Creating Conditions for Powerful Teaching and Learning

1. Creating Conditions for Powerful Teaching and Learning Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D. Steinhardt School of Education New York University

2. A Generation of Reform: Lessons Learned? • Reforms treated as fads - too much change, not enough follow through or evaluation • Too much focus on assessment, not enough on teaching and learning • Too top down - insufficient “buy-in” and input from teachers • Insufficient attention to school culture • Insufficient attention to social needs of students • Insufficient attention to real examples of turnarounds and success

3. I. Excellent teaching must be cultivated and supported • A combination of skill and art • It draws upon the personality and creativity of teachers • Schools must strive for consistency not uniformity in teaching • Intellectual rather than technical work • Requires a commitment to ongoing learning • Content knowledge • Pedagogical skill • Relationship building across differences • The best teachers teach the way students learn rather than expecting students to learn the way they teach

4. Teachers must focus on evidence of learning… • Make expectations clear and standards explicit by modeling and exposing students to high quality work • Utilize diagnostic tools to check for understanding • Create a safe learning environment so that student can learn from their mistakes • Provide numerous opportunities for students to revise and resubmit work • Focus on motivation and engagement by incorporating student interests and soliciting feedback and questions from students • Analyze student work with a focus on what student errors tell us about our teaching

5. Good Teaching is Like Good Cooking • Engaging, interesting • Active learning, class time is work time • Leads to acquisition of knowledge and skill • Cultivates ongoing desire to learn • Taste good • Looks good, smells good • Nutritious and good for you • Makes you want more

6. Class time is work time

7. Discussion • What can be done to reduce teacher isolation so that good practices are shared and common challenges are discussed together? • What needs to occur to create an atmosphere of shared vulnerability? • What can the district elevate, support and recognize excellence in teaching?

8. I1. Highly effective teachers transcend race, class and cultural Differences • Is it a problem? • Met Life Survey: 40% low income students, 45% minority students report that they do not identify with their teachers • Most teachers claim to be “color blind” yet many report having greater difficulty working with minority and low income students • Disparities in achievement and discipline referrals for a disproportionate number of students of color suggest that there is a problem • Good news - Students are less biased than adults. They are generally willing to learn from any adult who cares and takes an interest in them.

9. Indications that cross cultural teaching is a problem: • Normalization of failure: blaming kids and parents • Differential expectations - lower standards for students of color • Conflict in the classroom, lack of respect and fear among teachers • Stereotypes unchallenged: students perceive racial identity and achievement as linked • Unwilling to accept responsibility for their role in raising achievement

10. What does it take to teach across cultures effectively? • Skills and cultural competence - you can’t teach what you don’t know • Awareness of and willingness to unlearn personal bias • Ability to affirm the cultural identities of students • Research shows students respond well to teachers that demonstrate: • Firmness, organization and clear goals • Compassion – identify and empathize with students • Challenge- students are expected to learn • Patience – A willingness to help students who don’t “get it” quickly

11. Cultural Competence • The ability to work effectively as a professional across race, class, linguistic and cultural boundaries based upon a sensitivity to difference and an willingness to withhold judgment. This includes the ability to establish trust and rapport by developing relationships premised on respect and empathy.

12. Keys to Success • Teachers understand the external pressures students face and take that into account when working with students • Gangs, teen pregnancy, pressure to work • Develop partnerships and strategies to meet student needs • Funds of Knowledge: View the community and parents as a resource – Edison Elementary • Balanced commitment to excellence and equity – Henshaw Middle School • High standards with high support • Homework is an equity issue • Clear focus on life beyond school – Thurgood Marshall HS • Strategies for developing social capital and cultural capital • Learning to code switch - Speech, dress, demeanor

13. Beating the odds at Bronx Academy for Language and Technology

14. Discussion: • What have you found to be most helpful in developing strong relationships with students across racial and cultural differences? • How has your background helped or hindered you in this work? • What skills, knowledge or information do you think you need to increase your effectiveness as a teacher?

