1 | P a g e

Second Annual

Progress Report

Auxilium Nava Jyothi

Kunnamangalam, Kerala, India

Dr. David D. Paige

January 22, 2014

2 | P a g e

Background: Under the sponsorship of Homes of Hope India-US, a non-profit that has

worked to enhance the education of marginalized Indian children since 2006, the Thinking

Schools Academy was first launched at the Auxilium Nava Jyothi School in Kunnamangalam,

Kerala in August, 2012.

The goal of the Thinking Schools Academy is to equip teachers to move away from rote

memory instructional methods, provide them with a new perspective on learning, and help them

develop the in-class techniques to teach their students to employ what is generally considered

“higher order thinking,” in other words, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Nava Jyothi is an English Medium school of about 1,500 students enrolled in pre-

kindergarten through the 12th

grade (called standards in India), operated by the Salesian Sisters

of Don Bosco, a Catholic order of nuns, which has been in India since 1922. Nava Jyothi is one

of 20 schools within the order’s Bangalore Province that the sisters operate and was chosen to

be the first, or model school, before extending Thinking Schools to their other schools.

Dr. David Paige, an assistant professor of Education at Bellarmine University in

Louisville, Kentucky, with the assistance of a team of other qualified educators, have made some

15 individual trips to India to indoctrinate teachers at Nava Jyothi in Thinking Schools methods

in addition to holding some 20 video conferences to solve problems, answer questions, give

examples, and generally bolster their skills.

This report was prepared after a visit by Dr. Paige in January, 2014.

There are three parts to this report:

1. Implementation to date of Thinking Schools methodology at Nava Jyothi.

2. Benefits for Students Instructed with Thinking Schools methodology.

3. Plans to “Scale-Up” Thinking Schools Academy to other schools

The Thinking Schools Academy initiative is supported

by two grants from The International Foundation and additional funding from Homes of Hope India-US.

3 | P a g e

1. Implementation to date of Thinking Schools methodology at Nava Jyothi.

Dr. David Paige visited Auxilium Nava Jyothi the week of January 13, 2014 with three

objectives in mind:

1. To observe and record the progress of teachers who have adopted the use of instructional

strategies learned within the Thinking Schools Academy.

2. To measure the extent to which teaching practice has changed within Nava Jyothi.

3. To discuss the expansion of the Thinking Schools Academy beyond Nava Jyothi with

Sister Elizabeth Pothen, the Administrator of the Kunnamangalam campus and the

education coordinator for the Bangalore Province.

Background

Classroom instruction in the K-12 setting across India features rote memorization as the

primary teaching strategy. This fact has been well documented in the national Indian press and

identified as a hindrance to Indian education by many across the country. The result of this one-

dimensional instructional approach to teaching is that Indians emerging from the secondary

educational system, whether it be from public or private institutions, lack what has come to be

termed “21st Century Skills.” Such skills include the ability to synthesize, evaluate, and extend

information, to effectively collaborate with peers for the purpose of problem solving, and to

generally think effectively beyond facts and basic knowledge that are now easily available to

anyone with access to Internet resources. It is also thought the lack of instruction emphasizing

higher order thinking within Indian education ultimately hinders innovation in the workplace.

The objective of the Thinking Schools Academy (TSA) is to train teachers in the use of

instructional strategies which encourage higher order, or critical, thinking in students. The

desired outcome of this objective is that teaching and learning regularly engages students in

higher order thinking. In essence, the work of the Thinking Schools Academy involves the

facilitation of cultural change in the fundamental approach by teachers to how they deliver

instruction. To borrow the Jim Collins term, the Thinking Schools Academy posits such change

as moving schools from “good to great.”

To facilitate such foundational change, the TSA staff has spent considerable time

learning both the Indian culture and the specifics of how education is approached and delivered

in India and more specifically, within the Salesian school system. Additionally, TSA staff have

worked to understand how Indian teachers interpret and implement the various instructional

strategies taught by TSA, and how to encourage adoption of these new methods as part of their

professional practice or “toolkit.”

While the learning curve for TSA staff has been steep, it has begun to flatten as

considerable local knowledge has been acquired regarding education with the Salesian schools.

