Pathways to Effective Schools Ellen Goldring Department of

Pathways to Effective Schools Ellen Goldring Department of Leadership, Policy & Organizations Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

How to Approach School Improvement?

Agenda • What are effective school correlates? • What are specific examples? • Why are they important? • What can I do about them as a school leader?

Correlates of Effective Schools

The Journey Towards Effective Schools • 1960’s era of social inequality – Students of color and children in poverty – Wide gap in educational attainment and drop out • Coleman report: Equality of Educational Opportunity – School resources and conditions do not explain the gap – Family circumstances strongest predictor of student achievement

Response to Coleman: What does explain student achievement? • Open the window (black box) into schooling – School processes and features that consistently lead to high student achievement for students at –risk – Compared high achieving and low achieving schools with students from similar family backgrounds: outliers • THE RESULT: Effective School Correlates or Pathways to School Improvement

School Improvement and Effectiveness Correlates • Factors or correlates work together • School is the unit of improvement: schools matter! • Continue to evolve to meet current context, expectations, and needs of students • The principal can influence all the factors • Research has continued to inform practices

School Effect? • Classroom? • Teacher? • The Student? • Consistent-Coherent-Planed • School-wide priorities, culture, practices, procedures, programs –everywhere, everyplace everyone • NOT pockets of excellence

Correlates of Effective Schools

1. Clear and Focused Mission • Original: Articulated, common mission; Focus on academic mission • Current: Clearly guides and drives actions and decisions – – – – High standards for all students Rigorous learning goals Accountability Involvement of the whole school community Measurable goals for student learning and academic progress. Guides the daily practices and decisions of all stakeholders Unity and clarity of purpose Learning focus for all –teachers too

Example of Clear and Focused Mission Respect All, Value All

2. Safe and Orderly Environment (Supportive Culture) • Initial: Discipline, physical and emotional safety, school climate that allowed learning—absence of behaviors not-conducive to learning • Current: Culture of support and responsiveness – Collaborative cultures, community of learners – Professional communities focused on student learning, de-privatized practice and reflective dialogue – Effective professional communities are deeply rooted in the academic and social learning goals of the schools

Examples of Safe and Orderly Climate (Supportive Culture) 1. Learning Communities: Question and challenge teaching practices – Respect but question creative contributions and passions of individuals; Learn from each other 2. Positive Behavior Support

3. Climate of High Expectations • Original: All students can learn and reach mastery; staff have sense of efficacy that they can help all students reach mastery (focus on basic skills); focus on beliefs and attitudes • Current: Urgency for learning for all – Focus on actions and strategies (differentiated instruction, flexible grouping and reteaching) – Rigorous academic content standards • Provide depth and specificity • High cognitive demand • Coherence and alignment across grade levels and subjects • Coordination • Do not adopt any program or idea—focus on strategies and interventions that connect and are consistent

Examples: High Expectations 1. Rigourous, Visible Academic Standards Analyze problems by identifying relationships, telling relevant from irrelevant information, identifying missing information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns. Example: Solve the problem: “Develop a method for finding all the prime numbers up to 100. ” Notice that any numbers that 4, 6, 8, … divide into also divide exactly by 2, and so you do not need to test 4, 6, 8, …(Grade 6; Mathematics-Indiana) 2. Standards for All Students

Examples: Teacher High Expectations Teache r / Team Membe r Annual Professiona l Developme nt Goals Focus of PD Activity Smith 1. 2. 3. ___ Linked to Student Learning Outcomes ___ Job-embedded ___ On-going and Sustained, with Follow-up ___ Incorporates Authentic, Active Learning ___ Includes Subject-Matter Content ___ Encourages Reflection ___ Incorporates Collaboration w/Colleagues ___ Measures Impact on Student Achievement Jones 1. 2. 3. ___ Linked to Student Learning Outcomes ___ Job-embedded ___ On-going and Sustained, with Follow-up ___ Incorporates Authentic, Active Learning Correlates of Effective PD

4. Instructional Leadership 4. • Original: Focus on improving instruction rather than management; strong principal leadership; focus on student achievement as the mission • Current: Learning–centered leadership – Distributed leadership – Support teacher professional development – Data –based decisions – Culture of collaboration

Example: Instructional Leadership Strategic Goal 1. Goal #1 Strategy 1. 1 What is your idea for reaching your goal? Action Step 1. 1. A Action required while implementing Strategy #1. 1 Responsibility Who’s going to accomplish the action? Timeline When will he/she start and accomplish the action? Resources Needed Measuremen t of Goal Attainment What resources will the person need? How will you measure if you are reaching your goal? At what intervals?

Examples: Instructional Leadership

5. Opportunity to Learn and 5. Time on Task • Original: Focus and protect instructional time; – Give all students opportunity to learn • Current: Quality Instruction and Time – Support teachers and provide feedback to improve instruction – Ensure all students have access to high quality instruction – Extended and ongoing learning opportunities (after school, Saturday, tutoring)

Examples: Opportunity to Learn High Quality Teachers High Quality Curriculum High Quality Instruction

6. Frequent Monitoring of 6. Student Progress • Original: Teachers monitor student learning • Current: ACCOUNTABILITY for ALL STUDENTS-focus on outcomes There is individual and collective responsibility among leadership, faculty, and students for achieving the rigorous student academic and social learning goals.

Examples: Frequent Monitoring of Student Learning • Multiple types and sources of data : teacher record -keeping, formative assessments, student work products, criterion-referenced tests, and standardized measures of student performance. • Direct observations in classrooms. • Disaggregate information on the important conditions and outcomes of schooling (e. g. , program placement of students, test results) by relevant characteristics of students (e. g. , gender, race, social class). • Tight alignment between local school-based and external assessments

Examples: Frequent Monitoring

Examples: Actions of Frequent Monitoring • Identify individual students who need remedial assistance, • Tailor instruction to individual students’ needs, identify and correct gaps in the curriculum, • Improve or increase the involvement of parents in student learning, • Assign or reassign students to classes or groups. • Use data to help teachers identify areas where they need to strengthen content knowledge or teaching skills. In other words, monitoring is used to focus professional development. • What do students need to know and be able to do: (what) • How will we know when they know it: Formative assessments and student work

7. Home-School Relations 7. • Original: Parents support the school and help achieve the mission • Current: Expanded role for parents, families and the community – – Authentic engagement and involvement Focus on academic and learning Open and increased two-way communication Collaboration and partnerships (Center on Family, School, and Community Partnerships, John Hopkins University)

Parenting Assist families with parenting skills and setting home conditions to support children as students. Also, assist schools to better understand families. Examples: Home-School Relationships Communicating Conduct effective communications from school-to-home and from hometo-school about school programs and student progress. Volunteering Organize volunteers and audiences to support the school and students. Provide volunteer opportunities in various locations and at various times. Learning at Home Involve families with their children on homework and other curriculumrelated activities and decisions. Decision Making Include families as participants in school decisions, and develop parent leaders and representatives. Collaborating with the Community Coordinate resources and services from the community for families, students, and the school, and provide services to

Why? • Each correlate is a pathway for school improvement: together they are powerful forces • Schools can directly influence and change each of the correlates • Powerful leavers for change • Leaders are key to facilitating this change • Impact Student achievement and learning

How? • Shared understanding and learning: Professional learning community • Collect Data: Where are we? How are we doing? • School improvement processes and strategic planning around each • NOT A CHRISTMAS TREE APPROACH • Pervasive practices • Consistent, unwavering focus

For Each Correlate:

First Step: Learning to Identify and Recognize The Activity: Going on an Archeological Dig!