Title: Closing the Achievement Gap NO EXCUSES
1Closing the Achievement GapNO EXCUSES
2The Challenge For Education
- All school districts face similar challenges
- Low student achievement results
- Pressures for increased accountability
- Customers dissatisfied with outcomes
- Increasing student enrollment
- Rising costs
3The Challenge For Education
- The search continues
- State-takeover of schools
- Private takeover of schools
- For-profit schools
- Vouchers
- Charter schools
- Longer school days and school years
- 36 different education reform programs
4Beliefs
- Children of all races and income levels can
succeed - Testing is Diagnostic, not discriminatory
- Tests determine whether each and every child is
learning
5Two Reasons
6Legal Reason
- 50 of 50 states require students to take state
assessments.
7Moral Reason
- If students are not literate, that is, they can
not read, write, and do basic arithmetic - 3 out of 4 will go on welfare.
- 68 will commit a criminal offense.
Source National Adult Literacy Survey - 1993
8Building Blocks
- The PDCA Instructional Process is grounded in
three sets of ideas - Effective Schools
- Total Quality Management
- Malcolm Baldrige Criteria For Performance
Excellence
9TQM
- Defined as an operational theory of management
and set of process tools for implementation. - Do it right the first time!
- Continuous Improvement
- Cycles - PDCA
- Dont fix blame, fix the system!
10Whos To Blame?
- The college professor said
- Such rawness in a student is a shame, lack of
preparation in high school is to blame.
11Whos To Blame?
- Said the high school teacher
- Good heavens! That boys a fool. The fault of
course is with the middle school.
12Whos To Blame?
- The middle school teacher said
- From stupidity may I be spared. They sent him
in so unprepared.
13Whos To Blame?
- The primary teacher huffed
- Kindergarten blockheads all. They call that
preparation why, its worse than none at all.
14Whos To Blame?
- The kindergarten teacher said
- Such lack of training never did I see. What
kind of woman must that mother be.
15Whos To Blame?
- The mother said
- Poor helpless child. Hes not to blame. His
fathers people were all the same.
16Whos To Blame?
- Said the father at the end of the line
- I doubt the rascals even mine.
- Anonymous
17Effective Schools Philosophy
- Characteristics Of Effective Schools
- Strong instructional leadership
- High expectations of student achievement for ALL
students - Pervasive and broadly understood instructional
focus - Safe and orderly school climate conducive to
teaching and learning - Measures of pupil achievement as a basis of
program evaluation
18Brazosport ISD
Economically Disadvantaged - 38.6
District Enrollment - 13,500
19TAAS Velasco Elementary
DEMOGRAPHICS Economically Disadvantaged 80.4
African American 19.6 LEP 36.5 Hispanic 59.
8 Mobility 25.6 White 20.1
20TAAS Freeport Intermediate
DEMOGRAPHICS Economically Disadvantaged 62.9
African American 10.4 LEP
4.2 Hispanic 51.3 Mobility 20.2
White 37.8
21TAAS Brazosport High School
DEMOGRAPHICS Economically Disadvantaged 54.1
African American 12.1 LEP
6.6 Hispanic 50.2 Mobility 25.8 White 35.7
22 PDCA INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL
23Plan/Do/Check/Act Cycle
24From Theory To Practice
- What the PDCA Cycle offers
- A proven track record for success
- A step-by-step methodology for improving schools
- A process built on the foundation of Effective
School Characteristics - An alignment of planning, instruction, and
assessment - An emphasis on the core curricula of reading,
writing, and mathematics
25PLAN
Disaggregate Data
- Arrange test scores to identify instructional
groups. - Define weak and strong objectives.
26TEST TALK
27PLAN
Timeline Development
- Develop a campus calendar for all objective areas
and time allocations based on the needs of the
student groups and the weight of the objective. - The timeline is subject to change due to mastery
of target areas.
28DO
Instructional Focus
- Using the timeline, create a schedule of focused
instructions to be followed by teachers.
29CHECK
Assessment
- After the instructional focus has been taught,
administer an assessment to identify
mastery/non-mastery students.
30ACT
- Tutorial time should be devoted to the reteaching
of non-mastered target areas.
31ACT
- Target related enrichment is provided for mastery
students.
32CHECK
Maintenance
- Provide materials for ongoing maintenance and
reteaching.
33CHECK
Monitoring
The principal assumes the role of instructional
leader and is continuously involved in the
teaching and learning process.
34Benefits
- Gives teachers flexibility in how to teach by
focusing on what to teach. - Emphasizes key skills for every student.
- Allows students to retain skills in order to
build higher skills.
35Benefits CONTINUED
- Aligns planning, instruction, assessment, and
support toward student performance. - Removes subjectivity and replaces it with a focus
on results. - Test scores validate standards instruction.
- It is a proven approach that achieves results.
36Random Acts Of Improvement
Programs
37Aligned Acts Of Improvement
In an aligned system...
improvement efforts are integrated and
results-oriented
38ACTION PLAN
- PDCA Process Implementation
Short Long Term Actions
Done
Who When
Solution
39It is perfectly all right to teach students
curricula over which they will not be tested, but
in this day of accountability for results, its
fool-hardy to test students on curricula they
have not been taught and taught to mastery...
40Teaching one thing and testing another tends to
discriminate against the socioeconomically poor
and disadvantaged students, since they are the
most dependent on the school as the source for
their academic learnings. Dr. Larry Lezotte