Effective Schools Research

1. Effective Schools Research Principal’s Institute May 27, 2010 John Vail

2. Correlates of Effective SchoolsLawrence W. Lezotte, Ph.D.Original Research by Edmonds, Brookover, & Lezotte • Instructional Leadership • Clear and Focused Mission • Safe and Orderly Environment • Climate of High Expectations for Success • Frequent Monitoring of Student Progress • Positive Home-School Relations • Opportunities to Learn and Student Time on Task

3. Correlates of Effective Schools- A brief history • Identification Phase (1960s – mid-1970s) • Prompted by the Coleman report • Descriptive Phase (1970 – 1980) • Study effective schools in depth • Prescriptive Phase (1985 – 1995) • A demand was created • The School District (1985 – present) • The importance of working at the district level • Total System Alignment (1995 – present) • The fit with a “results-oriented accountability system”

4. Correlates of Effective Schools - Reading Individually read pages 6-10 What affirmed you? What surprised you? What challenged you?

5. Drawing from Research • Imbalanced Leadership: Using the 21 Responsibilities to Remake the Principalship -4McREAL??? • What Works in (Other) Schools – Robert M. Warzono • Translating Research into a new book every month • Accountability Inaction – Douglas P. (a.k.a. Pet) Peeves • Evidence from the 30/30/30 School whose motto is “Hey at least we add up to 90.”

6. But Seriously • What Works ….(Marzano) • Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum • Challenging Goals and Effective Feedback • Parent and Community Involvement • Safe and Orderly Environment • Collegiality and Professionalism • Instructional Strategies • Classroom Management • Curriculum Design • Accountability in Action (Reeves) • Focus on Academic Achievement • Clear Curriculum Choices • Frequent Assessment of Student Progress • Emphasis on Nonfiction Writing • Collaborative Scoring of Student Work

7. Balanced Leadership(McREL – Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005 – based on work by K. Cotton, 2003 • Outreach • Ideals/Beliefs • Communication • Situational Awareness • Flexibility • Monitor/Evaluate • Change Agent • Intellectual Stimulation • Relationships • Affirmation • Order • Input • Discipline • Resources • Involvement in Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment (CIA) • Focus • Knowledge of CIA • Optimize • Culture • Contingent Rewards • Visibility

8. Matching Exercise Using the Seven Correlates of Effective Schools as the Main Categories, place each of the other research items under one of the correlates or under “other”

9. Basic Truths from the Effective Schools Research • All children can learn and come to school motivated to do so. • Schools control enough of the variables to assure that virtually all students do learn. • Schools should be held accountable for measured student achievement. • Schools should disaggregate measured student achievement in order to be certain that students, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, are successfully learning the intended school curriculum. • The internal and external stakeholders of the individual school are the most qualified and capable people to plan and implement the changes necessary to fulfill the learning-for-all mission. Lezotte

10. Ron Edmonds (1935-1983) “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”

11. Quality Equity The effective school is a school that can, in outcome (performance or results) terms, reflective of its learning for all mission, demonstrate the presence of equity in quality.

12. “There may be schools out there that have strong instructional leaders, but are not yet effective; however, we have never yet found an effective school that did not have a strong instructional leader as the principal.” Edmonds

13. Educational leaders who are not ready to “bet” their legacy and, maybe even their professional career, on demonstrated student results will be uncomfortable with the effective schools concept.

14. Self-Evaluation Scrunch and Sling The Human Graph

15. TEACHER FACTORS • “The impact of decisions made by individual teachers is far greater than the impact of decisions made at the school level.” • “More can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor.” Robert Marzano

16. The Impact of Teacher Effectiveness Percentile Ranking after two years of instruction Percentile Ranking Marzano, 2003

17. Considering Time Please pull out your handout entitled, “Factors that Impact…”

18. Allocated Time Actual Time Engaged Time Opportunities To Respond And Receive Feedback Time as a factor on student learning

19. Use of Time • “In every school, from poor to affluent, we seldom caught kids reading or writing. … What we did see was staggering amounts of coloring.” • (Mike Schmoker – 100’s of classroom observations) • “…that coloring was the single most predominant activity in the schools they had observed – right up through middle school.” • Learning 24/7 Classroom Observation Study • “Doug Reeves was similarly dismayed by the amount of time students spent “coloring, cutting, and pasting.” • Making Standards Work As cited in “Results Now”, (2006), Mike Schmoker

20. Observations and Feedback • Most teachers I have observed and with whom I have conversed work very hard, care very much, and want to do an excellent job…but • Coloring and craft projects are alive, well, and very time-consuming in some places where there are students who can’t read, write, or do math. • Clear, common, and critical learning objectives are rarely known by the teacher. Even less frequently is a learning objective articulated to the students in the classroom. • Teachers speak often of being overwhelmed and the lack of time to do things well. They believe they have too much material to cover.

21. The Three Critical FactorsJohn Hattie, 1999 • Clear Learning Goals • High Rates of Positive/Descriptive Feedback • Reconceptualization of Information Innovations, changes, initiatives, etc. merely alter the probability of the three factors occurring. It is the individual teacher that determines whether innovations actually impact teaching. Teachers who impact student learning the most constantly innovate and seek better ways.

22. Conclusion: It is the ongoing interactions between the teacher and the student that are the most important to becoming a better school.

23. So what does that mean to the principal? I believe that it means that you should invest your time, treasure, and talent on improving instruction in the classroom In other words, be an instructional leader!

24. So what does that look like? • It’s about hiring, cultivating, empowering, providing resources for, developing, educating, motivating, acknowledging,… teachers who • Focus their teaching on very clear learning objectives and make those objectives crystal clear to their students. • Provide high rates of positive feedback relative to the learning objectives that describes where the child is in their learning and what it takes to get better. • Helps students make connections in their learning between past learning and new situations.

25. How is this done? • If students need the following to become proficient and successful: • clear objectives • high rates of positive, descriptive feedback • connections between what they do and know to new situations • why would the needs be any different for your teachers to become proficient and successful?

26. How is this done in terms of Clear Objectives for the teacher? • Teachers need … • Clear, common, and consistent learning targets for their students • Clear, common, and effective strategies that are expected to be used with fidelity

27. How is this done in terms of providing teachers with high rates of positive and descriptive feedback? • Teachers need … • Timely and relevant student data regarding progress toward learning objectives • Descriptive feedback regarding strategy and time usage • Supportive and descriptive feedback regarding classroom management

28. How is this done in terms of helping teachers see the connections? • Teachers need … • Repeated telling, showing, and acknowledging how their efforts tie to the bigger mission of the school • Encouragement and support to transfer skills and strategies across subjects and groups of students

29. Professional Development vs. Developing your Professionals

30. Some Facts about PD • A 1995 analysis found that PD costs ranged between $1800 to $3500 per year per teacher (Miller, Lord, & Domey, 1994). • Effectiveness of traditional PD in terms of changing teacher skill and behavior is estimated to be between 0 and 20% (Joyce & Showers, 2002; Bush, 1984). • There is a growing consensus … teachers need pd that is interactive with their teaching practices, allowing for multiple cycles of presentation and assimilation of, and reflection on, knowledge (Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi, & Gallagher, 2007).

31. Processing and Planning Identifying Roadblocks Finding Solutions