THE OPPORTUNITY

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THE OPPORTUNITY

• From Brutal Facts to the Best Schools Weve
  Every Had
• Dr. Mike Schmoker

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DO WE TRULY WANT THE BEST SCHOOLS WEVE EVER HAD?

• Because organizations only improve
• where the truth is told and the brutal facts
  confronted
• Jim Collins
• We must overcome the awful inertia of past
  decades
• Michael Fullan

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Brutal Facts

• Only about 50 of students who enter college ever
  graduate primarily because
• K-12 does not prepare most of them for college.
• Haycock Conley
• Only 32 of our college-bound students are
  adequately prepared for college.
• Understanding University Success
• Center for Educational Policy Research
• Only 7 of low-income students will ever earn a
  college degree.
• Haycock

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Brutal Facts

• The Teacher Effect makes all the other
  differences pale in comparison.
• William Sanders
• Five years of effective teaching can completely
  close the gap between low-income students and
  others.
• Marzano Kain Hanushek

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The Real Opportunity
In a 45 minute class only 15 minutes of actual
instruction takes place.

• Most of us in education are mediocre at what we
  do.
• Tom Wagner
• Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Every study of classroom practice reveals that
  most teaching is mediocreor worse
• Goodlad Sizer, Resnick Powell, Farrar Cohen
  Learning 24/7 Classroom Study

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WHY IS MOST TEACHING MEDIOCRE?

• The administrative superstructure of schools
  buffer teaching from outside inspection.
• Richard Elmore
• You cant expect what you dont inspect.
• Peter Senge

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BRUTAL FACTS

• Despite hundreds of initiatives, programs and
  plans, we still DO NOT INSPECT
• WHAT is actually taught (essential standards)
• HOW WELL (effective lessons/units)
• Gordon Elmore Marzano Tyack Cuban Hess
  Berlinger

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EFFECTIVE LESSONS HAVE
Checks for understand.

• A clearly stated standard
• Teacher examples (modeling)
• Whole group practice
• Partner practice
• Individual practice
• Assessment
• Adjustments based on the assessment results

Addresses higher level thinking skills
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FIRST THINGS FIRST IMPROVE INSTRUCTION

• Replace IMPROVEMENT PLANNING with a focus on
  IMPROVED TEACHING through learning communities.
• VIABLE CURRICULUM
• Start with high leverage opportunities, literacy
  instruction

Crayola Curriculum
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES AN ASTONISHING CONCURRENCE

• Professionals do not work alone they work in
  teamsto accomplish the goal to heal the
  patient, win the lawsuit, plan the building.
• Authur Wise Teaching Teams a 21st Century
  Paradigm For Organizing Americas Schools

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1. First Adopt Simple Plans to create
sustain LEARNNG COMMUNITIES

• DATA driven (academic priorities)
• GOALS that are measurable/tied to an assessment
• TEAMWORK that produces short-term assessment
  results
• Anchored by a GUARANTEED VIABLE CURRICULUM

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DATA DRIVEN PRIORITIES

• SET measurable, annual goals
• IDENTIFY lowest scoring standards from
  ASSESSMENTS
• USE formative assessment data (measurable results
  from lessons)

Teacher teams create tests for non-tested courses.
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AUTHENTIC TEAM-BASED PLCS

• Plan lessons or units teach assess adjust
  instruction

Faculty meetings should focus on teaching, not
just announcements. These meetings can be used
to build instructional team strategies.
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2. GUARANTEED VIABLE CURRICULUM

• Do schools ensure that a viable curriculum
  actually gets taught?

Often curriculum has no impact on
instruction. Curriculum Guide well-meaning
fiction Teaching based on textbooks?
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2. GUARANTEED VIABLE CURRICULUM

• Instructional Dead End Cycle
• The more worksheets a teacher gives The more
  worksheets to grade. When are these
  graded? During Instruction time?

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3. LEADERSHIP IN THE PCL

• The heart of instruction is the monitoring of
  instruction.
• Dan Lortie
• We do not monitor instruction.
• Berliner Marzano Smith Andrews Elmore
  Reeves

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THE LEADERSHIP ILLUSION

• Direct involvement in instruction is among the
  least frequent activities performed by
  administrators of any kind at any level.
• Richard Elmore 200
• This is not a matter of work ethic
• It is a matter of misplaced priorities.

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LEADERSHIP

• Monitoring Instruction and Guaranteed Viable
  Curriculum
• LEADERS MUST
• Conduct Walk-throughs looking for
• Clear focus on essential standards
• Critical reasoning/higher-order thinking
• Essential elements of an effective lesson

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LEADERSHIP Team Management

• QUARTERLY CURRICULUM REVIEW
• Leaders and Team discuss
• Quarterly assessments/results
• Lists of standards taught
• Grade books reflecting standards
• Scored student work samples

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RECOGNIZE CELEBRTE

• Small wins to overcome resistance promote
  buy-in
• The 1 LEVER FOR IMPROVING MORALE AND EFFECTIVE
  PRACTICE
• Best leverage
• Low cost leverage

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4. UNPARALELLED OPPORTUNITY LITERACY INSTRUCTION

• Underdeveloped literacy skills are the number
  one reason why students are retained, assigned to
  special education, given long-term remedial
  services and why they fail to graduate from high
  school.
• Ferrandino and Tirozzi presidents of NAESP and
  NASSP

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BRUTAL FACTS GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

• 40 minutes a day for writing
• 60 minute a day for actual reading

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WRITING IMPORTANT?

• Writing is the litmus paper of thoughtthe very
  center of schooling. Ted Sizer
• Writing aids in cognitive development to such an
  extent that the upper reaches of Blooms taxonomy
  could not be reached without the use of some form
  of writing.
• Kurt and Farris 1990

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BRUTAL FACTS

• For all its unparalleled cognitive benefits,
  little or no real writing instruction takes place
  in the regular classrooms.
• Kameenui and Carnine
• We dont teach writingwe make writing
  assignments.

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K-12/COLLEGE SUCCESS

• Analytical READING
• Persuasive WRITING
• Only 31 of college graduates can read a complex
  book and extrapolate from it.
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Only 24 write at the proficient level 4 were
  rated high
• NAEP study

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FOR SWIFT, DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT FOCUS ON

• TEAM-BASED Professional Learning Communities
• GUARANTEED and VIABLE Curriculum
• RADICAL changes to literacy instruction
• With CELEBRATION of EVERY SMALL WIN

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WHY BOTHER?

• With an average teacher 30-50 percentile gain
  in 3 years.
• Marzano, Sanders
• The question is not, Is it possible to educate
  all children well?
• But rather
• Do we want to do it badly enough?
• Deborah Meier