What do these high performing schools do

1
Part 2
2
What do these high performing schools do?
3
1 Neither Make Nor Tolerate Excuses. Get the
Data Out and Take Responsibility for Student
Learning.
4
Only 26 of High School Teachers Believe All
Students Should be Held to Same Standard
Source Ready for the Real World Americans Speak
on High School Reform, ETS, 2005
5
Underlying Everything Is the Cycle of Low
Expectations
Low Expectations
Poor Test Results
Less Challenging Courses
Low Level Assignments/Instruction
6
2. Think very hard about how to deploy
resourcesboth people and time.
7
School Size Matters
8
4-State StudySmall Schools Reduce
Power of Poverty by 30-50
Source Rural Community Education Trust, 2/2000
9
Why These Effects?

• Academic Focus/Purpose Pervades Everything
• Students More Actively Engaged With School
• Relationships Among Adults More Collegial

Source Small Schools, Big Imaginations 1998
10
But small alone is not enough. . .
11
Take, for example, the matter of reading.

• Kids who arrive behind in readingare often
  simply assigned to courses that dont demand much
  reading.

12
Average High School Percent of Instructional
Time in Reading Intensive Courses
13
Surprise Gaps Grow.
14
Higher Performing High Schools

• Behind students spend 60 additional hours (25
  more time) over 1 year in reading related
  courses.
• Behind students get 240 additional hours over
  4 years!

15
In other words, the use of instructional time is
not left to chance.
16
There is also the matter of how we deploy our
people.

• 9th Grade Bulge
• Largely about poor preparation and difficult
  transitions?

17
One Colorado High School Student/Teacher Ratio
by Grade
Source Jovenes Unidos Padres Unidos March,
2004.
18
Same Colorado High SchoolCounselor Deployment
by Grade
Source Jovenes Unidos and Padres Unidos March,
2004
19
Is this school structured around student, or
adult needs?
20
Most of us think of semester- or year-long
increments to teach kids what they need to learn,
but...
21
The Full Year Calendar
USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TIME Analysis of One
California Urban Middle School Calendar
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
22
Less Summer Vacation
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
23
Less Weekends, Holidays, Summer Vacation
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
24
Less Professional Development Days Early
Dismissal/Parent Conferences
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
25
Less Class Picnic, Class Trip, Thanksgiving
Feast, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Awards,
Assembles, Concerts
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
26
Less State and District Testing and Other
Non-Instructional Time
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
27
Use of Instructional Time?

• BOTTOM LINE?
• Teachers are Left with about
• 24 School Days
• OR
• 18 Eight Hour Days Per Subject Per Year

28
3 Make Sure Your Instructional System is Fully
and Carefully Alignedand That Nothing About
Teaching and Learning is Left to Chance
29
Historically, most of the really important
decisions about what students should learn and
what kind of work was good enough was left to
individual teachers.
30
The Result? A System That

• Doesnt expect very much from MOST students and,
• Expects much less from some types of students
  than others.

31
Students can do no better than the assignments
they are given...
32
A Work in Poor Schools Would Earn Cs in
Affluent Schools
Source Prospects (ABT Associates, 1993), in
Prospects Final Report on Student Outcomes,
PES, DOE, 1997.
33
Grade 7 Standards Based, Rigorous Writing
Assignment
Essay on Anne Frank Your essay will consist of
an opening paragraph which introduced the title,
author and general background of the novel.
Your thesis will state specifically what Anne's
overall personality is, and what general
psychological and intellectual changes she
exhibits over the course of the book You might
organize your essay by grouping psychological and
intellectual changes OR you might choose 3 or 4
characteristics (like friendliness, patience,
optimism, self doubt) and show how she changes in
this area.
Source Unnamed school district in California,
2002-03 school year.
34
Grade 7 Low-Level Writing Assignment

• My Best Friend
• A chore I hate
• A car I want
• My heartthrob

Source Unnamed school district in California,
2002-03 school year.
35
Middle School Example

• 7th Grade Assignment
• Name and describe functions of the five body
  systems.

