Building Great Schools

1. Building Great Schools BCSSA, November 2012 Ben Levin, OISE @BenLevinOISE – Twitter Webspace.oise.utoronto.ca/~levinben/

2. Outline • How high can we aim? • What makes great schools • How to get there • Key strategies • Challenges • Implications for BC leaders

4. But First…. Thank you for your hard work on behalf of students and families.

6. And a Challenge It’s easy to bemoan the problems and blame others. But who is going to take the lead in working for positive improvement? In reaching out to others to build trust and shared effort on behalf of students? Is today the beginning of something?

7. World Education Challenge • Better outcomes than ever before • In a broader range of areas than ever before • For more students than ever before • With less inequity than ever before • And within available resources

9. Your Views? • What do you think are the main strengths of your system? • What are the main challenges you are facing?

10. BC System • Good levels of achievement

14. High School Graduation BC 6 year rate Ont 5 year rate 68 75 77 79 81 82 • 80 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81

15. BC High School Grad Rate • Aboriginal grad rate 54% and improving • Special ed grad rate 53% and improving

16. Big Variations Across BC • Demographics • Socio-economic status • Geography • Achievement

17. BC System • Good levels of achievement • But also fairly high variability • SES, Aboriginal, disability • And fairly static in recent years • FSA, graduation rate, PCACP • Satisfaction also static

18. Much is Possible… • Our students have high aspirations

20. How Much Could We Improve? • Much variance among schools with similar students • Limits of improvement are not known • The drive to improve must be unrelenting

23. What This Means • It DOES NOT mean that schools can single-handedly overcome all the inequities in our society. • It DOES mean that schools can often make more difference than we think.

24. Improvement is not just about belief or expectations It is about how we act on them

25. First Step: Don’t do the wrong things!

34. What Makes Great Schools? • Excellent student outcomes on a range of indicators • With low levels of inequity • A warm, supportive, inclusive place • Intellectually stimulating and engaging • Easy to say, hard to do

35. How To Get There • Teaching and learning • Personal relationships • Community relationships

36. Teaching and Learning • Teaching more than teachers • Teaching as a demanding technical skill • Common practice with individual adaptation • Draw on best evidence • Research and professional knowledge • Built collectively among all teachers • Thinking as a profession – practice guidelines

38. Examples • More formative assessment • More student engagement • More higher order tasks • Maintaining a broad and rich program • Less tracking • Preventing failure as much as possible • Second chances

39. Special Education • Has had major successes • But now carries big risks • Is it producing outcomes? • Helping teachers develop competence with diverse learners • Intensive early intervention without labelling

40. Personal Relationships • Shared responsibility for all students • Every child matters • Every child has more potential than we think • Everyone feels a sense of belonging and respect • We KNOW our students • Early intervention when things are off track • Adult relationships also positive and respectful • Student voice in classrooms and schools

41. Community Outreach • Reaching out to parents and families • To support children’s progress • Building broader community relations • Ethnic, religious, sports and other groups • Working with employers • Work experience, mentoring • Community study • Place as a curriculum area

42. What’s Less Important • Curriculum • Organization, structure, timetable • Information technology • Resources • They matter, but less so • But different in secondary schools

43. Infusing Equity • Understanding who is not successful • Within schools, not just between schools • Understanding those students’ situations • Infusing equity concerns in every part of what the school does • Teaching practices • Curriculum and resources • Relationships with students • Reaching out to parents and communities

45. What It Takes to Do this • A small number of clear goals • High expectations for all • Capacity-building • Collective development of skills • Work with the people you have • Positive approach • Partnerships • Use of data/research

47. Effective Implementation • Often neglected • Persistence • Focus • Implementation systems, resources • Alignment • Feedback • From all partners

49. Resources