Closing the Achievement Gap is Our Job Not Theirs

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Closing the Achievement Gap is Our Job Not
Theirs

• Two cases of Bay Area Title 1 schools who are
  beating the odds and improving the achievement of
  their lowest performing students and narrowing
  the achievement gap.

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Schilling Elementary School Newark Unified
School District

• 589 Students 49 Free/Reduced Lunch 45
  English Language Learners 61 Hispanic 11
  Asian 10 White 9 Filipino 6
  African-American 3 Pacific Islander

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Schilling Elementary School Newark Unified
School DistrictAPI Growth 2000-2003
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Schilling Elementary School Newark Unified
School DistrictCST Results 2002-2003 (grades
2-6)
Asian 51 students Filipino 34 students White
38 students Af-Am 34 students Hispanic
241students
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Schilling Elementary School Newark Unified
School DistrictCST Results - 2003 3rd Grade
Language Arts
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Woodstock Elementary Alameda Unified School
District

• 267 Students 79 Free/Reduced Lunch 27
  English Language Learners 35
  African-American 18 Asian 13
  Hispanic/Latino 12 White 3 American
  Indian/Alaskan Native

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Woodstock Elementary Alameda Unified School
DistrictAPI Growth 2000-2003
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Woodstock Elementary Alameda Unified School
District CST Results 2002-2003 (grades 2-5)
Filipino 30 students Asian 36
students Hispanic 23 students White 22
students Af-Am 80 students
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How were these schools able to make gains?

• Money does matter! Aside from the importance of
  additional resources, the work of these two
  schools suggests three guiding principles
• Do whats necessary to build the will and skill
  to improve and continually work on raising
  awareness about equity issues
• Start small and focused
• Create coherence and build on prior knowledge

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Leadership

• Vision keepers
• Equity leaders
• Systems thinkers

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Culture Building the Will and Skill to Improve

• Will - Building shared understanding and
  commitment to the belief that all children can
  learn
• Skill - Building teachers collective knowledge
  about how to support all children to reach high
  standards

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Instructional Program Starting Small and Focused

• Start small
• Look for leverage points
• Establish an instructional focus

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Infrastructure Professional Development
Coherence and Building on Knowledge

• Focused, coordinated, and context-specific
  professional development
• Consistent use of instructional strategies
• Shared instructional tools
• Systems and structures for sharing and building
  knowledge

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Using Data to Improve Schooling

• Teacher Practice Data
• Student Achievement Data

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Inquiry, Collaboration, and Spread

• Cycle of Inquiry
• Adult Learning Communities
• Collaboration within grade levels, within the
  school, and across schools

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Lessons to Districts

• Reforming districts
• Support professional learning leaders teach by
  example
• Invest in teachers and principals professional
  growth
• Use inquiry to develop effective support
  strategies for diverse students
• Collect and examine disaggregated data to set
  goals
• Adopt an instructional focus
• Provide schools with instructional support that
  is high-quality, intensive, and site-focused

Reforming Districts How Districts Support School
Reform-Milbrey McLaughlin and Joan Talbert,
Stanford, September 2003
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Schilling Elementary

• Can you speak to the importance of collaboration
  in building teachers' collective knowledge about
  how to support all children to learn?
• Can you give an example of how, through
  collaboration, you've become better equipped to
  help all children learn?

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Woodstock Elementary

• Can you speak to the importance of leverage and
  how you were able to make the greatest impact in
  the shortest amount of time?
• Can you give an example of how your teaching
  practice has changed as a result of the focus on
  supporting every child to learn?

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Questions?