15. Things to be aware of when teaching cross culturally: • Avoid tendency to take a “color blind” posture toward students • Avoid tendency to stereotype your students based on race or culture • Be aware of how unconscious bias may influence your interactions • Strive to know yourself and your students so that your relationships are not affected by race/cultural differences

16. III. Lessons from Effective Schools • They have systems to monitor academic performance – PS 28 • They use data to make decisions about school improvement • Students and teachers are clear about performance standards • They engage in constant assessment – School of Future, Success Academies • Performance assessment • Learn from and examine student work • They have shared and distributed leadership • They have a culture of high expectations for all – MS 323 • Systems of mutual accountability for teachers, students and parents • Rituals, norms and practices that reinforce core values – Academy of Pacific Rim

17. Effective schools support teachers • Provide access to mentors – selected based upon a record of effectiveness and an ability to work well with colleagues • Provide time for observation and feedback – from veteran teachers and knowledgeable administrators • Provide time to collaborate and learn from student work • Provide content area coaches – in classrooms • Don’t assign new teachers to teach the most challenging classes

18. Utilize Strategies that are Effective at Reducing Academic Disparities • Active learning, interactive classroom, on-task learning • Personalized learning plans • Inquiry-based pedagogical strategies • Simulations • Socratic seminars • Project-based learning • Experiential learning • Student leadership in the classroom • Public presentations of student work

19. Utilize interventions that work • AVID, MESA • Demystify success • Provide support through peer groups • Popular culture in the classroom - Algebra Project • Accelerated summer school • After-school and community-based enrichment • Extra curricular activities - sports, music, clubs • Transition classes • Smaller classes for students who are behind

20. Need for a Paradigm Shift • New Paradigm • Intelligence and ability are influenced by opportunity • Job of school is to cultivate talent and ability among students • Resources allocated based on student need • Focus on “whole child” • Discipline used to reinforce school values and norms • Parents as partners • Old Paradigm • Intelligence is innate • Job of schools is to measure intelligence and sort accordingly • Inequity in resource allocation: best resources to highest achievers • Focus on achievement as measured by test performance • Discipline used to weed out the “bad” kids • Parents as consumers

21. Conditions Needed to Raise Student Achievement: • Cultural Changes: • Supportive relationships between teachers and students • Willingness among teachers to share ideas, curricula, materials • Practices reinforce core values • Peer culture where it is “cool to be smart” • Partnerships between school, community and parents • Systems to facilitate school effectiveness • Diagnostic assessment • Early intervention procedures • Evaluation to insure quality control • On-site, ongoing professional development • Extended learning opportunities

22. Discussion • Which lessons from the experiences of effective schools are most relevant to your school? • What would it take to shift the paradigm in your school?

23. IV. To create a culture of learning schools must: • Know their students: • Academic needs – To determine the nature of gaps in learning, and identify and respond to their academic needs. • Cultural frame of reference - They understand how to incorporate the history, culture and lived experience of students to stimulate, motivate and make the curriculum relevant • Learning styles - They understand how their students learn best and they implement instructional strategies that engage them. • Personal needs and challenges - Understand obstacles students face outside of school. Work together to devise strategies to overcome obstacles.

24. Schools must have clear goals and a theory of change • Map out a theory of change • If we do x + y + z, we can expect - ? • Brockton HS: If we emphasize literacy across curriculum, provide training for all teachers, time for students to read and write in school we will obtain higher test scores • What resources, support and allies do you need to achieve your implement your theory?

25. Steps to take when implementing a change in culture • 1) Establish shared ownership of the problems • Use data to identify areas where change is needed • Provide staff with time to visit successful schools serving similar populations to observe patterns of interaction, teaching and learning, etc. • Solicit input from stakeholders - students, parents, community • Build sense of community with staff and provide opportunity for discussion of the problems identified

26. 2) Develop a Plan for Change • Form committees focused on areas where change is needed: student support, discipline, professional development – shared ownership • Set clear, measurable and achievable goals – short, medium and long-term • Implement rituals, practices and procedures that will serve as the anchor of the new culture • Make sure that your plan is logically linked to the problems facing your school • Provide ample opportunity for discussion of the plan, to answer questions and to receive input for strengthening plan

27. 3) Implement the Plan • Be sure that all staff understand what is expected of them • Collect baseline data so that you can monitor change over time • Check in at regular intervals to assess how effectively plan is being implemented • Get input from students as well

28. Contact Information • pedro.noguera@nyu.edu • imotionmagazine.com- education rights section for articles and papers • Recent books – • Creating the Opportunity to Learn: Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement Gap with A. Wade Boykin (ASCD, 2011) • Unfinished Business: Closing the Achievement Gap in Our Nation’s Schools (Josey Bass 2006) • Schooling for Resilience: Improving the Trajectories of Black Boys and Latino Boys (Harvard Education Press, 2014)