EQUIP

Leadership Matters

A program of the Institute for Leadership Development and Systems Thinking

The Center is developing a new online learning center, called “Leadership Matters,” that will provide school system leaders ready access to concise, reliable and accurate information on a range of topics. The ultimate goal of this exciting tool is to give users the knowledge and skills needed to use a systems approach in the transformation of public education.

Leadership Matters employ an innovative delivery system that utilizes technology to overcome the obstacles of both time (for attendance at meetings and conferences) and money (for travel expenses to those conferences). By delivering high-quality content directly to the audience in the place of their choosing (as long as they have an Internet connection), the program offers affordable, accessible and flexible professional development opportunities.
This online learning center is a centralized, searchable resource — “library” of sorts — of media-rich presentations, lectures, seminars, and so forth, that are archived on a unique website.

These presentations are comprised of a combination of full-motion video, high-quality audio and visual content (for example, PowerPoint presentations) available as live broadcasts or on-demand from an archive. This exciting resource will provide convenient, on-demand access to professional development any time, anywhere.

As the “go-to” organization for school superintendents, the Center knows what those leaders need to know. With access to top national and state experts in issues affecting education and school system leaders, the Center and its partners can provide the most useful and relevant information delivered by the most trusted sources. Some of the topic areas that will be addressed, all from a systems thinking perspective, include:

Career Management
Crisis Management
Innovative Strategies
Instruction, Assessment and Data Management
Leadership
Learning Communities
Mentoring, Coaching and Lifelong Learning
Policy and Politics
Public Engagement

Additional information will be available soon!
For More InformationPlease contact Juli Jones at AASA.

http://www.aasa.org/leadership/content.cfm?ItemNumber=6274

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 5:44 PM 0 comments

Mentors in the Making

Developing New Leaders for New Teachers

“The authors present a powerful case illuminating the challenges, complexities, and promising practices of highly effective mentoring programs. This is THE reference book for anyone concerned about a vision of the possible and the real future of mentoring teachers.”
— Ann Lieberman, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

“Mentors in the Making dispels the myth that mentoring comes naturally to experienced teachers. It details a serious knowledge base for mentor teachers and offers a powerful vision of ambitious mentoring.”
— Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Brandeis University

In response to a growing interest in mentoring and new teacher induction, the authors offer a unique view of developing quality mentors. Drawing on empirical research, practitioner action inquiry, and field-tested practices from induction programs, the authors explore effective mentoring in diverse educational contexts

The volume highlights learning from The New Teacher Center’s Leadership Network for Teacher Induction. With richly contextualized and thoughtfully analyzed excerpts from actual mentoring conversations and powerful examples of practice, the volume offers educators, researchers, and policymakers a reform-minded vision of the future of mentoring. This essential resource:

· Documents induction and mentoring practices that focus on new teachers on individual learners, equity-orientated curriculum and pedagogy, and the educator’s role in reforming school culture.

· Provides a needed link between research and practice to define a knowledge base for effective mentoring.

· Highlights problems and complexities of enacting mentor knowledge and learning in diverse contexts.

Betty Achinstein and Steven Z. Athanases, EditorsTeachers College Press 208 pagesPaperback: $27.95

http://www.newteachercenter.org/mentors_in_making.php

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 7:52 PM 0 comments

Quality teaching

The standardThe rationaleAnnotated bibliography

The standardStaff development that improves the learning of all students deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately.

The rationaleSuccessful teachers have a deep understanding of the subjects they teach, use appropriate instructional methods, and apply various classroom assessment strategies. These teachers participate in sustained, intellectually rigorous professional learning regarding the subjects they teach, the strategies they use to teach those subjects, the findings of cognitive scientists regarding human learning, and the means by which they assess student progress in achieving high academic standards.

Teachers may acquire deeper understanding of their subjects through various means. For example, they may serve summer internships in appropriate organizations, attend extended institutes with follow-up activities throughout the school year, take traditional university or electronically delivered coursework, perform the activities of individuals involved in that field (for instance, conduct historical research), or participate in face-to-face or electronic subject-area networks. Whenever possible, however, it is important that teachers experience firsthand as learners the instructional approaches they in turn will be using with their own students. They may also attend workshops and courses with classroom follow up, participate in study groups, visit or watch videotapes of highperforming classrooms, observe demonstration lessons, or receive classroom coaching. Because it is natural that teachers will teach as they themselves are taught, it is imperative that the instructional methods used with educators be congruent to the greatest extent possible with those they are expected to use in their classroom.

Teachers depend on other knowledge and skills to facilitate student success. Examples of such additional content include classroom management, fundamental technological skills that increase teacher productivity, as well as mentoring and coaching skills for teacher leaders. Again, teachers must experience appropriate staff development designs to facilitate the desired outcome for students.

Because classroom assessment when appropriately conducted can improve student learning as well as gauge achievement, it is essential that teachers have a range of methods at their disposal that promote learning as well as measure it. Therefore, successful professional development efforts regularly include opportunities for teachers to acquire formative classroom assessment techniques appropriate to the subject matter and types of performance called for in state or local standards.

Fortunately, teachers' acquisition of this knowledge and these skills can occur relatively simultaneously. For instance, teachers may be learning new instructional approaches and assessment techniques while they are deepening their understanding of curriculum content. Teachers who are learning research-based instructional skills may find that their progress is limited by a lack of subject-area knowledge in a particular area and request an on-the-spot explanation of a particular concept. Teachers who are developing or learning how to use a scoring rubric for assessment purposes may at the same time be deepening their content knowledge.

In their role as instructional leaders, district and school administrators make teacher content knowledge and skills related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment high priorities. They do so by designing teachers' work days to include ongoing professional learning and collaboration and by providing teachers with data to assist with formative classroom assessment. In addition, they create a district and school culture of innovation and continuous improvement by visiting classrooms regularly to observe instruction and by engaging in frequent conversations with teachers individually and collectively about instruction and student learning.

Annotated bibliography
NOTE: When resources in this list are available on the web, a link is provided. Many of these publications are available through the NSDC Bookstore.

Brooks, J. & Brooks, M. (1993). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Order from ASCD's web site: http://www.ascd.org
This book provides a rationale for the development of classrooms based on constructivist learning. The authors describe five guiding principles for teaching derived from constructivism, (1) posing problems of emerging relevance to learners, (2) structuring learning around "big ideas" or primary concepts, (3) seeking and valuing students' points of view, (4) adapting curriculum to address students' suppositions, and (5) assessing student learning in the context of the teaching. The authors provide research support for and classroom examples of each principle.

Cawelti, G. (1999). Handbook of research on improving student achievement (2d edition). Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service. (ERIC Documentation Service No. ED 394 629)Order from Educational Research Service's web site: http://www.ers.org
This handbook identifies classroom practices that research has shown to result in higher student achievement. The fundamental premise is that efforts to improve instruction must focus on the existing knowledge base about effective teaching and learning. Although most studies rely on traditional kinds of achievement testing, a broader definition of achievement is used here. Integrated approaches within disciplines are included if they are judged appropriate. Each chapter contains a reference list of 60 to 90 items.

Cohen, D. & Ball, D. (1990). Policy and practice: An overview. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 347-53.Order from AERA by emailing subscriptions@aera.net

David K. Cohen and Deborah Loewenberg Ball provide an overview of five case studies and ancillary essays on teacher implementation of the California Mathematics Curriculum Framework. They describe the dilemma of the teacher as the traditionalist versus the teacher as innovator. Research of this nature provides insights into how instructional policy and teaching practice affect each other.

