the opportunity from brutal facts to the best schools weve every had dr. mike schmoker
TRANSCRIPT
THE OPPORTUNITYFrom “Brutal Facts” to the Best Schools We’ve Every Had
Dr. Mike Schmoker
DO WE TRULY WANT THE BEST SCHOOLS WE’VE EVER HAD? Because organizations only improve…
“where the truth is told and the brutal facts confronted”
Jim Collins
“We must overcome the awful inertia of past decades”
Michael Fullan
Brutal Facts Only about 50% of students who enter
college ever graduate – primarily because K-12 does not prepare most of them for college.
Haycock; Conley
Only 32% of our college-bound students are adequately prepared for college.
“Understanding University Success”
Center for Educational Policy Research
Only 7% of low-income students will ever earn a college degree.
Haycock
Brutal Facts
“The Teacher Effect makes all the other differences pale in comparison.”
William Sanders
Five years of effective teaching can completely close the gap between low-income students and others.
Marzano; Kain & Hanushek
The Real Opportunity… “Most of us in education are mediocre at
what we do.”Tom Wagner
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Every study of classroom practice reveals that most teaching is mediocre—or worse
Goodlad; Sizer, Resnick; Powell, Farrar & Cohen; Learning 24/7 Classroom Study
In a 45 minute class only 15 minutes of actual instruction
takes place.
WHY IS MOST TEACHING MEDIOCRE? The administrative superstructure of
schools buffer teaching from outside inspection.
Richard Elmore
You can’t expect what you don’t inspect.
Peter Senge
BRUTAL FACTS
Despite hundreds of initiatives, programs and plans, we still DO NOT INSPECT:
1. WHAT is actually taught (essential standards)
2. HOW WELL (effective lessons/units)Gordon; Elmore; Marzano; Tyack & Cuban;
Hess; Berlinger
EFFECTIVE LESSONS HAVE: A clearly stated standard Teacher examples (modeling) Whole group practice Partner practice Individual practice Assessment Adjustments based on the assessment
results
Checks for understand
.
Addresses higher level
thinking skills
FIRST THINGS FIRST: IMPROVE INSTRUCTION Replace “IMPROVEMENT PLANNING”
with a focus on “IMPROVED TEACHING” through learning communities.
VIABLE CURRICULUM Start with high leverage
opportunities, literacy instruction
Crayola Curriculum
LEARNING COMMUNITIES: AN ASTONISHING CONCURRENCE
“Professionals do not work alone; they work in teams…to accomplish the goal– to heal the patient, win the lawsuit, plan the building.”
Authur Wise: Teaching Teams: a 21st – Century Paradigm For Organizing America’s Schools
1. First: Adopt “Simple Plans” to create & sustain LEARNNG COMMUNITIES1. DATA – driven (academic priorities)
2. GOALS: that are measurable/tied to an assessment
3. TEAMWORK that produces short-term assessment results…Anchored by a GUARANTEED & VIABLE
CURRICULUM
DATA DRIVEN PRIORITIES
1. SET measurable, annual goals
2. IDENTIFY lowest –scoring standards from ASSESSMENTS
3. USE formative assessment data (measurable results from lessons)
Teacher teams create tests for
non-tested courses.
AUTHENTIC TEAM-BASED PLC’S:
Plan lessons or units teach assess adjust instruction
Faculty meetings should focus on teaching, not just
announcements. These meetings can be used to build instructional team
strategies.
2. GUARANTEED VIABLE CURRICULUM
Do schools ensure that a viable curriculum actually gets taught?
Often curriculum has no impact on instruction.
Curriculum Guide = well-meaning fiction
Teaching based on textbooks?
2. GUARANTEED VIABLE CURRICULUM
Instructional Dead End CycleThe more worksheets a teacher
gives The more worksheets to grade. When are these graded? During Instruction time?
3. LEADERSHIP IN THE PCL
“The heart of instruction is the monitoring of instruction.”
Dan Lortie
We do not monitor instruction.Berliner; Marzano; Smith & Andrews; Elmore;
Reeves
THE LEADERSHIP ILLUSION
“Direct involvement in instruction is among the least frequent activities performed by administrators of any kind at any level.”
Richard Elmore 200
This is not a matter of work ethic;
It is a matter of misplaced priorities.
LEADERSHIP
Monitoring: Instruction and Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum
LEADERS MUST: Conduct Walk-throughs looking for:
Clear focus on essential standards Critical reasoning/higher-order thinking Essential elements of an effective lesson
LEADERSHIP – Team Management
QUARTERLY CURRICULUM REVIEW:
Leaders and Team discuss… Quarterly assessments/results Lists of standards taught Grade books reflecting standards Scored student work samples
RECOGNIZE & CELEBRTE
“Small wins” to overcome resistance & promote buy-in
The #1 LEVER FOR IMPROVING MORALE AND EFFECTIVE PRACTICE
Best leverage Low cost leverage
4. UNPARALELLED OPPORTUNITY: LITERACY INSTRUCTION
“Underdeveloped literacy skills are the number one reason why students are retained, assigned to special education, given long-term remedial services and why they fail to graduate from high school.”
Ferrandino and Tirozzi: presidents of NAESP and NASSP
BRUTAL FACTS; GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
40 minutes a day for writing
60 minute a day for actual reading
WRITING IMPORTANT? Writing is the litmus paper of
thought…the very center of schooling. Ted Sizer
Writing aids in cognitive development to such an extent that the upper reaches of Bloom’s taxonomy could not be reached without the use of some form of writing.
Kurt and Farris 1990
BRUTAL FACTS “For all its unparalleled cognitive
benefits, little or no real writing instruction takes place in the regular classrooms.”
Kameenui and Carnine
We don’t teach writing…we make writing assignments.
K-12/COLLEGE SUCCESS Analytical READING Persuasive WRITINGOnly 31% of college graduates can
read a complex book and extrapolate from it.
National Center for Education Statistics
Only 24% write at the “proficient” level; 4% were rated “high”
NAEP study
FOR SWIFT, DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT FOCUS ON:
TEAM-BASED Professional Learning Communities
GUARANTEED and VIABLE Curriculum
RADICAL changes to literacy instruction
With CELEBRATION of EVERY “SMALL WIN”
WHY BOTHER? With an average teacher = 30-50
percentile gain in 3 years.Marzano, Sanders
The question is not, “Is it possible to educate all children well?”
But rather
Do we want to do it badly enough?”Deborah Meier