This is the seventh visit to Kunnamangalam by either Dr. Paige (who has made five visits) or

4 | P a g e

another representative from the Thinking Schools Academy to work with teachers at Auxilium

Nava Jyothi, the first school within the Salesian system to receive TSA training. In addition to

Dr. Paige, four additional professionals from TSA have visited the Kunnamangalam campus to

work with teachers.

Since the first TSA visit to Nava Jyothi in 2012, much time has been spent observing

teaching to learn what pedagogical methods were being utilized by teachers. From there, the

general approach by TSA has been to identify high utility

instructional strategies which:

1. Are most likely to result in higher order thinking by students

2. Can be more easily learned by Indian teachers who are

novices to higher order thinking instruction

3. Increase classroom instructional efficiency

4. Encourage foundational skill development in students,

particularly with literacy acquisition

Changing Teaching Practice

The purpose of the Thinking Schools Academy is to encourage the adoption of

instructional practices that will encourage higher order thinking (HOT) in students. To

implement the adoption of such strategies, TSA teacher training has generally proceeded as

follows:

1. Provide training as to why HOT strategies are important and how they benefit

students in terms of educational outcomes

2. Present and explain the strategy to teachers

3. Model the strategy so teachers can see it “in action”

4. Observe as teachers implement the strategy with a class

5. Provide feedback and encouragement to teachers on their use of the strategy

6. Engage teachers in conversations using Vidyo conferences where they explain

how they used the strategy and what challenges and “little victories” they

experienced. Additional immediate feedback is offered by TSA.

Vidyo Conferences

As TSA personnel are on campus for only brief stays, an important element of the change

strategy has been follow-up communication with teachers and the school principal. Vidyo®

conference uses advanced computer technology to enable collaboration in a real-time, on-line

forum between Indian teachers and TSA personnel from across the United States. Through the

use of regular Vidyo conference meetings, meaningful conversations take place between TSA

staff and teachers regarding their developmental experiences with the various HOT strategies.

5 | P a g e

This collaboration aspect of the Academy has provided the regular and requisite teacher contact

which has been vital to the furtherance of instructional change (see Case Study in Appendix 1.)

Adoption of TSA Strategies

As mentioned earlier, the Thinking Schools Academy is involved in changing cultural

perceptions and practices regarding teaching and learning. In any change initiative there exists a

predictable relationship between time and the rate at which the innovation is adopted. As

depicted in Roger’s Innovation Adoption Model below, about 2% of individuals are innovators,

that is, those who will be the first to test new ideas. This adoption often occurs before others

have heard or been exposed to the innovation. The next group, early adopters, are not the first,

but are individuals willing to adopt early. These individuals make up about 14% of all potential

adopters. The next two groups, the early and late majority, represent about 34% each or slightly

over two-thirds of the total. The very last group of adopters referred to as laggards, make up the

remaining 16% of potential adopters. For a variety of reasons many laggards never adopt the

innovation.

Figure 1. Innovation Adoption Model

To determine which adoption phase the Thinking Schools Academy initiative is

experiencing, a survey of teaching was conducted where teachers were observed in their

classrooms by Dr. Paige. Additionally, Dr. Paige discussed with the school principal, Sister Lisy

Mechery, each teacher and their progress in adopting the strategies. Table 1 below summarizes

the state of teaching practice across Nava Jyothi and shows that some 55% of teachers rated at

“Emerging” or higher with over 27% rated as “Core to Practice,” suggesting these teachers have

substantively changed their teaching practice.

To obtain a “Core to Practice” rating, each teacher was observed teaching over time,

meaning that they must have exhibited consistent use of the strategies during at least two visits

by TSA personnel (see Table 2). During a classroom observation, the rater logged the various

strategies that were implemented during the lesson. For a strategy to be considered as being

utilized by the teacher it must have been implemented with fidelity, in others words, the strategy

6 | P a g e

was judged by the observer to be competently implemented by the teacher. Table 1 below lists

the 11 teachers who received a “Core to Practice” rating and the various strategies that have been

observed to be implemented with fidelity.