Corcoran, T. & Goertz, M. (1995). Instructional capacity and high performance schools. Educational Researcher, 24(9), 27-31. Order from AERA by emailing subscriptions@aera.net
The authors suggest that "capacity" means the maximum production of a school or educational system if the product is defined as high quality instruction. The instructional capacity of a school appears to be determined by the intellectual ability, knowledge, and skills of the faculty; the quality and quantity of resources available for teaching; and the social organization of instruction. The authors describe nine issues related to capacity and capacity building drawn from their review of the research literature.

Corcoran, T. (1995, June). Helping teachers teach well: Transforming professional development. CPRE Policy Briefs. Rutgers, NJ: Consortium for Policy Research in Education, 69-79.Download in PDF form at http://www.cpre.org/Publications/rb16.pdf
To meet rising expectations, teachers need to deepen their content knowledge and learn new methods of teaching. They need more time to work with colleagues, to critically examine the new standards being proposed, and to revise curriculum. Corcoran reviews what is known about professional development - where it is now and where it needs to be. The brief discusses professional development's organization, costs, and effects on practice. The brief also suggests some principles to guide professional development in the future and offers a framework for designing and assessing policies and programs.

Jackson, A. & Davis, G. (2000). Turning points 2000: Educating adolescents in the 21st century. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Order from Teachers College Press's hotline: 800-575-6566
Anthony Jackson and Gayle Davis update the Carnegie Corporation's 1989 report to integrate what is known from education research and practice within a coherent approach toward adolescent education that educators can use to transform middle grade schools. Their report emphasizes that, in addition to structural changes in classrooms and schools, educators must also make substantial, far-reaching changes in curriculum, student assessment, and instruction in order to improve student learning.

Kaufman, M. (1997). A professional development stance for equity. SSI Perspectives, 2(3), 4-5. Read at http://www.terc.edu/handsonIssues/f96/equity.html
The author describes a professional development process that assists teachers in implementing successful instructional strategies by using equity as a framing tool for decision making. Teachers are able to improve the educational outcomes for all students by creating a framework around which to initiate change. Teachers learned to approach change using the following elements: (1) a stance of critique and inquiry; (2) data-driven decision making; (3) investigation of best practices, including instruction, curriculum, and materials; and (4) teacher leadership development. This framework is a means of eliminating the fragmentation that typically accompanies the implementation of reform.

Kennedy, M. (1998). Education reform and subject matter knowledge. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35, 249-263. Request from John Wiley & Sons: 212-850-6645 or subinfo@wiley.com
This article explores what K-12 teachers need to know to teach mathematics and science well. The research literature is reviewed to reveal the kinds of knowledge teachers need to teach as described in reform documents. Kennedy concludes that teachers should have conceptual understanding of the subject, pedagogical content knowledge, beliefs about the nature of science and mathematics, and particular attitudes toward these disciplines. Two problems in the area of subject matter knowledge are the lack of research knowledge on how to foster teachers' deep understanding and reasoning ability and how to measure it, and the lack of evidence of how any of the characteristics of knowledge contribute to actual teaching practice.

Kennedy, M. (1999). Form and substance in mathematics and science professional development. National Institute for Science Education Brief, 3(2), 1-7.Read at http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/Publications/Briefs/Vol_3_No_2/Vol.3,No.2.pdf
Mary Kennedy presents research and policy analyses that criticize the one-shot workshop approach to professional development and offer a number of proposals for how professional development should be designed and organized. The research indicates that (1) programs should be lengthy rather than brief, (2) teachers should have a role in defining the content rather than having the topics imposed on them, (3) the scheduled meetings should be interspersed with classroom practice rather than concentrated into a short period of time, and (4) teachers should work together in groups, rather than in isolation.

Killion, J. (1999). What works in the middle: Results-based staff development. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council.Download in PDF from http://www.nsdc.org/midbook.cfm.
As project director for Results-Based Staff Development for the Middle Grades, Joellen Killion discusses processes and resources for selecting, designing, and evaluating staff development to improve student achievement. The guide describes 26 successful staff development programs in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and interdisciplinary programs that were studied and evaluated to ascertain their impact on student learning. It offers guidelines for selecting and/or designing initiatives to improve student performance.

Loucks-Horsley, S. (1996). Principles of effective professional development for mathematics and science education: A synthesis of standards. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI: National Institute for Science Education, NISE Brief 1(1). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 409 201)Download in PDF form at http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/Publications/Briefs/NISE_Brief_Vol_1_No_1.pdf
Susan Loucks-Horsely discusses some of conclusions from the Professional Development Project of the NISE. She presents seven principles that are found in excellent professional development experiences for science and mathematics educators: developing a clear, well-defined image of effective classroom learning and teaching; providing teachers with opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and teaching approaches; using instructional methods to promote learning for adults which mirror the methods used with students; strengthening the learning community of science and mathematics teachers; preparing and supporting teachers to be leaders; providing links to other parts of the educational system; and making continuous assessment part of the professional development process.

Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.Order from ASCD's web site: http://www.ascd.org
Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollock present some of the results of a McREL study designed to assess the effectiveness of instructional strategies that could be used by teachers in K-12 classrooms. This study evaluates nine different categories of instructional strategies affecting student achievement. In order from most effective to least effective, they are identifying similarities and differences; summarizing and note taking; reinforcing effort and providing recognition; homework and practice; nonlinguistic representations; cooperative learning; setting objectives and providing feedback; generating and testing hypotheses; and questions, cues, and advance organizers.

Newmann, F., Marks, H., & Gamoran, A. (Spring, 1995). Authentic pedagogy: Standards that boost student performance. Issues in Restructuring Schools, Report No. 8. Madison, WI: Center on Organization and Restructuring Schools.Order from Document Service, Wisconsin Center for Education Research 1025 W. Johnson St., Room 242, Madison, WI 53706 608-263-4214
In this report, a conception of instruction and assessment is offered that remains consistent with active learning but which emphasizes that all instructional activities must be rooted in a primary concern for high standards of intellectual quality. The report includes general criteria for authentic pedagogy, as well as more specific standards that can be used to judge the quality of assessment tasks, classroom lessons, and student performance.

Sparks, G. (1983). Synthesis of research on staff development for effective teaching. Educational Leadership, 41(3), 65-72. Order from ASCD's web site: http://www.ascd.org
Georgea Sparks briefly summarizes some of the research on appropriate content for staff development, as well as the appropriate context for staff development. The major focus of the article, however, is on the training process of staff development. Sparks combines some of the research on effective training activities to form a list: diagnosing and prescribing, giving information and demonstrating, discussing application, and coaching. Finally, she presents some of the research concerning the importance of designing staff development programs that are adapted to fit various teacher characteristics and attitudes.

Sparks, D. (1998). Making assessment part of teacher learning. Journal of Staff Development, 19(4), 33-35.Read at http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/joyce194.cfm
Dennis Sparks interviews Bruce Joyce regarding his advocacy for staff development that improves student learning. Joyce discusses the importance of continuous adult learning, studying implementation, assessment as part of instruction, formative evaluation, and some barriers to implementation.

Stiggins, R. (2001). Student-involved classroom assessment (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Order from Prentice Hall's web site: http://vig.prenhall.com/
Richard Stiggins describes how to create high quality classroom assessments and use them to build student confidence and maximize student achievement. He emphasizes what teachers need to know to manage day-to-day classroom assessment effectively and efficiently and he focuses on student well-being and potential for self-assessment. He offers practical guidelines on how to use various assessment methods and how to match them with achievement targets. He offers time- and energy-saving ideas for teachers, and he connects the concepts in the book with traditional notions of validity and reliability.