36
Middle School Example

• 7th Grade Assignment
• Explain the difference between the systems of
  the body affected by an allergy to pollen and
  those affected by an allergy to food as well as
  the process by which different medicines reduce
  the symptoms of each allergy.

37
The Odyssey Ninth Grade High-level Assignment
Comparison/Contrast Paper Between Homer's Epic
Poem, The Odyssey and the Movie "0 Brother Where
Art Thou" By nature, humans compare and contrast
all elements of their world. Why? Because in the
juxtaposition of two different things, one can
learn more about each individual thing as well as
something about the universal nature of the
things being compared. For this 2-3 page paper
you will want to ask yourself the following
questions what larger ideas do you see working
in The Odyssey and "0 Brother Where Art Thou"? Do
both works treat these issues in the same way?
What do the similarities and differences between
the works reveal about the underlying nature of
the larger idea?
38
The Odyssey Ninth Grade Low-level Assignment
Divide class into 3 groups Group 1 designs a
brochure titled "Odyssey Cruises". The students
listen to the story and write down all the places
Odysseus visited in his adventures, and list the
cost to travel from place to place. Group 2
draws pictures of each adventure. Group 3 takes
the names of the characters in the story and gods
and goddesses in the story and designs a
crossword puzzle.
39
Grade 10 Writing Assignment
A frequent theme in literature is the conflict
between the individual and society. From
literature you have read, select a character who
struggled with society. In a well-developed
essay, identify the character and explain why
this characters conflict with society is
important.
40
Grade 10 Writing Assignment
Write a composition of at least 4 paragraphs on
Martin Luther Kings most important contribution
to this society. Illustrate your work with a
neat cover page. Neatness counts.
41
Even in college-prep classes, there are
differences in rigor
42
Using the SAME TEXT BOOKCollege-prep assignments
from

• School A, District A, California
• 1467 students enrolled in 2005
• 82 White
• 6 Asian
• 4 Latino
• 2 Black
• 2 Low-Income

• School B, District B, California
• 2001 students enrolled in 2005
• 45 White
• 4 Asian
• 48 Latino
• 1 Black
• 27 Low-Income

43
Same Text Book High-Level college-prep
assignment.

• Describe the fundamental problems in the economy
  that helped cause the Great Depression. Consider
  agriculture, consumer spending and debt,
  distribution of wealth, the stock market
• Describe how people struggled to survive during
  the Depression
• How did Hoovers belief in rugged individualism
  shape his policies during the depression?

44
Same Text BookLow Level college-prep assignment.

• Role play (Meet the Press) interview key people
  of the era
• Draw a political cartoon highlighting a major
  event of the time
• Share excerpts from noted literary authors-Lewis,
  Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Hughes
• Listen to jazz artists of the 20s
• Construct a collage depicting new inventions

45
Must do the same for CTE courses.Are they
rigorous? Or code language for old-style
vocational education tracking? Who gets access
to the rigorous academies, and who gets courses
that lead to dead end jobs?
46
Remember, the Achievement Gap Lives in the
Quality of Assignments we ask of Different Groups
of Kids.
47
High Performing Schools and Districts

• Have clear and specific goals for what students
  should learn in every grade, including the order
  in which they should learn it
• Provide teachers with common curriculum,
  assignments
• Assess students every 4-8 weeks to measure
  progress
• ACT immediately on the results of those
  assessments.

