Welcome to a Breakthrough Year!Lee Middle & High School

2007-08How will we spend our dash?

Old Mission

Provide access for all to a basic education and access for a relatively small elite to

a university education.

New Mission

Get all students to meet high standards of education that

do not have the built-in obsolescence of old-style

curriculum, thereby equipping them to be

lifelong learners.

In other words…

Old Mission

a2 + b2 = c2

New MissionWhat does a2 + b2 = c2 look like, smell like,

and act like? When have I seen it before?

What effect does it have on my life?Will the answer be the same in China or India?What is the relationship to the world-wide war

on terrorism?Can I download it on my cell phone?

“If it is worth doing, there’s

probably a dip.”- Seth Godin

The Dip

The Cul-de-Sac(French for “dead end”)

“No one quits the Boston Marathon

at Mile 25.”- Seth Godin

Cost of Failure

There are substantial economic and social costs associated with failure to

learn and failure to achieve one’s full potential.

“If you are not going to get to #1, you might as

well quit now.”- Seth Godin

How do we Breakthrough?

By establishing a system of expert, data-driven

instruction that will result in daily continuous

improvement for all students in all classrooms.

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MME Spring 2007 - All Students

LHS

KISD

Michigan

LHS 43 12 31 26 35 83

KISD 64 44 56 54 61 85

Michigan 60 40 51 46 56 83

Reading Writing Total ELA Math Science Social Studies

“So think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change?”

Breakthrough Beliefs

All students can achieve high standards, given sufficient time and support.

All teachers can teach to high standards, given the right conditions and assistance.

High expectations and early intervention are essential.

Teachers need to learn all the time, and they need to be able to articulate both what they do and why they do it.

Breakthrough Components

Personalization Precision Professional Learning

Student Achievement Factors

Motivation to learn and high expectations. Belief in the capacity of all students to achieve

high standards. Using methods that accurately monitor progress

towards those standards. Time on task and opportunity to learn.

Different students need different amounts of time. Good classroom organization and strong routines

for ensuring on-task behaviors that maximize learning time.

Student Achievement Factors

Focused teaching. Knowing in a precise way the strengths and

weaknesses of each student at the point of instruction through accurate formative assessment.

Knowing the appropriate instructional response, particularly when and how to use which instructional strategies and matched resources.

Classroom structures, routines and tools to help deliver differentiated instruction and focused teaching on a daily basis.

“ In school education, there is less evidence of systematic attention to design leading to gradual improvement of its core technology, classroom instruction. Classrooms have changed very little over the decades, and apart from some injection of new technologies, which are often more primitive than the homes from which the students come, teaching looks much the same from one generation to the next.”

-Michael Fullan

Making a Breakthrough

1. A detailed map of a given segment of curriculum with clear specifications of the learning objectives, associated standards and targets, and indicators of student progress.

2. A detailed knowledge of how best to teach to these learning objectives in regular classroom settings, including explicit teaching strategies, methods, classroom routines, and practices.

Making a Breakthrough

1. Powerful and aligned assessment tools tied to the learning objectives of each lesson that provides accurate and comprehensive information on student progress daily.

2. A method of allowing formative assessment data to be captured in a way that is not time consuming.

Making a Breakthrough

1. A means of using the assessment information on each student to design and implement personalized instruction.

2. A built-in means of monitoring and managing learning, of testing what works, and of systematically improving the effectiveness of classroom instruction.

Initial Breakthrough Steps

Conversations focused on changing classroom instruction to achieve academic goals.

Classroom syllabus that outlines the learning standards, academic expectations, essential questions, assessment methods, and support.

Lesson planning based on the backward planning methods of Understanding by Design

Initial Breakthrough Steps

Peer support, observation, and accountability

Assessments for learning Grading based on achievement Data-based decision-making Student goal-setting and portfolios Professional inquiry (A.R.T.S.)

District-Wide Goal

All students reading at grade level.

Theory of Action

If classroom teachers have greater knowledge about teaching and assessing reading skills and

see the connection to their respective content areas, then

they will be more likely to integrate reading instruction within their

classroom; and if classroom teachers incorporate more reading instruction in their

classrooms, then student reading skills will improve.

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“One extra degree makes all the difference.”

“One extra degree separates the good from the great.”

“It’s time to turn up the heat…”

“To get what we’ve never had, we must do what we’ve never done.”

Details

Discipline & Attendance Kids in the Hallways Misuse of the Media Center Securing the World’s Most Poorly

Designed School Building Communications Extra-duties and Committees Meeting Days Faculty Meetings