Secrets of Success of High-Poverty/High- Performing Schools Tampa, Florida 2013

1. Secrets of Success of High-Poverty/High- Performing SchoolsTampa, Florida 2013

2. ROBERT D. BARR OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY Cell: 208-860-1732 rdalebarr@aol.com

6. Our World Has Changed

7. The American Dream In the past, to gain middle class status, you started at the bottom, worked hard and sacrificed. Does that still work?

8. Technological Revolution Computers/Laptops/GPS Mobiles, Electronic Pads, Electronic Books Jump Drives, I Pods, PlayStations Blackberry, Cell Phones, E-Mail, Fax Digital Cameras, Overnight Mail Industrial Robots, ATMs, On Line Banking Micro Computers: Home and Autos Drone Aircraft/Armed Forces Robots What has changed in your life in the past 10 years? 15 years? How will your life change in the next 12 years?

9. Millions of Jobs Eliminated in the Economic Marketplace • Telephone Operators • Secretaries/Librarians • Bank Tellers/Book Store Clerks • Cashiers, Clerks • Auto Workers/Manufacturing Jobs • Postal/Utility Workers • Film Processors/Stock Brokers • Armed Forces Soldiers/Pilots • Teachers

10. World Of Work • Usually at minimum wage or lower • Outsourced to developing countries/replaced by technology • Unemployment may remain at 7% • Start at bottom, little chance for advancement

11. New Jobs • 70% of the fastest growing jobs require education beyond high school • 40% of all new jobs will require at least an associate’s degree

13. We Have Left the World of Work and Entered The Age Of The Mind “ The geeks have won”

14. Predicting Income Based on Educational Level For decades, studies have demonstrated the dollar value of educational attainment. The following figures represent the average annual salaries for males and females between the ages of 25 and 65, for each educational level in 2012. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of the Census, 2012

15. All Students Must Have High Academic Achievement • Or live out their lives unemployed, underemployed, or unemployable • Education…the only door of Opportunity • Education…the ultimate Civil Right

16. Our World Has Changed

17. Education: “A Matter of Life or Death” To Be Successful: • Every student must learn to read, read well and read early • Must master the basics, be successful in elementary and middle school, graduate from high school • Complete some type of post secondary training or education “A new pathway to the American Dream”

18. Learning to Read Is the foundation of all learning The prerequisite to all later learning Has life long implications

19. THE AMERICAN DREAM “ Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future and the future is ours” Cesar Chavez

20. Elementary Students At Risk Low Socio-Economic Background Attends School With Many Other Poor Students Chance of graduating from high school near zero Reading One Year Below Grade Level Have Been Retained Increasing Achievement of At-Risk Students at Each Grade Level US Dept. of Ed.

21. Long Term Effects of Illiteracy and Learning Disabilities • Low levels of literacy are powerful predictors of welfare dependency and incarceration—and the high costs associated with these interventions. • More than 1/2 the adult prison population has a literacy level below those required by the labor market. More than 80% are high school dropouts. • Nearly 40% of adjudicated juvenile delinquents have treatable learning disabilities that were overlooked and undiagnosed in school. Barr, R.D. & Parrett, W.H. Hope Fulfilled for At-Risk and Violent Youth. (2001)‏

22. A National Tragedy • Thousands of failing schools/all levels • Nationally, the achievement gap is being closed at thousands of elementary and middle schools. • Unfortunately, after early success many poor and minority students falter at the high school level and began to fail. • Nationally, 25% drop out of school; over a million students each year.

23. A Significant Achievement Gap Exists: Between Poor and Affluent Students and White and Minority Students

24. Secrets of Success High Poverty/High Performing Schools

25. Ensure Effective District and School Leadership

26. SOS # 1 Leadership “The foundation of all effective school improvement is leadership: collaboration, vision, honesty, planning and a can do attitude.” • Confront brutal facts • Develop Consensus/Collaboration • Establish measurable goals • Monitor progress • Everyone held accountable “What is your “leadership” role in your school”?

27. The Will to Act Swift, dramatic improvement requires an encounter with the “brutal facts”– those awkward, unpleasant truths that organizations prefer not to address—or even talk about. You must start with the data! M. Schmoker, A Chance for Change, American School Board Journal, April 2007, J. Collins, Good to Great, 2001.