Stigler, J. & Hiebert, J. (1999). The teaching gap: Best ideas from the world's teachers for improving education in the classroom. New York, NY: The Free Press.Order from Simon & Schuster's web site: http://www.simonsays.com
James Stigler and James Hiebert use the results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to show that although American teachers are often competent at implementing American teaching methods, these teaching methods themselves are severely limited. They propose a new plan for improving classroom teaching in America. Their proposal is based on six principles: (1) expect improvement to be continual, gradual, and incremental; (2) maintain a constant focus on student learning goals; (3) focus on teaching, not teachers; (4) make improvements in context; (5) make improvement in the work of teachers; (6) build a system that can learn from its own experience.

Sykes, G. (1999). Make subject matter count. Journal of Staff Development, (2), 50-51.Read at http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/sykes202.cfm
Gary Sykes discusses recent reports suggesting that research on teaching has been overlooking the importance of subject matter, the content of instruction. He offers some strategies for correcting this, such as engaging teachers simultaneously in learning about the subject matter and the teaching of the subject matter and grounding the content of professional development in part in the content of the student curriculum.

Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., & Hyde, A. (1998). Best practice: New standards for teaching and learning in America's schools, Second edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Order from Heinemann's web site: http://www.heinemann.com
Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde encourage everyone involved in school reform to recognize, understand, appreciate, and start exploiting the remarkably coherent models for across-the-curriculum school reform that already have been built. They analyze a rich base of research and exemplary practice that points the way to school renewal through curriculum reform. They provide a compact and accurate summary of current "best practice" research in each of six teaching fields: reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and fine arts. After describing each field's research base, they provide at least one example that shows how some teachers are implementing key content and processes in their classrooms.

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 7:59 PM 0 comments

No Homework Left Behind
Gary Garbe and David Guy
Through after-school support, this rural middle school turned homework from a problem into an opportunity.

"I don't have time to do my homework." Students say it, parents are frustrated with it, and teachers hear it too often. At Richland Middle School, we decided to hear what was being said and do something about it.

Richland is a rural district in the heart of Wisconsin, a beautiful area of gently rolling hills, hardwood forests, and family farms. The district's total enrollment is 1,514 students, with 330 students enrolled in Richland Middle School; 29 percent of our middle schoolers are eligible for subsidized lunches, and 22 percent receive special education services.

The majority of our middle school students do a good job of completing their work, but a number of students need a boost to get their work completed. For example, during the second and third quarters of the 2003–2004 academic year, we had close to 100 students each week turning in a significant amount of homework late or not at all. We addressed the issue of incomplete homework by informing parents by mail of their children's missing work; besides being inefficient, this method got the news to parents a week or more past an assignment's due date. The school's policy was to take 10 points off for every day an assignment was late. By the time the parents intervened, many students had already lost 70 percent credit and were not motivated to turn the work in.

Unpacking the Obstacles

Listening to Students

We first asked students to list some of the reasons they might not complete homework. Responses included
They did not understand the assignment.
There was no area at home conducive to studying, and they had too many distractions.
No one was available to help when they had difficulty.
They did not know how to work independently.
They were getting too much homework.
They didn't have time.

We looked further into student claims. We found through an informal survey that fewer than 10 percent of Richland Middle School students have more than one hour of homework a night. This is well within commonly recommended time parameters. Cooper (1989) advocates the 10-minute rule on homework time: A student's grade level multiplied by 10 yields the number of minutes that the student should spend on homework each night (for example, no more than 60 minutes for a 6th grader).

Research also suggests that without a social component to homework, students are less likely to complete it. Chen and Stevenson (1989) found that more than 60 percent of the 5th grade students they sampled had negative feelings about homework. Adolescents studied by Leone and Richards (1989) rated homework as a more negative experience than work in the classroom; the lack of social interaction with peers during homework appeared to contribute to this attitude. Adolescents reported higher levels of interest and positive affect when they completed homework with friends.

Listening to Parents
Next, we surveyed our parents (during the beginning-of-the-year open house) to get their perspectives. Parents suggested several reasons for not helping their children finish homework:

They were tired after work and did not want to engage in a struggle over homework.
They were not home until late.
They believed it was not their job to teach the material.
They could not see the value of the homework.
They felt pressed for time.
They did not understand the material.

Logistical concerns seemed to be more of a problem than negative impressions of homework. A nationwide poll conducted in 2000 found that only 10 percent of parents believe their children have too much homework (Public Agenda, 2000). Most parents believe that completing homework leads to higher grades and fosters attitudes and habits that lead to successful future learning. Research supports these beliefs, consistently showing a positive correlation between time spent on homework and both better grades and higher test scores (Cooper & Valentine, 2001; Keith & Benson, 1992; Keith & Cool, 1992; Peng & Wright, 1994).

Listening to Ourselves
Finally, we asked ourselves why we thought homework was important. We brought all staff members—including teachers, aides, and support staff—into this process of examining and enhancing our homework policy. Richland has a unique program in which parents supervise all our one-hour homeroom periods once a month so the entire staff can meet and strategize to improve the school.

We all believed that homework should help identify areas in which students needed more practice. We also knew that we wanted the grades we gave our students to reflect the knowledge they had or had not acquired rather than whether they had completed homework assignments. Any homework worth assigning is worth doing, and completing homework is essential to ensure optimal learning. Cooper (1989) suggests that when students complete homework, they improve their factual knowledge, understanding, concept formation, attitudes, study skills, self-discipline, and problem-solving skills. Richland's teachers believe that students should not have the option of not doing their assignments and taking a grade of zero. If our goal is to promote learning, every assignment that students give up on represents learning that has not taken place.

We decided to look at homework completion not as a problem to solve but as a mystery to explore. Drawing on the organizational change work of Whitney and Trosten-Bloom (2003), we looked at practices that were working well at Richland regarding homework and how we could expand these successful practices and push through innovations.

Engaging in this process led our group to create the Richland Middle School Learning Lab, an after-school program that would enable us to provide the teacher support and the conditions our students needed to complete their homework.

Launching the Learning Lab . . .
Our goal is for the Learning Lab to be a place of learning, not a punishment for not doing homework. What we do to support learning in the lab depends on each learner's needs at the time. Some students work in groups to share their learning; some work one-on-one with local college students who are pursuing teaching careers; some work independently. Sometimes we just sit next to a student and smile while the student figures out what was puzzling about a piece of work and arrives at a solution on his or her own.

The lab is open to all from 3:25 to 4:25 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Richland's teachers, support staff, and principal volunteer to supervise the lab, with the help of parents and high school and middle school students. The willingness of faculty members and staff to give time to the lab helped show parents and students how important it was to us. Having so many helpers sometimes enables the lab to have a one-to-one teacher-student ratio.

The Learning Lab is available to all students wishing to receive extra help with their work, and any parent may request to have his or her child attend the Learning Lab. But most students come because a teacher requires them to. If a student fails to turn in any completed assignment on time, the teacher involved sends a note to that student's parents informing them about the incomplete work. The note states that the child must either turn in the assignment the next day or attend the Learning Lab that afternoon—and that parents are responsible for arranging transportation. The student is expected to return the signed note; if the note is not signed, the student must call the parent in the presence of the principal.