48
4. Insist on Rigor and High Standards for All
Students. Make the College Prep Curriculum the
Default Curriculum.
49
Not all students get college-prep classes.
50
Few Graduate College Ready. California Class
of 2005.
Includes 9th graders who have completed the A-G
course sequence with a C or better in each
class four years later.
Source Education Trust-West Analysis of CDE
data, using the Manhattan Institute methodology
51
Same for Parents and Kids Nationwide THEIR GOAL
IS COLLEGE
Source U.S. DOE, NCES, Getting Ready to Pay for
College What Students and Their Parents Know
About the Cost of College Tuition and What They
Are Doing to Find Out, September 2003.
52
CA Parents who expect their kids to attain at
least a four year degree
Source New American Media Poll, Great
Expectations, Survey of Latino, Asian, and
African American Parents on Education. Aug. 23,
2006 Available at http//news.newamericamedia.org
/news/
53
Were often perceived as not a part of
the educational process and theres a sense that
we just drop our children off to be babysat. Its
not true. We are learning at this particular
point what it is, what this rigor means and so we
will be there to actually demand it. And that
means we will demand it in elementary school.
Well demand it in middle school. So that it is
very much available and our children are ready
for it in high school.
- Jumoke Hinton-Hodge, Director, West Oakland
Seventh Street McClymonds Leadership and
Engagement Initiative
To listen to the full audio of this quote, visit
http//www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/ETW/ETWreports_pub
s scroll down to and download our publication In
Their Own Words.
Source Testimony before the Senate Education
Committee, June 2004, and published with
web-based sound files in In Their Own Words
Voices from the Field, The Education Trust West,
2004
54
And its about ACCESS.
55
Even though most students want to go to college,
the truth is, many low income students and
students of color arent getting the classes in
the first place.
56
San Diego City Schools Two High Schools

• Gompers HS
• 1543 Students
• 87.1 Latino African-American
• 81.1 low-income
• 17 of graduates successfully completed A-G in
  2004

• La Jolla HS
• 1688 students
• 25 Latino African-American
• 17.8 low-income
• 56.7 of graduates successfully completed A-G in
  2004

Source CA Dept of Education, 2005
57
Opportunities to take higher level math classes
are much more limited at the high-poverty,
high-minority high schoolGompers HS vs. La
Jolla HS, San Diego City Schools
Number of classes offered in 2004-05
Source Ed Trust-West Analysis of CA Dept of
Education Data, 2005
58
They wait to see a counselor weeks after the
semester has started, so they can somehow beat
the other hundreds of fellow classmates out of
that one seat left for the completion of their
A-G coursework. Only to be told theres not
enough classes nor enough spaces. Imagine how
that feels as a high school senior.
- Vicki Rice, The Achievement Council
To listen to the full audio of this quote, visit
http//www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/ETW/ETWreports_pub
s scroll down to and download our publication In
Their Own Words.
Source Testimony before the Senate Education
Committee, June 2004, and published with
web-based sound files in In Their Own Words
Voices from the Field, The Education Trust West,
2004
59
Consequences?
60
The Highest Level of Math Reached in High School
is a Strong Predictor of BA Attainment
Source Clifford Adelman, U.S. Department of
Education, The Toolbox Revisited, 2006.
61
High School Curriculum Intensity is a Strong
Predictor of Bachelors Degree Completion
Curriculum quartiles are composites of English,
math, science, foreign language, social studies,
computer science, Advanced Placement, the
highest level of math, remedial math and remedial
English classes taken during high school.
Source Clifford Adelman, U.S. Department of
Education, The Toolbox Revisited, 2006.
62
But are most of our kids getting anything that
even remotely resemblesINTENSE?
63

• They showed me how to fill out a McDonalds
  application in my Life Skills Class. I think that
  they should have at least taught me how to fill
  out a college application or at least tell me
  what the A-G requirements are.
• - Gabriela Perez, 17, Garfield High School,
  LAUSD

Source Alcalá, Christian and Rivera, Selene
Coalition Demands Access to Higher Education,
ICS March 24, 2005
64
Jakes Fall Schedule, Freshman Year
65
Spring Schedule, Freshman Year
66
Fall Schedule, Sophomore Year
67
Spring Schedule, Sophomore Year
68
Fall Schedule, Junior Year
69
Spring Schedule, Junior Year
70
Senior Year?