Table 1. HOT Strategy Adoption by Nava Jyothi teachers

Strategy Use Descriptor No Use Emerging Use Some Use “Core to Practice” Total Teachers

Number of Teachers 18 6 5 11 40 Key: No Use – strategies have not been used; Emerging Use – teacher has used one or more strategies at least once; Some

use – teachers uses one or more strategies on a weekly basis; Core to Practice – HOT strategies are embedded within each

instance of teaching representing a practice transformation and full adoption.

This data suggests that the Thinking Schools Academy at Nava Jyothi is solidly in the

“early adoption” phase of Roger’s innovation adoption model (Figure 2). Of the 40 or so targeted

teachers within the pre-school through 10th

grades of the school (the 11th

and 12th

grades are

excluded due to syllabus and testing issues), 11 teachers (27.5%) have adopted HOT strategies,

by repeatedly demonstrating competence with them as observed by Dr. Paige, and have made the

strategies the core of their teaching practice.

Figure 2. HOT Strategy Adoption by Category

7 | P a g e

Table 2. Observed Strategy Use by “Core to Practice” Faculty

Quantifying Higher Order Thinking in Auxilium Nava Jyothi

While the objective of the Thinking Schools Academy is to train teachers in the adoption of instructional strategies which

encourage higher order thinking in students, the ultimate outcome is that students are regularly engaged in critical thinking. To assess

the extent to which students are engaged in higher order thinking, an on-line observation tool designed by Dr. Paige and colleagues

has been used to collect classroom data on this outcome. The SER-C®

on-line tool works via a smart phone or IPad. The observer

watches students to determine the level of thinking or depth-of-knowledge (recall, application, strategic thinking, extended thinking)

which is required by the instruction provided to them by the teacher. For example, if students are sitting and listening to the teacher

Teacher/Grade/Content Observed Activity January, 2014

Bella/2nd

ELA

Molly

3rd

ELA

Sindu

4th

ELA

Senthina

6th

Social

Studies

Supna

7th

Social

Studies

Bindu K.

8th

ELA

Anima

7th

Math

Sige

5th

Science

Kanchana

7th

Social

Studies

Juni

Upper

Kindergarten

Freda

Lower

Kindergarten

Literacy

Choral Reading

Formative Assessment

Word Wall

Word Study

Students working in groups

Student Discussions

Think-Pair-Share

Writing Summary

Silent Reading in Class

Technology Use

Use of higher order questions

Early Literacy Specific Instruction:

Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Phonics Instruction

Word Reading Instruction

8 | P a g e

lecture, this is learning where the student is simply involved in acquiring or recalling basic

information (DOK1). If, for example, students are involved in using their math knowledge to

solve problems, this suggests a depth-of-knowledge requiring application (DOK2). When

students are involved in an activity requiring them to evaluate or synthesize information with a

classmate, the depth-of-knowledge is most often a DOK3. The SER-C® instrument has been used

extensively in school districts across the state of Kentucky where over 24,000 classroom

observations have been recorded. As such, these U.S. observations provide a benchmark against

which to compare results from India.

Three primary pieces of information are collected by the SER-C:

1. Depth-of-Knowledge: the thinking level at which students are working based on

Webb’s DOK.

2. Engagement percentage: the percent of students who appear to be behaviorally

attending to learning. It should be noted that Indian students at Nava Jyothi exhibit a

high level of “compliant” behavior meaning they tend to give their attention to the

teacher as a matter of personal discipline.

3. Learning Mode: Simply, are students involved in learning alone (e.g., independently)

or are they learning with others in informal or formal groups? Learning with others

requires the student to use critical English language skills, to share thinking with

others, and to learn how to give and receive feedback with others in a respectful and

productive manner.

In previous visits to the Auxilium Nava Jyothi School in Kunnamangalam, Dr. Paige has

documented the depth-of-knowledge taking place across classrooms (Table 3 below). In January

of 2013, over 100 classroom observations were obtained. This timeframe reflects the early

efforts of the Thinking Schools Academy when teachers were in the nascent stages of using HOT

strategies. Not surprisingly, the average DOK for all observations was 1.32 suggesting that for

every 3 instances where students were involved in low-level recall activities, 1 instance was seen

where students were engaged in an activity requiring thinking at the application level or higher.