28. Leading Improvement Start With Data Set 3 to 5 Goals / Targets Meet Frequently / Monitor Mid-course Corrections Celebrate Progress

29. SOS: # 2 The Power of We • Together we are better! • Together, ordinary teachers can do amazing things • School wide consensus of beliefs essential: vision, goals and strategies • Together, teachers surround students with strong, common messages of success/high expectations • Professional Learning Communities

30. We Must Agree • That all students can and will learn. • To do everything necessary to ensure that all students learn • On how to respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning • On monitoring students until goals are achieved/high expectations • On working together

31. The Power of We “Students live up to or down to our expectations” “One teacher with high expectations can have a dramatic impact on low income students. Imagine the power of surrounding a child with high expectations by all of the adults in a school”

32. Together We are Better! • Title I: Basic • Title I: Migrant • Title I: Neglected and Delinquent • Title II: Teacher Quality • Title III: English Language Learners The Power of We: “When we collaborate, cooperate and coordinate, we multiply our effectiveness”

33. Eliminate Practices That Manufacture Low Achievement

34. SOS # 3 Eliminate Practices That Manufacture Low Achievement • Low Expectations • Inexperienced Teachers • Fail To Teach Basics • Retain, Track, Pull-Out Programs • Miss-assignment to Special Education • Blame Students and Families • Employ “Bell Curve” Mentality • Pedagogy of Poverty

35. The results are devastating Kids who come in a little behind, leave a lot behind. Kati Haycock

36. Understand and Develop Programs for Poor and Culturally Diverse Students

37. Culture of Poverty • Poor Health Care/Nutrition • Few Books/Computers/Vocabulary • Parents: Little Education, Highly Mobile • Unchallenging Summer Vacation • Low Self Confidence/Externally Controlled: Learned Helplessness • Many children prove to be highly resilient regarding the effects of poverty

38. Research on Vocabulary • Affluent Families: 2,300 words/hour • Blue Collar Families: 1,200 words/hour • Poverty Families: 600 words /hour

39. SOS 4: Programs That Address Needs • Nutrition: Breakfast, Lunch, Weekend and Summer • Focus on Language, Vocabulary and Reading/Demanding Curriculum • Summer Academic Program • Parent Education/Mobility Plan • Build Student Self Confidence

40. School Wide Strategies to Improve Performance

41. SOS 5: Extend Learning “If a student is behind, he or she will never catch up without additional quality instructional time.” Start early: Preschool / Head Start, full Kindergarten Extend day, week, year, graduation Summer catch up / acceleration Homework clubs / tutoring

42. 6: Ensure Effective Basic Skills Instruction SOS “Basic skills are the foundation of all learning, and nothing is as important as reading.” Intensive emphasis on basic skills, especially reading Re-organize K-3 Use research based programs / strategies Elementary loop teachers Secondary  scheduled interventions/basic skills center Targeted professional development for teachers

43. What Works! Reading • One to one tutoring: most effective instructional strategy • Tutoring: specialist, teacher, adult, older student, student peer • Research based strategies/proven programs

44. READING: MIDDLE SCHOOL • Thorough Assessment At End of 5th Grade • Summer Catch Up Prior to 6th Grade • Basic Skills Center/Intensive Catch Up • Reading Course/Intensive Catch up • Reading In The Content Areas/common Core • Literacy Coaching

45. Reading High School • Careful assessment of reading levels of all students at the end of the 8th grade. • Intensive summer remediation prior to 9th grade. • Intensive basic skills and reading catch up program taught by specialist during the 9th grade. • Reading in the content areas/common core.

46. Brainstorming prior knowledge Vocabulary frontloading Visual representation Read aloud / think aloud Paired reading Leveled questioning Structured note taking Using text structure Predicting Assessing the author’s purpose Summarizing text Group Discussion Self-selected reading Comprehension Strategies for Adolescents Grace Rubenstein, The New Drill. Edutopia, February 2006

47. Reading is when you know what sounds the letters make and then you say them fast. They come out words, and then you are reading.R. J., age 5

48. You can read when you look at car and then you look at can and know you drive one and open the other one and there is only one eensy line different.Shelby, age 6

49. It’s when you read and nobody tells you the words. But you shouldn’t do it in the bathroom. My daddy does and my mom yells at him.Paulette, age 5

50. Words go in your eyes and come out your mouth…but it’s not like puking or anything. You say the words and that means you’re reading.Loren, age 4