What is KEYS 2.0 and Why is it Unique?

Jacques Nacson, Ph.D.Danilo LunariaNational Education AssociationCenter for Great Public SchoolsQuality School Programs & Resourcesjnacson@nea.orgdlunaria@nea.org

Objectives

To learn about the NEA KEYS 2.0 initiative, its theoretical roots, its development and what makes it unique among school assessment and improvement systems

To learn what the KEYS data look like and how schools and districts can use the data for school continuous improvement planning

KEYS 2.0 Materials

REVIEW

OF MATERIALS

IN FOLDERS

Organization of KEYS Presentation

Why? and What is KEYS? What makes KEYS unique and why and

how schools and districts use the KEYS initiative for continuous school improvement

Questions and answers

WHY KEYS?

Supports NEA and its affiliates’ efforts to focus on student achievement, help schools meet ESEA/NCLB requirements and address the achievement gaps

Helps schools address the need for data-driven decision-making (3DM), prioritize and make systemic changes and improvements

Involves and gives stakeholders a voice – teachers, support staff, parents and community can participate and provide valuable feedback

Engages local education association and administrators in shared mission and vision and school improvement

Creates opportunities for association-district cooperation Supports the association’s advocacy and

member engagement, recruitment and retention efforts

What is the NEA KEYS 2.0 Initiative?

Brainstorming Exercise:

“What are the essential elements or conditions that characterize a high performing, high quality school?”

What is the NEA KEYS 2.0 Initiative?

Your Challenges

How do you know whether (or not) these elements exist in your school?

How do you know whether these elements exist at a level that is sufficiently high to make a difference?

How would these elements be measured or quantified? And, if they cannot be measured, how would you know if improvement were made?

The NEA KEYS 2.0: A School and District Assessment and Improvement

Initiative

Deliberative process for continuous school improvement

Research-based and data/information-driven Supports the school’s and district’s efforts to build

internal capacity to improve and be accountable Begins with the use of a school assessment tool, an

online survey, completed by the school community that yields scores on 42 indicators of school quality that correlate with high student achievement

The NEA Six “Keys” to School Quality

The 42 indicators are clustered into six essential “Keys” that offer a vision and define the standards for school quality:

1. Shared understanding and commitment to high goals (5 Indicators)

2. Open communication and collaborative problem solving (9 Indicators)

3. Continuous assessment for teaching and learning (5 Indicators)

The NEA Six “Keys” to School Quality

4. Personal and professional learning (11 Indicators)

5. Resources to support teaching & learning (5 Indicators)

6. Curriculum and instruction

(7 Indicators)

What Makes the NEA KEYS 2.0 Initiative

Unique?

Assumptions Underlying KEYS Assessment of the problems is essential before

introducing improvement or turn around strategies The systems not the people are failing Building capacity is critical if schools are to improve

or turn around successfully Internal capacity and process accountability are

pre-requisites if schools are to meet external performance-based accountability requirements

KEYS Theoretical Roots Organizational quality (organizational conditions) :

W. Edward Deming Effective Schools Research

Curriculum & instruction: Newman and Wehlage (University of Wisconsin) APA’s Learner’s Centered Principles Charlotte Danielson’s framework for teaching NBPTS standards

Professional development, learning communities and trust relationships:

Milbrey Mclaughlin, Judith Warren Little, Ann Lieberman, Michael Fullan, Anthony Bryk and the NSDC professional development standards

The Empirical Validation: (Research-Based)

A Three Phase Process:

--The Advisory Groups

--The Development of the Instrument

--The Analyses of the Data

NEA KEYS 2.0 Survey Development The Advisory Groups

NEA KEYS Advisory Group: Michael Fullan, Willis Hawley, Ann Lieberman, Joe Murphy, Jomills Braddock, Susan Moore Johnson

KEYS 2.0 Research Advisory Group:

Jomills Braddock, Mark Smylie, Floraline Stevens, Helen Marks, Sylvia Rosenfield

NEA KEYS 2.0 Survey Development of Instrument

Identified critical concepts and generated the blueprint or specifications for the survey

Developed sets of questions and assembled into questionnaire format

Focus groups feedback and revisions ready for pilot testing

NEA KEYS 2.0 Survey DevelopmentPilot Testing New Instrument

School is primary unit of analysis National random sample of schools: NCES All NEA Regions represented 38 schools in sample (68%) 28 NEA, 10 AFT 13 elementary (5 urban, 5 suburban, 3 rural) 13 middle (4 urban, 3 suburban, 6 rural) 12 high (4 urban, 5 suburban, 3 rural)

NEA KEYS 2.0 Survey Development Pilot Testing New Instrument

Total number of respondents = 1491 (52%)

Number of teachers responding = 1061 (71%)

Education Support Professionals (378) and administrators (52) responding = 430 (29%)