A close inspection of this data reveals that some 64 observations were at the DOK1 level, 24 at

the DOK2 level, 6 at DOK3, with the remaining few reflecting no instruction taking place.

Additionally, the learning mode average of 1.08 suggests that students worked alone or

independently almost all the time, in other words, teachers were rarely putting their students into

instructional situations where they could collaborate with each other. The behavioral engagement

percentage of 92.3% suggests high engagement meaning in a class of 50 (typical size for this

school), about 4 students were not paying attention to the teacher.

Table 3 shows clearly the progress made by teachers due to training received in the

Thinking Schools Academy. January, 2014 results show that average depth of knowledge (DOK)

increased from 1.32 to 1.95. Of the 44 observations, 17 instances of learning were at the recall

level, 12 were at the application level, and 15 were at the strategic or higher order level. These

results suggest that learning activities presented to students by the teacher span the depth-of-

knowledge continuum, providing students with cognitive challenges at multiple levels of

thinking. This had never been seen in the school prior to TSA training.

9 | P a g e

The increase in the learning mode metric from an average of 1.08 to 1.43 reveals that

teachers are providing regular opportunities for students to collaborate in their learning and

employ important English language skills. Taken together, these DOK and Learning Mode

metrics strongly suggest that this group of teachers have fundamentally changed their teaching

practice through the adoption of instructional strategies which provide multiple opportunities for

students to engage in higher order thinking and in collaborative learning. In a very real sense

these teachers have increased their instructional capacity through the acquisition of techniques

which encourage higher order thinking and collaboration.

Finally, when compared to a very large database of observations gathered by some 500

observers in over 35 American schools, the January, 2014 metrics for Auxilium Nava Jyothi now

exceed the U.S. average. This suggests that teachers participating in the Thinking Schools

Academy are providing higher order and collaborative learning opportunities at a rate which

exceeds that found in the typical American classroom.

Table 3. SER-C Observation Data Documenting Depth-of-Knowledge, Engagement, and

Learning Activity

Location/Date

Average Depth-of-

Knowledge

1 = Recall

2 = Application

3 = Strategic thinking

4 = Extended thinking

Engagement

Percentage

Learning Mode

1 = Learning alone

2 = Learning Together

Nava Jyothi, January,

2013

(n = 101)

1.32

92.3%

1.08

Nava Jyothi, January,

2014

(n = 43)

1.95

93.6%

1.43

Average U.S. school

(n = 24, 112)

1.45

89.2%

1.35

Note. n = number of observations

At this point, it might be good to pause and simply ask …”and?”

In other words, how does training teachers in the Thinking Schools method

benefit the students? After all, students are, in essence, the “product.”

While teaching teachers new methods is good,

Does and will Thinking Schools produce better students?

10 | P a g e

2. Benefits for Students Instructed with Thinking Schools Methodology

The Catalyst for New Teaching

The Global Achievement Gap (2008) authored by Harvard professor Tony Wagner

described the endemic problems in American education which hinder students from learning the

essential skills needed for success in the 21st century. The short list includes little to no

instruction in critical thinking and problem solving, learning alone rather than in collaboration

with peers, extensive test prep for the purpose of regurgitating factual knowledge to pass high-

stakes tests of low-level knowledge, poor written and oral communication, the inability to

analyze and synthesize information, and little curiosity and imagination.

Unfortunately, these same shortfalls in educational outcomes exist in even larger measure

across Indian educational institutions. And Indian leaders are well aware of the problem and

have been calling for change.

Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro has called to make innovation a national initiative.

Nirmala Sankaran, CEO of Indian education company HeyMath, has spoken out on the importance of inquisitiveness in students, of encouraging them to ask

“why?”

Narayana Murthy, Executive Chairman of Infosys, has called for schools in India to train students in critical thinking, an educational outcome which he asserts is

sorely lacking and hence, hard to find in potential employees for his corporation.

The Indian business press routinely discusses the poor outcomes of Indian education, an

example of which appeared in the esteemed journal The Economist (A Billion Brains, Sept. 29,

2012). This story cited survey data which found that of the 500,000 recent engineering graduates

in India, 78% struggled with English while 56% lacked analytical skills. Imagine, engineers no

less, devoid of analytical thinking. As such, the survey found that only about 3% or 15,000

Indian engineering graduates were ready to be hired by IT firms. To be certain, the problem is

not with the students as they are some of the brightest in a country of over one billion.

