Combination – A/B

22. . . . a more focused approach Student Profiles Support teachers for math, reading, writing Modified schedule Specific targeted instruction

24. Kid by Kid Means KID BY KID

25. Student Score Profiles

26. Student Scores by Teacher by Period

27. Del Valle High SchoolMath DepartmentEl Paso, Texas Raising The Bar For Students Three Year Plan

28. Where Do We Start?

30. Look at Standardized Scores… TAAS Algebra I 1996 — 54% 1996 – 2%

32. Identify Problems • Classroom assessments not aligned to TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills) • High failure rates • Too many students receiving 70-75 grades in Algebra I and geometry • Low standardized test scores • Inconsistent student knowledge of students entering geometry and Alg II

33. Change Starts With Teachers…

34. Hunger For Change… • Teachers desire to do right by students. • Teachers believe that students could do it. • Teachers realize that they could be better teachers through alignment and working together

35. Yes, We’re Hungry…

36. Goals For Math Department? • Improve instruction through alignment of curriculum using state curriculum – TEKS • Align department tests to what is being taught • Increase number of students who pass math classes with higher scores • Increase standardized scores • Attain exemplary scores in state exams – Algebra I End-of-Course and TAAS

37. Ok, What’s Next?

42. Math Support Teacher

44. What is the role of Support Teacher? • Act as math resource person • Model Lessons for Teachers • Conduct Weekly meetings in Algebra I on Fridays • Conduct Geometry meetings twice a month • Conduct monthly Department Meetings • Actively involved in master schedule • Have frequent discussions about student placement with Counselors and person in charge of master schedule

45. More?… • Help create Lessons for Algebra I • Help create Lessons for Geometry • Write department tests for Algebra I and Geometry • Monitor and evaluate benchmarking • Maintain records for all students

47. Teacher Training • One week Algebra I Institute for all teachers • One week calculator training for all teachers • Carnegie Learning Systems 1 week training for Algebra I teachers • Frequent training in alignment of curriculum, including summers

48. The New Curriculum… • Align curriculum (TEKS) in core subjects • Plan the instructional year • Conduct Level Meetings • Create common lesson plans • Conduct frequent benchmarking to assess progress and areas of need • Provide levels of support kid by kid

49. Ongoing Plan: • Actively visit student placement • Revise lessons plans as needed • Spiraling of tested items • Modify department tests • All teachers strive to become experts on what and how items are tested • Alignment of state curriculum (TEKS) to what is tested (TAKS)

50. TAAS Results 1996-2002