The student must stay after school for as many Learning Lab sessions as needed to complete the work. Students participating in extracurricular activities are not exempt.
It is important that students not view the Learning Lab as a negative place. We want students to come for help if they need individual attention to understand a concept, access to computers, and a place to work collaboratively. Teachers make a point of presenting lab sessions as an opportunity to learn, not a punishment. When Richland initiated the program, we mailed all parents an article about the lab, encouraging their questions and support. We also made a presentation to the school board, published an article in the local newspaper, and aired a radio interview.

. . . And Watching Homework Transform

The Increase in Completed Assignments

In the year and a half since we opened the Learning Lab, we have seen our goal of making homework a tool for learning fulfilled. We currently average 12 students each week coming to the lab on their own for extra help and 20 students each week who are required to come to complete work.
Since we opened the lab, we have seen a big decrease in the number of students who turn in work late or not at all. We also give far fewer Fs. Just as important, the Learning Lab has forced us to examine our homework practices, and teachers and students have gained insights into how homework can be used to better effect. During the first week the policy was in place, one of the study hall teachers told us:
My study hall was GREAT today! The students were all working very diligently. I complimented them on their good work and one student said, "I love study halls now—I got all of my work done. I used to goof around."

As teachers, we have started to look closely at the homework we were giving students, asking questions like

What is the purpose of this assignment?
Is there another way to show understanding?
How much work should we assign?
Should we modify assignments for students if they are absent for an extended period of time?

This reflection is still a work in progress, but it has brought about positive changes in how staff members view homework practices. For example, instead of automatically assigning 33 math problems because the textbook or some other source says that this is what students need, teachers now conceive of assignments as what learners need to do to show understanding. And because the Learning Lab has also improved our administrative procedures in handling late work, parents now know about missing assignments—and students complete that work—only a day or two late as opposed to a week or two late.

Richland has kept a record of the number of assignments that students turned in late every week throughout the 2003–2004 school year (before the Learning Lab) and after the lab was introduced in January 2005. When we compared the weeks from the third academic quarter of 2004 with the corresponding weeks from the third quarter of 2005, we found a 76 percent decrease in missing assignments each week. A typical week before the lab was started might have 105 missing assignments, most of which would be turned in over a week late or not at all. Since we launched the Learning Lab, in a typical week we see about 20–25 missing assignments—all of which students attend lab to complete so that they turn in the work no more than two days late. The focus has changed from keeping track of how much work is going AWOL to helping students finish their work.

The Impact on Grades
As we expected, completing all homework has had a huge impact on the students' grades. For example, we compared Richland students' grades for the third quarter of academic year 2003–2004 with the corresponding quarter of 2005–2006, after the lab had been in place for a year and a half. We found that teachers gave out 117 Fs (to 61 students) in the third quarter of the 2003–2004 school year and only 85 Fs (to 50 students) in the third quarter of 2005–2006. We believe these grades actually reflect what the students are learning and not just whether or not they have completed assignments. The decrease in the number of students receiving a failing grade has encouraged teachers, parents, and students to continue to work together to ensure that no student is left behind.

A Better Homework Climate
An important bonus of the Learning Lab has been providing students with a quiet place to work that also affords them help from teachers, parents, and peers. Many Richland students who do a great job of getting their work done need extra help now and then. The Learning Lab enables our teachers to interact with students on a more personal level as we help them complete their work—and to gain a greater appreciation for subjects that we do not teach because of the learning that we have to do ourselves to help students with their homework.
Not everything has gone smoothly in creating the Learning Lab, but we are continually making adjustments that improve the process. The after-school setup was not working for students who brought in work late every day and could not arrange for transportation home after the lab. We had to arrange for a lunch-time study hall.

The details will be different for every school, but we believe that some kind of required homework assistance program can improve the homework situation of any school, just as it has for ours. We made a commitment to learning through listening—to students, parents, and teachers—and it has paid off immensely.

References
Chen, C., & Stevenson, H. W. (1989). Homework: A cross-cultural examination. Child Development, 60, 551–561.
Cooper, H. (1989). Synthesis of research on homework. Educational Leadership, 47 (3).
Cooper, H., & Valentine, J. C. (2001). Using research to answer practical questions about homework. Educational Psychologist, 36, 143–153.
Keith, T. Z., & Benson, M. J. (1992). Effects of manipulable influences on high school grades across five ethnic groups. Journal of Educational Research, 86, 85–93.
Keith, T. Z., & Cool, V. A. (1992). Testing models of school learning: Effects of quality of instruction, motivation, academic coursework, and homework on academic achievement. School Psychology Quarterly, 7, 207–226.
Leone, C. M., & Richards, M. H. (1989). Classwork and homework in early adolescence: The ecology of achievement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 18, 207–222.
Peng, S. S., & Wright, D. (1994). Explanation of academic achievement of Asian-American students. Journal of Educational Research, 87, 346–352.
Public Agenda. (2000). Survey finds little sign of backlash against academic standards or standardized tests. Available: www.publicagenda.org/research/research_reports_details.cfm?list=26
Whitney, D., & Trosten-Bloom, A. (2003). The power of appreciative inquiry: A practical guide to positive change. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, Inc.

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 7:40 PM 0 comments

Teacher Quality Squared
by Janet Gless and Ellen MoirPublished in the Journal of Staff Development, National Staff

Development Council. Winter 2001. Volume 22. Number 1. Page 62

Nearly twelve years of work with close to 2,000 beginning teachers have taught the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project [SCNTP] that thoughtfully-designed teacher induction programs can support the development of novice teachers as well as the veteran teachers who support them. The result is nothing less than teacher quality squared.

Guiding and supporting new colleagues offers veteran teachers a new professional role in which they can use their exceptional talents as teachers of teachers. Our SCNTP experience demonstrates that this new role leads to remarkable changes in the practice and attitudes of these seasoned teachers. Not only are they reinvigorated and renewed, but classroom teachers learn to see themselves as professional leaders with the power and responsibility to impact the educational system.

What does an induction program that simultaneously develops beginners and veterans look like? What do these mentors learn and practice that leads to exceptionally high long-term retention rates, improved teacher quality, and higher student achievement? What does this "new breed" of experienced teacher leaders look like and how are they making a difference?

An Induction Program Focused on Both Support and Development
Since 1988, the SCNTP has been releasing outstanding veteran teachers from classroom responsibilities for two to three years to work full-time with up to fifteen first- and second-year teachers. Called new teacher advisors, these experienced teachers meet weekly with each new teacher for about two hours, before, during, or after school.

In addition, new teachers receive two to three release days for observing other teachers, curriculum planning, reflection, and self-assessment. At a monthly seminar series, new teachers share their dilemmas and successes with peers.

The partnership between the full-time new teacher advisor and the novice teacher, however, is at the heart of the program and fundamental to the program’s success. Together, the novice and the veteran examine the new teacher’s classroom practice, assess areas of strength, and identify focus areas for growth in relationship to the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP).

The advisor regularly collects observation data for collaborative review and analysis, helps the new teacher identify steps toward improving his/her practice, and then helps the new teacher document growth over time by collecting evidence of this development. Together they also examine and analyze student work on a regular basis.

A carefully designed set of tools and structures helps scaffold this process of professional support and assessment that then guides the new teacher’s professional development. Key among these tools is a Collaborative Assessment Log, where the advisor and the new teacher record the weekly successes and challenges as related to the CSTP, develop next steps for the new teacher, and identify the support needed. Both the new teacher and advisor keep a copy of this log.