Rather, the problem is with an educational system grounded in a paradigm of

instructional methods which trace its roots back to the British colonial system where the goal of

education was to simply train clerks to assist in the administration of the empire. Unfortunately,

while Indian education uses instructional methods that served their ancestors well, few

companies today are in search of employees with skills commensurate to those of clerks.

The Thinking Schools Academy is an attempt to change the prevailing mental model

about what constitutes great teaching and learning in India. Instruction which emphasizes higher

order or critical thinking, collaboration, oral and written communication, and genuine

inquisitiveness are what have come to be termed 21st century skills. And so we arrive at the

question which asks, just what does 21st century teaching and learning net Indian students and

the country as a whole?

11 | P a g e

New Paradigm, New Outcomes

In the late 15th

century the perception of the world as flat meant risking the possibility of

sailing off the edge of the earth into a black, eternal, and bottomless abyss. Today, the

interpretation of a flat world, first coined by Nanden Nilekani, the former CEO of India’s

Infosys, means that through connectedness enabled by digital technology, we are often

competing with individuals and companies from across the planet. While civilization has

engaged in a global economy for millennia (the Silk Road, the Spice Coast, etc.), this more often

than not meant that a particular company with a product desired by other cultures simply traded

with customers from far-away lands.

Today’s global economy means that in addition to customers, a particular company may

also have actual competitors spread across the globe, all competing for the same customer.

Today’s flat world also means work and production can be outsourced to the most efficient

global vendor, quickly putting local companies in perilous competitive situations. Which now

brings us to the intersection of 21st learning and the global economy. Students taught by teachers

trained in the Thinking Schools Academy learn to encourage three valuable skills in students

who will eventually enter the 21st century workplace:

1. Engage in greater thinking flexibility, problem solving and innovation 2. Expand their use of spoken and written English, the lingua franca of the flat world 3. Learn how to effectively collaborate with others

Thinking Flexibility

How is synthesizing information, an indicator of higher level thinking, different from

recalling specifics about a topic? Recently Dr. David Paige and Victoria Spagnoli from the

Thinking Schools Academy visited Auxilium Nava Jyothi and held a three-day workshop for a

group of sixth- through eighth-grade students using higher-order thinking instruction. Students

were told they would choose a topic for which they would prepare a research-based story which

would be presented using a web-based Prezi presentation.

After collectively brainstorming topics the students chose one: the mountain railways of

India. Students gathered research using resources available from the Internet and then, using

their spoken English and collaboration skills, decided within their group what information was

important to understanding the cultural and socio-economic significance of the railroads.

Students then worked to present their information in a story format using Prezi technology so it

could be understood by someone who knew little about the topic. This extensive and deep

learning process encourages the long-term retention of what was learned, contributing to what is

called schema, an emerging mental map which is available for future recall by the individual.

If traditional fact-based teaching had been used, the students would have been given the

topic and the applicable facts, engaged in instruction to memorize those facts, and then would

have taken a multiple-choice and true/false test on the facts which would have ended the lesson.

12 | P a g e

After just a few days, cognitive research tells us that the students would have forgotten

most of what they had memorized for the test with very little being committed to long-term

memory. Hence, very little of the subject matter is retained and available for later retrieval and

use. Additionally, students formerly worked at very low-learning levels and were not afforded

the opportunity to engage in critical thinking and collaborative learning.

English Usage Continuing with our mountain railroad example, traditional instruction would feature the

teacher telling the students what information they needed to learn. Spoken English would be

used by the students as they repeat in unison, canned answers to questions posed by teacher.

Such instruction does not encourage original thinking and thought generation. As students copy

questions and answers in their journals generated by the teacher, they would be using their

written English skills to copy.

Thinking Schools Academy methods puts the students in small groups where they use

their English skills to share what they have found about the railroads with each other, unassisted

by the teacher. This requires that students generate original spoken sentences which reflect their

unique thoughts about their railroad research. It also requires that students listen intently to

process and understand the English of their peers as they share their research findings with each

other. This self-generated speech in English serves the student as they learn to think in English,

that is, how to construct coherent sentences which represent their original thinking. Students

must also learn to understand English spoken by their peers.

