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This article explores the importance of culturally responsive schools and how they can provide positive educational opportunities for all students. It emphasizes the need for a bold mindset, innovative ideas, and shared accountability in creating a school culture that supports every student's potential. The article also discusses the shift from decisions based on intuition to data-driven decision-making, the importance of distributed leadership, and the impact of effective teachers on student achievement. It concludes with a call to action to assess and address teacher beliefs and practices to create a more inclusive and effective learning environment.
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Section 4 Culturally Responsive Schools
Theodore Roosevelt Give me the courage of a lion, the skin of a hippopotamus, and the heart of an angel, and I will lead you from your current reality to the vision.
Culturally Responsive Schools • Bold mindset • Innovative ideas • Positive educational opportunities • No limits on a child’s potential But how do we make it happen?
Shared Accountability “My students” Typical successful student TO FROM “Our students” Specific struggling students
Evidence-based practice Decisions based on intuition and past practice TO FROM Decisions made and evaluated using data on student outcomes
Distributed Leadership From: • Leadership vested in formal position • Top down decisions To: • Everyone has agency and responsibility for student success • Teacher leadership and team decision making
Make the invisible visible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4
How is your system working? If you were to conduct an Equity Audit, what might you discover? • Review the TAPR report and System Safeguards • What groups are not performing as well as the All student group? • How are these student groups currently supported?
How did we get here? If every organization is perfectly designed to achieve the results they get. • What programs and practices contributed to these results? • How are they working? • Are adjustments needed?
Lauren Resnick The best intervention is excellent original instruction.
Teachers Matter! When it comes to student performance on reading and math tests, a teacher is estimated to have two to three times the impact of any other school factor, including services, facilities, and even leadership. Teachers Matter: Understanding Teachers' Impact on Student Achievement. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2012. http://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP693z1-2012-09.
Impact on Student Achievement The best way to assess teachers' effectiveness is to look at their on-the-job performance, including what they do in the classroom and how much progress their students make on achievement tests. Effective teaching has the potential to help level the playing field.
Indicators of Teacher Efficacy Teacher beliefs and behaviors Tutors General contractors Custodians Referral Agents Winfield, L. “Teacher Beliefs Toward At Rick students in Inner City Schools” 1986
Tutors Believe students can improve and it is their job to make that happen. They take personal responsibility for the achievement of each student. Their work is personal and important.
General Contractors Also believe improvement is possible but they look for ancillary personnel to provide support (aides, resource teachers, pull out interventions, etc.). They do not take personal responsibility for all students entrusted to them.
Custodians Do not believe that much can be done to help students. They do not look for others to to help them. They accept that some students are better at learning or try harder than others. Custodians maintain students at the levels at which they find them.
Referral Agents Do not believe much can be done to help students improve. They shift responsibility for learning to other school personnel (ie. special education or bilingual teachers). They believe that some students need to fulfill the roles on society’s lower rungs.
Turn and Talk • What do behaviors tell you about teacher/leader beliefs? • Where are teachers/leaders in your school/district? • What evidence do you have to support that assertion? • What might you do to move teachers/leaders toward greater levels of efficacy?
Focus on student learning Focus on curriculum delivery and teaching practice TO FROM Focus on student learning and access to instructional content
Formative assessment Use of summative assessments to evaluate and grade student performance TO FROM Use of formative assessments to diagnose student learning needs and evaluate instruction
Sense of Efficacy Belief that struggling students have skill that can be addressed; a sense of confidence in helping all students succeed TO FROM Belief that struggling students have skill that can be addressed; a sense of confidence in helping all students succeed
Use of Clear Precise Language Acceptance of jargon and/or top down mandates without checking for common understanding TO FROM Development of clear, common definitions of terms and goals; use of simple precise language
Putting FACES on the Data – What Great Leaders do! • Jigsaw the article. • Discuss • How does Fullan & Sharratt’s approach differ from your current practice? • What information does the focus on individual students provide that percentages do not? • Why might you want to use this process? Lyn Sharratt & Michael Fullan, Journal of Staff Development (JSD), December, 2011
Move to Action • Consider Fullan & Sharratt’sapproach. • Review the actions you previously considered. • Which actions are the most powerful? • Pick 3 to make an action plan • What tools do you need? • When will it happen? • Who will take the lead? • Who needs to be in the conversation?