Essential Features that Make a Difference in Teacher Quality
The Santa Cruz program is grounded in the belief that the better the quality of the mentoring, the better the quality of a new teacher’s classroom instruction. Like good teaching, good mentoring involves complex skills and understandings that are rarely intuitive.

Just as our profession is recognizing more and more that most great teachers are not born but develop over time, so, too, do we believe our experienced teachers need time to develop into great advisors. This is a new role for classroom teachers, and it requires careful training, ongoing support, and regular opportunities for them to reflect on and assess their mentoring practice .

We also know that not every outstanding classroom teacher will be a successful mentor. So, to begin with, we carefully select new teacher advisors who are not only models of effective practice, but who:

· Have strong interpersonal skills;
· Have credibility with peers and administrators;
· Demonstrate curiosity and an eagerness to learn;
· Show respect for multiple perspectives; and
· Demonstrate a commitment to improving the academic achievement of all students, in particular, students of color and English language learners.

Once selected, our advisors receive a half-day orientation to the SCNTP program followed by a two-day foundational training in mentoring, provided by the New Teacher Center @ UCSC. In this "Foundations in Mentoring" training, the new advisors are asked to envision the quality teacher we are committed to developing, to examine the powerful and variable role of mentor/advisor, to understand the fundamental importance of a trusting relationship with each new teacher, to identify new teacher needs, and to use assessment data to guide the support process. We have found that when skilled veteran teachers come out of the classroom, they are often unable to deconstruct what they do well. Thus, initial training includes an introduction to the CSTP, opportunities to identify what the standards might look like in classroom practice, and ways to use standards to set professional growth goals.

Subsequent staff development includes two days of coaching and observation skills training where advisors have additional opportunities to practice with video-tapes as they identify evidence of the CSTP in practice. They are introduced to and have a chance to practice mentoring language, a variety of observation tools, and ways to present data and give feedback that promote new teacher learning and self-assessment. Through it all, advisors are reminded that they are first and foremost teachers of teachers whose role is to help the new teachers move their classroom practice forward.

Since our mentors also facilitate the monthly seminars for our beginning teachers, they receive training in planning and designing staff development. Topics include adult learning theory, assessing the audience, setting appropriate outcomes, organizing the content, and using a repertoire of strategies that actively engage participants. Both of these trainings are provided by the New Teacher Center @ UCSC.

Just as classroom teachers benefit from having communities of peers in which to discuss and learn about their practice, so do our advisors need regular, ongoing opportunities to learn from and with their fellow advisors. A full-time release model of mentoring such as the SCNTP program enables us to do just that. Our advisors focus exclusively on the needs of their new colleagues and are also available to join other advisors from across the county-wide SCNTP consortium to participate in Friday morning staff development meetings. These meetings provide a forum for new learning, problem-solving, and exploring current issues.

We use this time to review project procedures and our assessment tools and their use. We practice observation skills by using videotaped lessons of beginning teachers. We review and develop our advisors’ familiarity with the CSTP not just as a lens on good teaching, but as a way to keep all eyes focused on improving new teachers’ classroom instruction. Advisors share and analyze data of their new teachers’ developing practice and then strategize how best to support the particular teacher’s continued growth. Sometimes we focus on developing our knowledge of subject matter or content area standards, or building our expertise in the area of literacy instruction, a priority our program has elected to set for ourselves, K-12. Together we read articles, share concerns, practice facilitation and presentation skills, and think about what it means to be a mentor of new teachers in our schools.

We have also learned that just as our new colleagues benefit from the support of an experienced peer, so, too, do our advisors. Beginning mentors are paired with experienced colleagues who model effective support and assessment practices. Together, mentors set professional learning goals, just as do the new teachers they support, and then chart their progress over the course of the year. Partners regularly shadow and coach one another to develop the highest caliber of practice possible.So what does this new role for veteran teachers signify for our profession, and how can it make a difference?

A New Role for the Profession: Teachers Teaching Teachers
Providing support to novice teachers is parallel to classroom teaching. By temporarily stepping out of their own classrooms of children into the classrooms of twelve to fifteen novices, these exceptional veteran teachers impact the quality of instruction for hundreds of children.
This new role acknowledges the significant professional knowledge residing in classrooms. Who better can identify the challenges and the complexities of teaching in today’s schools than those who are intimately connected with those classrooms and those students? Our profession needs leadership roles for teachers that capitalize upon the sophisticated expertise involved in being an outstanding classroom teacher. Additionally, advising new teachers is a powerful form of professional development that furthers these advisors’ knowledge of pedagogy and helps them take apart what they know, ultimately producing ever more capable teachers.

When mentors rotate back into the classroom they do so with a new vision of teacher as learner and a new set of professional norms. Few of us in education have lived in school cultures that demand collaboration, foster inquiry into teaching practice, and ask us systematically to collect and review data of our professional practice, but these are the norms that show student learning and effective instruction at the heart of our professional development.

New and legitimate leadership roles for teachers can change the nature of our profession and the fabric of our educational systems. Releasing veteran teachers full-time from classroom duties for the express purpose of inducting new colleagues into the profession represents a significant commitment both to our teachers and to our students. It is a powerful statement about what matters most in our schools — "a caring, competent, and qualified teacher for every child." Thoughtfully designed induction programs honor and capitalize upon the expertise and knowledge of our most talented veterans by creating systems that foster ambitious levels of mentoring in support of new teacher practice. It is teacher quality squared.


http://www.newteachercenter.org/article6.php

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 7:29 PM 0 comments

9 December 2005
Issue: Volume 3 Issue 40 > Articles

What is driving curriculum reform in Australia?
Michelle Bruniges
Chief Executive, ACT Department Education and Training

This article is an abridged and edited version of Dr Bruniges' presentation to the Curriculum Corporation 2005 Conference.

A number of social, political, cultural and educational developments are driving curriculum reform in Australia. The challenge for curriculum reform is to take stock of these developments and establish a strategic vision for learning in a way that ensures that educational access and outcomes for all students are maximised.

The nature and context of curriculum in Australia
Curriculum may be suitably defined as ‘all learning planned, guided and implemented by the school’. 1 As such, curriculum goes well beyond issues of content, structure and design. It is a strategic plan for learning, a prioritisation of knowledge, skills, understandings and personal values.

Curriculum also needs to be understood in terms of the history from which it evolves and the context in which it operates. Curriculum reform in Australia is shaped by the fact that constitutional responsibility for education provision lies with the States and Territories. Curriculum has always been state-based with some similarity between jurisdictions, as well as some key differences. Education in Australia must also deal with accelerating changes in the global economy, the continued growth of information and communication technologies, the needs of young people, the increased visibility of diverse social groups, and a need to remain competitive both nationally and internationally.

It is recognised that in some aspects of education, world’s best practice can be found in many schools in Australia. While there is evidence of success, Australian education systems are still regularly criticised for an alleged failure to provide rigorous curriculums. At times this criticism is driven by the tabloid media whichseek to sensationalise. However, the current educational landscape does display some signs of distress which indicate the need for educational reform. These signs include the shift of students between different educational sectors, the widening gap between high-performing and low-performing students, a failure to meet expectations in the national goals of schooling, the deteriorating infrastructure of school buildings, and predictions of teacher shortages as the baby-boomer generation moves into retirement. Furthermore, it is estimated that each year 35,000 Australian students do not complete their secondary schooling and will subsequently obtain no further formal education or training qualification.2

Within this context there are several key drivers of curriculum reform.

