Where Innovation Is Tradition Getting Schools Ready for College and Career Readiness Gary R Galluzzo George Mason University

Where Innovation Is Tradition

Getting Schools Ready for College and Career Readiness

Gary R Galluzzo

George Mason University


Anyone can stand up here and make an argument for change in the nation’s schools

He/She can use international data; national data; state data, and even school-level data to remind us what we already know, in many instances

I’d like to make a few points along these lines, but then devote the remainder of my time outlining what we’re learning from schools that turn themselves around


But first…

In order to improve public education in America, some people think the focus should be on reforming the existing public school system. Others believe the focus should be on finding an alternative to the existing public school system. Which approach do you think is preferable? (Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Annual Survey, 2002-2007)

A. Reforming the existing system

B. Finding an alternative system

C. Don’t know

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Goals, we love goals!

By the year 2000,

1. All children in America will start school ready to learn.

2. The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent.

3. United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement.

4. Every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship


It’s accomplishing them that proves so challenging

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The Solution? Accountability

Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Act of 1965 (Johnson)

A Nation at Risk (1983) (Reagan)

A Nation Prepared (1986) (Governors)

White House Education Summit/Goals 2000 (1989) (G.H.W. Bush)

National Assessment (1993) (Clinton)

National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1996; 2000) (Clinton)

No Child Left Behind (2001) (G.W. Bush)

Race to the Top (2009-2010) (Obama)

President Obama’s “Blueprint” (college and career ready goal)http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/publicationtoc.html

(Voluntary) “Common Core” Standards

http://www.corestandards.org/ (“college and career ready” standards)

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http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/publicationtoc.html

http://www.corestandards.org/


US and the World

PIRLS Literacy (Grade 4): 8th in the world out of 52

TIMSS Math (Grade 4): 15th of 42

TIMSS Math (Grade 8): 23rd of 33

TIMSS Science (Grade 4): 10th of 47

TIMSS Science (Grade 8): 23rd of 33

As our children become older, they perform less well over previous test years.

http://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/commissioner/remarks2012/12_11_2012.asp

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http://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/commissioner/remarks2012/12_11_2012.asp


US Graduation Rates

The rates for other groups were:

Asian/Pacific Islander: 91.8%

White: 82.0%

Hispanic: 65.9%

American Indian/Alaska Native: 64.8%

African-American/Black: 63.5%

Stillwell, R., Sable, J., & Plotts, C. (2011). Public School Graduates and Dropouts From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2008–09: First Look. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011312.pdf

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http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011312.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011312.pdf


Highest Educational Attainment (age 25 and over (U.S. Census, 2012))

Education level Percentage

High school graduate 87.65%

Some college 57.28%

Associate's and/or Bachelor's degree 40.58%

Bachelor's degree 30.94%

Master's degree 8.05%

Doctorate or professional degree 3.07%


Salaries, Employment by Degree


College Ready?

On the ACT Readiness Benchmark on its 2012 tests:

English: 67% of all ACT-tested high school graduates met this benchmark

Reading: 52% Mathematics: 46% Science: 31% All 4 subjects: 25%http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/cccr13/readiness5.html

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http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/cccr13/readiness5.html

http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/cccr13/readiness5.html


Tweak or Start over?

In order to improve public education in America, some people think the focus should be on reforming the existing public school system. Others believe the focus should be on finding an alternative to the existing public school system. Which approach do you think is preferable? (Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Annual Survey, 2002-2007)

National No Children Public School

Totals In School Parents

’07 ’06 ’05 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’07 ’06 ’05

% % % % % % % % %

Reforming existing system 72 71 68 75 72 67 68 69 72

Finding alternative system 26 24 23 24 23 23 29 25 22

Don’t know 2 5 9 1 5 10 3 6 6

National No Children Public School

Totals In School Parents

’04 ’03 ’02 ’04 ’03 ’02 ’04 ’03 ’02

% % % % % % % % %

Reforming existing system 66 73 69 63 73 69 72 73 69

Finding alternative system 26 25 27 28 24 26 21 25 27

Don’t know 8 2 4 9 3 5 7 2 4


And this is education’s challenge

The New Goal?: Raising the knowledge, skills, and abilities for all students, while narrowing achievement gaps simultaneously for college and career readiness

We’ve never done this before in our nation

And so far, the school, rather than the teacher or the student, is the unit of analysis


Reasons, Factors, or Excuses?

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Coleman Report, 1966Equality of Educational OpportunitySought to determine whether school funding was unequal

across schools Specifically, whether African-American children’s schools

received less funding that white children’s schools…

…and whether these funding differences had effects on student learning• Federal distrust of local school districts and how they

allocate funds (by zip codes)


What he found The differences in funding weren’t all that great Per pupil expenditures did not seem to indicate

“unequal treatment” based upon race or class

However…

The relative equality of funding was not generating an equality of outcomes


“Inequalities imposed”

Other “things” were getting in the way of equal student outcome• Mother’s level of education• Father’s income (family SES)• Number of books and magazines in the home

Outside factors accounted for as much as 90% of the variance in student achievement


James Coleman, 1966

1966: “Schools bring little influence to bear on a child's achievement that is independent of his background and general social context; and that this very lack of an independent effect means that the inequalities imposed on children by their home, neighborhood, and peer environment are carried along to become the inequalities with which they confront adult life at the end of school.” (p. 325)


James Coleman, 1987

1987: “As the social capital in the home and neighborhood shrinks, school achievement and other growth will not be increased by replacing these resources with more school-like resources—that is, those that produce opportunities, demands, and rewards— but by replacing them with resources which produce attitudes, efforts, and conception of self—that is, those qualities that interact with the ones provided by the school.” (p. 38)


James Coleman, 1987 Rephrased

As the resources available to any child in any neighborhood decline/disappear, schools and their history of lessons, assignments/tests, and grades will not help those students who need “the soft skills” such as the importance of hope, the resilience to get back up, and learning the power of one’s capacities and how to trust them, which all correlate with achievement in school.