• Too embarrassing to even show

71
Regressive Math A Path to NowhereSample
Sequence

• In one California district, a high school student
  has
• passed both sections of the California Exit Exam
  by the beginning of the senior year.
• has started her senior year with 175 of the 230
  credits needed to graduate.
• has not fulfilled the 10 credits for Algebra, and
  still needs 10 more credits in other math
  courses.
• She is only enrolled in one math course in her
  senior year Business Math.

Source Unidentified Student Transcript,
California High School
72
Regressive Math A Path to Nowhere

• In that same district, 20 of students are
  enrolled in Regressive Math.
• More than half of those are Latino.

73
College isnt for everyone. But a college prep
curriculum is.
74
Most 21st Century Jobs Require Postsecondary
Education
75
High School Course-Taking Indicates Opportunity
for Success in the Workplace
The percentage of workers in the highest-paying
jobs that took high-level math courses in high
school
Source Carnevale and Desrochers, ETS,
Connecting Education Standards Employment
Course Taking Patterns of Young Workers, ADP
Workplace Study, 2002
76
American Diploma Project Interviews with
Employers

• They mostly want the same things that higher
  education wants!
• Strong Reading Ability read/comprehend
  informational and technical texts
• Emphatic about literature understanding other
  cultures is necessary with diverse customers and
  co-workers
• Writing ability key
• Mathematics Imperative data, probability,
  statistics and competent problem solvers.
  Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II.

Source Workplace Study by the National Alliance
for Business for the American Diploma Project,
unpublished report, 2002.
77
But Even in Jobs We Dont Expect

• Requirements for Tool and Die Makers
• Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or
  postsecondary training
• Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and statistics
• Average earnings 40,000 per year.

• Requirements for
• Sheet Metal Workers
• Four or five years
• of apprenticeship
• Algebra, geometry,
• trigonometry and
• technical reading

• Requirements for
• Auto Technicians
• A solid grounding
• in physics is
• necessary to
• understand force,
• hydraulics, friction
• and electrical
• circuits.

78
Even in Jobs We Dont Expect

• Plumbing-Heating-Air Conditioning
• Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or
  post-secondary training
• Algebra, plane geometry, trigonometry and
  statistics
• Physics, chemistry, biology, engineering
  economics.

ALL of these jobs require a strong foundation
of reading, writing and speaking the English
language in order to comprehend instructions and
technical manuals.

• Construction
• and Engineering
• Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or
  post-secondary training
• Algebra, plane geometry
• Critical thinking, problem solving, reading and
  writing

Sources Plumbing  Shapiro, D., and Nichols, J.
Constructing Your Future Consider a Career in
Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning
(HVAC) PHCC Auxiliary 2005 downloaded March 13,
3006 http//www.phccweb.org/PDFs/PHCC20pg.pdf,
Construction California Apprenticeship Council
Division of Apprenticeship Standards 2001 Annual
Legislative Report Downloaded March 15, 2006
http//www.dir.ca.gov/das/DASAnnualReport2001/LegR
ep2001.pdfsearch'architecture2C20construction
2C20engineering2028ace20pathway2920course20
outline'  
79
Employers Are Less Willing to Help

• Remedial programs were victims of mid-90s cost
  cutting initiatives from a high point of 24 of
  businesses in 1993, the share of companies
  sponsoring such programs dropped to 15 in 1999
  and 12.3 in 2001.
• --2001 American Management Association Survey on
  Workplace Testing