Globalisation
Global production processes, reductions in barriers to trade in services, and advances in ICT and transport systems have brought about rapid change and diverse challenges. They require societies to realise new skills, as well as new ways of organising, working and living together, and of understanding and interpreting the world. Curriculum must provide students with the opportunities to develop these skills.
Globalisation has also created a greater need for Australians to understand other people, their cultures and circumstances. While the benefits of globalisation are often widely touted, there is a sense that for some people in our world globalisation has not necessarily been a good thing. Students across Australia must consider the implications and social issues that are generated through globalisation, and curriculum must enable students to critically evaluate the diverse effect it has on different places in the world.

The knowledge society
Improved access to knowledge, and the increasing use of existing knowledge to generate new knowledge, has changed the way people work and understand knowledge itself. One result, as Headley Beare points out, is that the conception of curriculum is ‘undergoing metamorphosis, away from a linear, one-best-way approach to knowledge’, toward ‘much greater search and dynamism in learning.’3
An abundance of knowledge gives rise to increased choice in the content of curriculum. As it is impossible for students to learn everything, they must learn a core of knowledge that will provide the common understandings and language needed to be able to work with others in a variety of contexts, and develop the research and thinking skills to find and use information when it is required.

Information and communications technology
There has been a rapid progression from teaching students how to use computers to using computers as powerful tools in everyday teaching and learning. This has implications not only for the way in which students learn, but also for the method of instruction. The adoption, development and growing emphasis on ‘e-learning’ and the development of banks of learning objects signal an expansion of curriculum possibilities.
To enhance pedagogy it is important that teachers are provided with the opportunity to develop the relevant technological skills. Furthermore it is imperative that teachers are included in the process of integrating technology into the curriculum, and that their professional knowledge and wisdom is prioritised and valued in doing so.
Advances in technology have contributed to the increase in alternative approaches to education. Today, students are able to access subjects/courses through a variety of technological means, including computers and video-conferencing, without attending traditional schools. While these developments may increase access to education, they may also create a further educational divide between those who have access and those who do not. Such developments may also create concern for the maintenance of quality curriculum, the nature of which may be jeopardised by substituting the personalised interaction experienced by students in a classroom for technology-delivered curriculum.

Diversity
With the diversity in Australia’s society increasingly visible, education has an important role in bridging differences and promoting mutual respect, tolerance and understanding between people of different races, cultures, religions, gender and sexuality. Furthermore, as part of a global society, Australia’s role and responsibility in doing this is equally true in an international context.
There must be a common curriculum framework with the flexibility to respond to the diversity of student needs and student groups in differing local contexts within our education systems.
Curriculum needs to provide a path for students to develop values and a way of life that is consistent with sharing the rights and responsibilities of citizenship with others of different backgrounds. This path must be a balanced one that embraces and celebrates diversity, while at the same time is able to acknowledge and respond to some of the often quite legitimate concerns that surround learning in educational environments that include diverse student bodies.

Developments in teaching and learning
The diversity of school communities, clients and students challenges educators to develop pedagogy that can accommodate these differences. Examples of strategies specifically designed to target pedagogical practice can be seen in a growing number of state-based initiatives. Most jurisdictions, if not all, have addressed issues relating to pedagogy through school improvement initiatives that target school leaders, and the production of resource materials and research action which explicitly focus on a quality teaching agenda.4

John Hattie’s research confirms that within schools, teachers account for about 30 per cent of the variance in student achievements5, making them the major source of within-school variance. So to develop effective curriculum, teachers must be curriculum leaders. To ensure that teachers are central to the reformation of curriculum they must be empowered with a leading role in negotiation processes, and have space to contest knowledge.

There should also be multiple and diverse conversations that engage teachers with experts who possess specialised knowledge and insights, so that curriculum reflects the most ground-breaking and current knowledge and experience. Discussions should be wide enough to include top scientists, distinguished leaders within the humanities, artists, innovative business people, and industry leaders, as well as parents, community members and students.

Equity in curriculum
There is growing evidence that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We are experiencing record levels of personal wealth at the top of the economic scale and yet we are also experiencing a steady increase in the problems of poverty.6 In a democratic society that prides itself on egalitarianism and ‘a fair go’ for all, there is surely a compelling need for equity of access and opportunity to education.
Traditional approaches to equity have often led to the expectation of differential outcomes for different students – a misguided view about the need to ‘dumb down’ the curriculum to fit the perceived (in)capabilities of individual students or particular student groups. A crucial dimension to equity is that we do not come to expect and accept differential outcomes for students.

Data to inform teaching and learning
The past decade has seen a high level of engagement and commitment by schools to the collection, analysis and interpretation of information about students to inform teaching and learning. The adoption of criterion-referenced assessment and reporting has played a significant role in presenting and describing information about student learning achievements and areas for further development.
With the increased willingness of educational bodies to use data as a means to inform teaching and learning, it is important that the secrets of assessment are shared. Teachers and students must have conversations involving a common language that provide the opportunity and impetus to discuss how goals are set, how performance is measured, and how performance can be improved.
A key principle in aligning assessment and curriculum is that the assessment strategy selected must be appropriate to what it purports to measure or describe. The strategy needs to encompass a diagnostic capacity to inform further teacher and learning.

Debates over curriculum
The drivers described above exist deeply submerged in the context of the curriculum debate – which curriculum is best? (Of course, this is not necessarily the same as which curriculum is winning the race.)

In a paper given to the Curriculum Corporation Conference in 2000, Dianne Kerr proposed four elements of curriculum to be used as ‘world-class’ benchmarks for education.

1) The goals for education are explicitly stated.

2) The groupings or categories of the intended curriculum are agreed to be essential for all students, future-oriented, inclusive and capable of being taught effectively by existing teachers.

3) The intended curriculum emphasises what all students are to learn. These learnings are:

a) focused on what is agreed to be essential (rather than trying to cover everything);
b) specific;
c) manageable for both teachers and students in the time available;
d) focused on conceptual development (rather than long lists of content);
e) sequenced on the basis of evidence (rather than tradition);
f) supported by shared teacher understanding of what performance ‘at the expected outcome or standard’ looks like; and
g) assessable.

4) The intended curriculum is the focus of systemic testing and reporting, and of programs of teacher education and development.7

In addition to these elements, world-class benchmarks for education must also duly consider the individual differences of students.

Approaches to curriculum development across Australia have achieved differentially in relation to these benchmarks.

Conclusion
Despite the many tensions and drivers that influence curriculum reform, some aspects of curriculum are fundamental to its quality, effectiveness and success. While there must be a common core of essential knowledge, this core should not stifle the regeneration of curriculum, but rather respond intelligently, flexibly, creatively and bravely to social change.

Curriculum must enable students to develop the higher-level process skills necessary to participate in a changing and dynamic environment and contribute to a civil society.

Curriculum must be a negotiated process that encompasses broad and inclusive conversations.

Curriculum must provide access to knowledge for all.

Curriculum must provide students with the capacity to question, examine and critique knowledge and its application. Curriculum must take account of, and address appropriately, the needs, interests and knowledge relevant to the current, as well as future, operating context.

Teachers must be able to exercise autonomy, creativity and professional judgement in operationalising curriculum while remaining accountable and consistent. The role of the teacher must be recognised as integral to the design, development and delivery of curriculum.

References
References are as cited in this abridged version of Dr Bruniges’ conference paper. A complete list of references is available online with the full paper.