NEA KEYS 2.0 Survey DevelopmentData Analyses

Factor analyses to identify factors (indicators) based on clustering of items

Regression analyses to examine the relationships of the factors (indicators) to objective and subjective measures of student achievement

To date more than 2,000 schools and 325 districts have participated in KEYS and our data base is larger than any school assessment and improvement system in the market

KEYS is Highly Credible with School Staff

Ownership of the process and the data

KEYS surveys are completed anonymously and results are strictly confidential

Schools decide what to do with the data

The surveys are available in English or Spanish

Inclusiveness

The whole school community can participate, including parents and community members, using new KEYS parent and community surveys

The KEYS survey contains a skip pattern invisible to respondent depending on the individual’s role

On items of curriculum and instruction, respondents are asked to respond in relation to a “target class” rather than generalize to the school as a whole

Separate analyses are provided for each constituent group allowing for comparisons of perceptions among the groups

Objective Baseline Data and Targets

School average and standard deviation scores are provided for each of the 42 quality school indicators

Normative and longitudinal comparisons can be made

Sets Stage for Further analysis and Reflection

Opportunities to discuss difficult issues that

would otherwise be muted Opportunities to collect and use data for

establishing priorities and making more rational school improvement decisions

Opportunities to link the KEYS data to school and district strategic goals, state frameworks or regional accreditation requirements

Opportunities for promoting professional learning communities and encouraging essential conversations

School and District Results are Available

School reports are available in hard copy and can be accessed online

School data and normative comparison data are reported separately for each of the 42 quality indicators

In the school online data report, results are linked to KEYS resources

Separate district reports can be made available

Demo School Report with Links to Resources

Demo School Report with Links to Resources

Demo School Report with Links to Resources (Drilling Down)

Demo School Report with Links to Resources (Drilling Down)

Demo School Report with Links to Resources (Drilling Down further)

Example of a District Report Aggregate Scores for Key 6

Example of District Report Distribution of School Scores for

Indicator 6.5 (Interventions)

Example of a District Report Aggregate Scores for Key 5 (Resources)

Example of District Report: Distribution of School Scores for Indicator 5.4 (Safe &

Healthy Learning Environment)

KEYS 2.0 Parent and Community Data Report

Key Benefits for District Participation

A rational basis for allocating resources and technical assistance to schools.

The ability to track patterns of school performance over time

The ability to create online communities of learners across schools within the district

More effective planning for district-wide improvement strategies, including the collection and sharing of local school improvement plans

Shared accountability and commitments and improved district-association relations

NEA and State Affiliates Supports

NEA and its state affiliates support KEYS 2.0 through a variety of resources and continued technical support in the context of action research and continuous school improvement

NEA Supports—Other Elements of KEYS 2.0 Initiative

KEYS trainings—introductory and advanced NEA KEYS tool kit – migrated to the Web Action guide and facilitation guide Quality schools infrastructure: NEA KEYS

coaches 24/7 technical assistance on web access issues

and technical problems KEYS Spanish language version KEYS networking (online meeting space) NEA KEYS online school improvement

resources (data reports, CSI model and facilitator’s toolkit)

Cost Sharing Factors

Other than in-kind school and district supports, for NEA affiliated schools and districts, at this time, there are no costs associated with use of the NEA KEYS initiative.

Competitive (less comprehensive and credible) private sector needs assessment initiatives could cost as much as $1,000. to $5,000. per school

KEYS 2.0 Current Status

To date more than 2,000 schools in 325 districts have participated in KEYS 2.0

The largest school district participating is San Bernardino, CA with 66 schools followed by Springfield, MA with 47 schools

The Schaumburg, IL school district with 27 schools has completed KEYS 3 times; the Green Bay, WI school district with 37 schools has completed KEYS twice

Over 350 schools have completed KEYS more than once

KEYS Compared to Other School Assessment and Improvement Systems

How Standalone School Assessment Systems Vary

KEYS 2.0 Means Opportunities for the NEA and its Local Affiliates

• To create partnerships and improve district-association relations• To address members needs, improve quality of professional life (conditions of teaching and learning) and increase levels of job satisfaction • To address ESEA accountability requirements by providing for data-based school improvement interventions, leading to high student achievement•To help our members address achievement gaps issues and help narrow the gaps•To support our advocacy and membership recruitment and retention efforts

Nuts and Bolts Discussion Questions

How can I be sure that my responses will remain anonymous and confidential?

How long will the survey take? Can I complete parts of it, then log out and come back later to finish?

What happens if someone doesn’t answer a question? How many participants (staff/parents) must complete the survey

before the data are aggregated and the school report is generated? Who has access to the school data report? How much time do we have to complete the survey? Can the period of time to complete the survey be extended? How can we track the survey completion progress? Will the district facilitators have access to the individual school

data reports? How can schools share information and learn from each other?

How To Access KEYS 2.0

• The KEYS 2.0 online is available at: www.keysonline.org

• Access to the KEYS initiative is available only through the NEA state and local affiliates.

QUESTIONS ?????