Our “Process” Challenges?

For practitioners: turning excuses into reasons

For researchers: turning reasons into factors

For leaders: leading professionals instead of telling employees…and not waiting for the last person to agree

Or…

Doing our best to seize this goal of college and career readiness and accomplishing it

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So how do we get there?

Eight Attributes of School Change

1. “Client-” centered

2. Identifiable curricular commitments

3. Standards/Expectations

4. Alignment of assessments and instruction with those standards

5. Regular accountability

6. Data-based changes to teaching and the school

7. Parent Outreach/Home “Inreach”

8. Substantive, focused professional development


1.“Client”-centered

Who walks into this school every morning?What do they “bring” with them? What are they lacking outside of school? What are the cultures in which they are being

raised? What does that mean for our school and what we do

here? Who are we/who am I to teach these children? Do we/do I have what these children need?


2. Identifiable Curricular Commitments

For what fundamental values does my school stand?

Are they known to all?

Adopted by all?

The school stands for something, e.g. Mastery of basic skills; Critical thinking; Career-readiness; Creativity; Perpetuation of democracy; Social skills; Personal development (Coleman’s “soft” skills), etc.

In a sense, this is the foundation for a social contract

NB: It could be all of these, but the more a school has the greater the challenge will be during implementation.


3. Standards for Performance

What do we want these children to know and be able to do? What do we want this school to accomplish with these students, with a keen eye on what these particular students need from us and from the curriculum?

What are the standards to which we will hold them?Are they clear? Challenging? Achievable? Can they be reliably measured such that they render valid

judgments?(I hope you can start to see why a clearly understood set of

commitments is so important; the sharper the focus, the easier it should be to conduct evaluations.)


4. Alignment of Assessment and Instruction with those Standards

Now that we know what we expect of our students…• What are the best assessments for these standards?

– Homemade? Off-the-shelf? Performances? A hybrid?• What are the best instructional arrangements for our

students to accomplish them?– Graded? Ungraded? Individual contract? Class size caps?

• What are the most appropriate materials?• What are the best (core) instructional strategies for

teaching to our standards?– Direct teaching? Problem-based? Apprenticeships? Others?


5. Regular Accountability (transparency)

So, how are we doing on our commitments?• Are all of our curricular commitments reported,

including those “soft skills”?

Can anyone find out how well we are accomplishing our goals?

Are our data clear and meaningful in the “marketplace?”

Are trends evident?


6. Data-based Changes

Once the data are collected and analyzed, are they used for school improvement?

What are the processes for deciding what changes will be made?

Who decides?

Is the evaluation adjusted to reflect these changes?


7. Parent Outreach/Home“Inreach”

Is the school connecting parents to their children’s education? To the school?

Would parents report that they feel welcomed into the school?

Are arrangements made for parents for whom getting to school proves a challenge?

Does the curriculum “go home?” • E.g. family math; reading at home, “Dads in school,”

etc.


8. Substantive, Focused Professional Development

Once we address the foregoing, we can begin to think about high quality professional development run by and for the teachers:

Is there evidence that teacher development is a respected priority of the school?

Does the professional development support the school’s commitments (substantive and focused)?

Are teachers learning from other teachers through the quality of their work?

Implementers must be seen as partners


Building Positive Mindsets1. Ownership: “it’s my/our problem. I own it, too.”

2. Confidence: fearless reaching out and talking about the problem

3. Collaboration/Community: the ability to become part of a team to address the problem

4. A sense of empowerment: leadership support to allow the risk-taking that is often necessary to venture out and innovate

5. Activism and Patience: the implementation of a plan

1. Action research; PLCs; goals-focused;


What I think I’m saying…1. All reform is local; each school is its own

culture; building by building• As such, there is no “silver bullet program” of reform

– “Beware the salesperson”

• Reform is also hard, collaborative work that extends beyond the school day, which suggests ownership matters and celebrating accomplishments matters

• Accomplishing reform is a process of locally managed continuous improvement based in core values, assessment, alignment, and evidence


What I think I’m saying…

2. The school as a “school of thought”• Curricular commitments are that covenant around

which professional practice and professional development is based

• The covenant should provide for an atmosphere of openness and honesty in discussing the school and how well it is reaching its students and accomplishing its goals.– Some teachers may be teaching in the wrong school…but we

don’t seem to like thinking like that. Fit matters!


Data Matter

3. Things that are measured at least have a chance of being improved

Without a model of goals, processes, and outcomes, we will continue to revisit the “external” policy “solutions,” and we’ll be back here in 10 years having the same conversation.


And last…

If we see reform as conducted locally, building-by-building, with each building on its own learning journey (becoming a “school of thought” that “moves to the margins”) attending to these eight attributes, I think we can “transform” some schools into places that find a way to reach more students.

Documents

Where Innovation Is Tradition Getting Schools Ready for College and Career Readiness Gary R Galluzzo George Mason University