1. ACT Department of Education and Training 2005, Every Chance to Learn, Curriculum for ACT Schools P–10, Principles and Framework (Phase 1), ACT Department of Education and Training, Canberra, p 5.

2. National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling 1999, as part of the Dussledorp Skills Forum, The Cost to Australia of Early School-Leaving, University of Canberra, Canberra, p 1.

3. Beare, Hedley 2002, Towards a learning community, from Technology Colleges Trust, Vision 2020 – Second International Online Conference, 12–26 October and 24 November–7 December 2002. Available online at: http://www.cybertext.net.au/tct2002/default.htm.
4. The NSW Quality Teaching model is a framework for teachers and schools to focus discussion on the teaching and assessment practices that shape students' learning.

5. Hattie, John 2003, Teachers Make a Difference: What is the research evidence? Paper given at the Australian Council for Education Research Annual Conference on Building Teacher Quality.

6. See for example Harding, A 1997, The suffering middle: Trends in income inequality in Australian 1982 to 1993–94, Discussion paper no 22, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM), University of Canberra, Canberra, and Saunders, P 1995, Unpacking inequality: Wage incomes, disposable incomes and living standards, Discussion paper no 63, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, who report a significant increase in market income inequality in Australia during the 1980s and early 1990s.

7. Kerr, Dianne 2000, National Goals. Paper given at the Curriculum Corporation Conference, Melbourne 2000, p 1.
KLA

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 7:17 PM 0 comments

Can Star Teachers Create Learning Communities?

To transform a school into a learning community a savvy educational leader needs to support the very best teachers.

Martin Haberman Distinguished Professor University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Successful schools share a number of attributes:
* good leadership,
* a common vision that makes a climate of learning the highest priority,
* teachers who use best practices,
* an effective accountability system, and
* parent involvement.

An attribute less frequently discussed is the manner in which the teachers and staff pursue their professional development.

Would making the school a learning community-one that encourages teachers and staff to grow personally and professionally-- benefit the students?

Would a school with great teachers be more likely to become a learning community?

The well-known quip attributed to Will Rogers, usually quoted incompletely as, "You can't teach what you don't know," is often applied to teachers who teach content in which they are less than expert. The entire aphorism, however, conveys a significantly different meaning: "You can't teach what you don't know about places you ain't never been." The full message refers to experiential knowledge rather than content knowledge.

The pursuit of learning is not a piece of content that can be taught. It is a value that teachers model. Only teachers who are themselves avid, internally motivated learners can truly teach their students the joys of learning.

The frequently espoused goal of lifelong learning for our students is hollow rhetoric unless the school is also a learning community in which teachers demonstrate engagement in meaningful learning activities.

Teachers who are not "turned on" to learning themselves are trying to teach about "places they ain't never been."

A group is a learning community when members share a common vision that learning is the primary purpose for their association and the ultimate value to be preserved in their workplace and that learning outcomes are the primary criteria for evaluating the success of their work.

In a school learning community, teachers pursue two realms of knowledge:
professional development and
learning for the sake of learning.

The importance of the former is self evident. As for the latter, inculcating love of learning is the surest way of teaching students to become "turned-on" learners. Students will model behavior of teachers they respect-teachers who have strong interests, who love to learn and who are always reading something of interest.

Attributes of a Learning Community
For the first four years of my career as a university faculty member I had the special privilege of participating in a community of learners.

The following attributes of that learning community have applications in both primary and secondary school environments.
· Modeling. In guiding student learning and development, teachers applied the same principles that guided their own learning and development.
· Continual sharing of ideas. Teachers shared ideas daily regarding vital issues of equity, instruction, curriculum, testing, school organization and the value of specific kinds of knowledge.
· Collaboration. Teachers became involved in team teaching and other collaborative efforts in program development, writing and research.
· Egalitarianism. Teachers dispensed with formalities. Anyone who took an interest could vote in a department meeting, including students. The quality of ideas was more important than their source.
· High productivity. Teachers continually increased their workloads. No matter how high the output, they continually pressured themselves to create new programs, develop new courses, publish books and articles, and produce more research.
· Community. Faculty members valued community more than promotion. Finding a more stimulating learning environment became the criterion that guided the movement of faculty to other institutions.
· Practical applications. Teachers asked themselves, "How does what we are doing help students, teachers and schools? What did we do this week to help?

Assuming these seven attributes adequately describe a learning community, how can we develop such a community? And what role would star teachers play in transforming schools into learning communities?

Attributes of Star Teachers
The term star teachers designates teachers who are so effective that the adverse effects of working in failing schools or school districts do not prevent them from being successful teachers. They make up approximately 8 percent of the teachers who work with seven million diverse low-income urban students in the 120 largest school districts.

Several characteristics set them apart (Haberman, 1995/2004):
· their persistence,
· their physical and emotional stamina,
· their caring relationships with students,
· their commitment to acknowledging and appreciating student effort,
· their willingness to admit mistakes,
· their focus on in-depth learning,
· their commitment to inclusion and their organizational skills.

They also
. protect student learning,
· translate theory and research into practice,
· cope with the bureaucracy,
· create student ownership,
· engage parents and caregivers as partners in student learning, and
· support accountability for at-risk students' learning.

These attributes predict the effectiveness and staying power of teachers serving diverse students in low-income urban schools. More than 170 school districts in the United States use the Star Teacher Interview which evaluates these attributes as part of their teacher hiring process(Haberman,2004).

Star Teacher Ideology
Undergirding these attributes is the common ideology of star teachers.
· Stars tend to be nonjudgmental. As they interact with children and adults in school settings star teachers try to understand the motivation behind a given behavior rather than judge the behavior.
· They are not moralistic. Star teacher know that preaching and lecturing do not equate to teaching and that those approaches neither influence behavior nor increase students' desire to learn.
· They respond as professionals and are not easily shocked. Horrific events occur in urban schools with some regularity. Star teachers ask themselves, "What can I do about this?" If they can help they take action. If not, they get on with their work and their lives. They respond to emotionally charged situations as thoughtful professionals.
· Stars hear what students and adults say to them. Star teachers listen and understand. They have exceedingly sensitive communication skills. They regard everyone in the school community as a potential source of useful information.
· They recognize and compensate for their weaknesses. Star teachers are aware of their weaknesses in terms of a lack of knowledge or skills or in terms of their own biases and prejudices. They strive to overcome them. · Stars do not see themselves as saviors. Star teachers have not come to rescue the system. Actually, they do not expect much from the system - except for the likelihood it may worsen. They focus on making their students successful in spite of the system.
· Stars do not work in isolation. Star teachers know that burnout can affect everyone. They network and create their own support groups.
· Stars view themselves as successful professionals rescuing students. Star teachers see themselves as "winning" even though they know that their total influence on their students is likely to be less than the total society, the neighborhood or even gang. They take pride in turning students on to learning and making them educationally successful in the midst of failed urban school systems.
· Stars derive energy and well being from their interactions with students. Star teachers so enjoy being with students that they are even willing to put up with the irrational demands of the system. Rather than always feeling exhausted, they feel vitalized and energized from a day at work.
· Stars see themselves as teachers of children as well as of content. Star teachers want students to become better people not just higher achievers.
· Stars are learners. Star teachers are models of learning for students because they are vitally interested in some subject matter or avocation that keeps them constantly learning.
· Stars have no need for power. Stars derive their satisfactions from effectively teaching diverse low income students. They stay in the classroom.
· Stars recognize the imperative for student success. Star teachers see the need for diverse low-income students to succeed in school as a matter of life and death for the students and for the survival of the society.