Collaborative Learning with Others

As students share ideas and discuss how to synthesize their information in small groups,

they must learn how to present their thinking to others, how to be bold enough to speak up, and

how to be clear and concise. On the flip side, students must also learn how to be receptive and

respectful receivers of information. This includes how to agree and disagree without being

pompous, hurtful, and flippant. Rather, they must learn how to be sincere, respectful, and

thoughtful, while still making their point.

In this setting students must learn how to make group decisions, how to decide what is

important, how to prioritize, and how to take and share leadership within the group. This is

training in collaborative learning, a highly valued skill within professional organizations who

must leverage the “best thinking” from every employee in order to effectively learn and compete

in today’s flat world described earlier. Techniques and strategies for collaborative learning are a

central part of the training received by teachers participating in the Thinking Schools Academy.

Becoming a 21st century school means that teachers must first possess the skills to engage

their students in the kind of learning and thinking required in today’s workplace. The ability to

analyze, collate, discuss, present, and engage in complex problem solving processes does not

suddenly appear once one graduates from college and commences work in a professional

organization. These skills represent sophisticated and disciplined thinking which must be

learned, developed and practiced. In this very real sense, teachers trained in the Thinking

13 | P a g e

Schools Academy learn how to train their students to think at high levels. Such adults who

possess the critical thinking required to solve complex problems is what business leaders around

the world are clamoring to find in their employees.

14 | P a g e

3. Plans to “Scale-Up” the Thinking Schools Academy One of the objectives of Dr. Paige’s January, 2014 visit was to engage in planning with

Sr. Elizabeth Pothen regarding the expansion of the Thinking Schools Academy initiative to

additional schools within the Bangalore province. Although the adoption of HOT strategies has

not occurred across the entire faculty at Auxilium Nava Jyothi, there is considerable interest

across the province in the Thinking Schools Academy. For example, during the May, 2013 visit,

several sisters who were school leaders at other schools spent several days in a TSA workshop

learning HOT strategies. During this particular visit, a principal and four teachers visited the

Nava Jyothi campus for two days to learn more about HOT strategies.

Sr. Elizabeth feels strongly that it is time to begin diffusing the TSA to other campuses.

To begin this process, it was decided that Thinking Schools Academy “summit” would be held

early in the upcoming school year, midsummer, 2014, in India.

A foundational emphasis of this initiative will be to more fully utilize the Indian teachers

from Nava Jyothi who have demonstrated competence with HOT strategies as instructors. In

other words, develop the capacity for “Indians to train Indians.” This will involve the

transitioning of our best teachers into the role of instructional coaches to lead “Summit”

presentations and to work with teachers from other schools via the Vidyo conference technology.

Conclusion

The transformative change by more than half (and 27.5% achieving the highest rating of

“core to practice’) the teachers at Auxilium Nava Jyothi School in adopting HOT strategies has

been highly encouraging. While there is certainly more work to be accomplished, change is none

the less taking place. It is strongly felt that two large initiatives should be pursued moving

forward:

1. Continue to engage in efforts to encourage adoption of HOT strategies by additional

teachers at Auxilium Nava Jyothi. In other words, HOT strategies should be further

diffused throughout the faculty.

2. Devise a plan to bring the Thinking Schools Academy project to additional schools

within the Bangalore Province.

a. In concurrence with a provincial expansion plan, training those teachers who have

excelled in the adoption of TSA instructional techniques to transition to the role

of instructional coaches is crucial.

b. While Indian coaching expertise is being developed a group of experienced U.S.

teachers should be recruited to act as mentors and co-coaching facilitators to work

in conjunction with our emerging Indian teacher leaders.

Before departing the campus I had a final meeting with our best Indian teachers who I

perceive as potential instructional coaches. It was during this meeting that the teachers expressed

their gratitude for helping them to transform their teaching, to grow as educational professionals,

and to increase their ability to more fully develop the potential of their students.

15 | P a g e

Appendix 1

16 | P a g e

17 | P a g e

18 | P a g e

19 | P a g e

20 | P a g e

21 | P a g e