Teacher Voice
Star teachers are avid learners. The challenge is getting them to actively participate in a school-wide learning community. Their motivation for becoming teachers generally has little to do with serving as change agents or transforming schools.
Stars will not necessarily assume leadership roles in this regard because they focus on students. Although they seek to get along with colleagues, work positively as team members and share their expertise when asked, they prefer to put their time to use working with individual students, gathering interesting learning materials, making home visits, and pursuing the particular learning interests and avocations they value. They will need to be convinced that engaging in school-wide activities will directly benefit their students. What will not convince them to participate are learning communities that they perceive have been created with an agenda, such as one that tries to convince teachers they need the "Bumstead" reading program, or the "Surefire Method" of classroom management. If administrators have teachers meet primarily to learn about the mandates they need to follow, then the creation of a learning community will be stillborn.

A learning community is based on the assumption that developing the faculty is a necessary condition of school improvement. If the district or building administration operates on the assumption that teacher-proof programs can improve schools, then star teachers will detach themselves from the process.

Star teachers will need to be convinced that the faculty will have the major voice in determining its own professional development. This is a step-by-step process involving teachers and their school administrators. The school administration must also show genuine willingness to live with and support the results of the freedom that teachers must exercise to create a school-based learning community.

When Stars Steal the Show
Stars care about and respect students-even students whom other teachers cannot handle. For example, stars do not suspend students unless the law requires them to do so (e.g. when a student brings a gun to school). At schools that suspend more than half of their students during the course of the school year, the positive relationships between stars and their students becomes obvious.

Stars do not follow mandates if they believe the mandates will hurt student learning.
Stars do not follow curricula page by page because their expertise in the subjects they teach gives them the confidence to know what to skip.
Stars do not "cover" material but rather focus their teaching on generating interest and relevance.

These teacher behaviors do not go unnoticed by other teachers and administrators. Individual teachers or teacher committees often come to principals demanding to know, "If we have to do this, why doesn't she or he (the star teacher) have to?"

In middle and high schools, where each student has many teachers, a star's success with students whom other teachers are failing can become a source of faculty dissension.
Other teachers often have a difficult time accepting that stars are successful and happy about their work when they themselves may be experiencing great stress and discouragement. Indeed, teachers often feel pressured by the presence of stars.

The star's success makes other teachers' failures all the more obvious. The failure may be one of inadequate professional know-how, a lack of teacher effort, or the teachers' inability to establish positive working relationships with students.

Using star teachers in ways that help the school can be a challenge for principals. In many schools, the principal may be reluctant to provide stars with "space" because their success could only reveal the principal's inadequacy at providing professional development activities that will bring the rest of the staff up to the star's level.

The principal must also deal with parents who want their children in the star's classrooms and with grievances from teachers who are concerned that stars may not be following school regulations, such as requiring silence in the lunchroom or suspending students for first-time infractions.

Unfortunately, it is easier to pander to the majority than to protect the best practices of the stars. Principals sometimes even feel pressured to drive stars out, typically by assigning them to teach subjects or grade levels for which they are unprepared. The challenge to the principal, or to those seeking to create a learning community, is to use star teachers in unobtrusive, supportive ways that do not threaten the rest of the faculty and continuously remind them of their inadequacies. School administrators could use star teachers as committee members but without singling them out or designating them as chairpersons or faculty leaders. Administrators should let star teachers remain in their classrooms rather than removing them to become mentors or coaches. Star teachers should also work on the same agreed-on activities that the other teachers work on. And administrators should never request teachers to observe star teachers' classrooms unless the teachers themselves request it. Stars can have a positive impact if other teachers see that the stars are not seeking promotions out of their classrooms and are not trying to control the behavior of their peers.

School leaders must also recognize that the battle is for the hearts and minds of the teachers in the middle. This is the group that leaders must reach for the school to truly become a learning community. These are the satisfactory teachers who represent approximately 40% of the faculty. This middle group is as susceptible to becoming discouraged and accepting failure as they are to emulating the more positive approach of the stars.

A Portrait of Success
What if all teachers in a school were star teachers? What impact would it have on student achievement? Two failing elementary schools whose faculties were to be reconstituted provided us with the answer. One school serves low-income students of Mexican descent in Texas; the other serves predominantly low-income African American students in a depressed urban area in New York State.

Using the Star Teacher Selection Interview to identify star ideology and attributes, we hired only those teachers who passed the interview. We scored candidate responses in terms of how closely they mirrored the star teacher approach. Only a small percentage passed at the star level. The principals for these reconstituted schools also needed to pass the Star Administrator Selection Interview.

These schools, which had been designated as failing, were moved out of that category within a year. The school in Texas actually became one of the highest-achieving schools in the district within this short period. Highly effective teachers, led by an effective principal, can clearly close the achievement gap. In an in-depth study of the two schools,

I identified more than 30 factors that contributed directly or indirectly to creating a learning community.
For example, all the teachers focused on effort rather than ability as their explanation for school success. The teachers saw effective instruction as a matter of life and death for students.
Moreover, the teacher expected to have problems as part of their daily work. They viewed working with English language-limited students and inclusion students as an integral, not an extra, part of their jobs. And they accepted accountability for student achievement.

The learning communities developed in these two schools were not based on teachers necessarily liking one another, or even agreeing with one another's philosophies and methods.
Teachers did mutually respect one another, however, because they firmly believed that they all put the learning of the student above the convenience of the adults. Teachers did not blame the students for not learning, nor did they define their jobs in terms of the legally required minimums. Rather, teachers defined their roles in terms of "whatever it takes" to solve the problems. Selecting both veteran teachers and beginners with star ideology created a climate that provided continual opportunities for teachers to pursue their own learning and model their commitment to learning for their students (Haberman, 1999). At the start of the school year, the teachers trusted my contention that if they pursued these practices rather than teach for the tests, test scores would take care of themselves. And the test scores did just that. The faculty came to regard the achievement tests as minimum, not maximum, levels of what their students could achieve.

Looking to the Future
On the basis of what I have observed in app. 200 failing school districts over the last half century I can make a number of predictions.

First, working conditions will most likely worsen rather than improve.

Second, the next generation of principals will spring from the same internal pools as the current generation and will most likely not experience greater success. Last, transformers seeking to change the culture of schools using teacher-proof methods and programs will not create learning communities.

There are effective schools in every failing district that have, against all odds, created a learning community that functions to some degree. Moreover, a great opportunity exists to create viable learning communities in schools that must be reconstituted by law or reconstituted as charter schools within the same public school district. It makes little sense to work harder and longer at replicating strategies for changing school culture which have consistently failed in the past. What is worthy of replication is building the culture of a school that will foster and maintain a learning community, with teachers whose ideology is moving them down the road toward becoming stars.

References

Haberman,M. (1995,2004). Star teachers of children in poverty. Houston: Haberman Educational Foundation .

Haberman, M. (1999). "Victory at Buffalo Creek: What makes a school serving hispanic children in poverty successful?" Instructional Leader, Part I. March, 1999; Part II. April, 1999;Part III. May, 1999; V.XVII, No. 2.

Haberman, M.(2004). Creating effective schools in failed urban districts. Myriad. University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

http://www.educationnews.org/can-star-teachers-create-learnin.htm

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 7:08 PM 0 comments

Quote du jour

"When you are clear, what you want will show up in your life, and only to the extent you are clear."
--Janet Attwood

posted by AcrosticGuy @ 3:38 AM 0 comments