80
Employers are looking for better educated workers
elsewhere.Example Toyota Motor Corporation
81
Why Ontario, Canada is a better location for a
new Toyota plant
The level of the workforce in general is so
high the training program you need for people,
even for people who have never worked in a Toyota
plant before, is minimal compared to what you
have to go through in the southeastern United
States. --Gerry Fedchun, president of
Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association,
7/8/2005 Source www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0
630102.html
82
In Alabama, trainers had to use pictorials to
teach some illiterate workers how to use
high-tech plant equipment. --Gerry
Fedchun, president of Automotive Parts
Manufacturers Association, 7/8/2005 Source
www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0630102.html
83
With college-prep curricula, students of all
sorts will learn more...
84
Low Quartile Students Gain More From College Prep
Courses
Grade 8-grade 12 test score gains based on 8th
grade achievement.
Source USDOE, NCES, Vocational Education in the
United States Toward the Year 2000, in Issue
Brief Students Who Prepare for College and
Vocation
85
(No Transcript)
86
(No Transcript)
87
Students taking rigorous courses will fail less
often...
88
Challenging Curriculum Results in Lower Failure
Rates, Even for Lowest Achievers
Ninth-grade English performance, by high/low
level course, and eighth-grade reading
achievement quartiles
Source SREB, Middle Grades to High School
Mending a Weak Link. Unpublished Draft, 2002.
89
Gaps will close.
90
SJUSD SAT9 CAT6 Matched Reading Scores at
Grades 4-9 for Students who Have Been Tested
with STAR Every Year Since 1998
Gap reduced by 48
Median National Percentile
CAT6 scores adjusted to SAT9 scale
Source San Jose Unified School District
91
SJUSD SAT9 CAT6 Matched Mathematics Scores at
Grades 3-9 for Students who Have Been Tested
with STAR Every Year Since 1998
Gap reduced by 43
Median National Percentile
CAT6 scores adjusted to SAT9 scale
Source San Jose Unified School District
92
Students will work harder.
93
Recent poll shows that 66 of dropouts would have
worked harder if expectations were higher.
Source The Silent Epidemic Perspectives of High
School Dropouts, Civic Enterprises, March 2006
94
And theyll succeed more.
95
SJUSD Graduation Rates
Estimated completion rate using Cumulative
Promotion Index methodology
Estimated completion rate using Manhattan
Institute methodology
Source Ed Trust West analysis of CA Dept of Ed
data, 2006
96
5. Monitor the Distribution of Teacher
TalentandMake Sure Low-Income and Minority
Students Have the High Quality Teachers They Need
97
As You Know Better Than Anyone Teachers Matter
Big Time.
98
Students Who Start 2nd Grade at About the Same
Level of Math Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
99
Finish 5th Grade Math at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
100
Students Who Start 3rd Grade at About the Same
Level of Reading Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
101
Finish 6th Grade at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
102
The impact of effective teachers swamps almost
every other intervention, including class size
reduction.
103
But poor and minority students dont get their
fair share of our strongest teachers.
104
In California, Minority Students Have Four Times
More Underprepared Math Teachers
Guha, R., Campbell, A., Humphrey, D., Shields,
P., Tiffany-Morales, J., Wechsler, M. (2006).
Californias teaching force 2006 Key issues and
trends. Santa Cruz, CA The Center for the Future
of Teaching and Learning.
105
A Greater Percentage of Intern Teachers Work in
High-Minority Schools

• 85 of all interns are teaching in schools with
  over 50 minority students, compared to only 7
  of interns in schools with less than 25 minority
  student population.

Minority Quartiles
Guha, R., Campbell, A., Humphrey, D., Shields,
P., Tiffany-Morales, J., Wechsler, M. (2006).
Californias teaching force 2006 Key issues and
trends. Santa Cruz, CA The Center for the Future
of Teaching and Learning.
106
Some of the differences occur between poor and
rich school districts.

• But there are big differences within school
  districts, as well. In fact, in most states these
  differences are larger than between-district
  differences.

107
A Tale of Two Schools

• Locke High School
• Los Angeles Unified
• 99 Latino African American
• 66 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 440

• Granada Hills High School
• Los Angeles Unified
• 32 Latino African American
• 27 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 773

Source CA Department of Education, 2003-04 data
108

• The average teacher at Locke High School actually
  gets paid an estimated 8,034 less every year
  than his counterpart at Granada Hills High
  School.
• If Locke spent as much as Granada Hills on
  teacher salaries for its 119 teachers, the school
  budget would increase by nearly a million dollars
  (956,056) every year.

109
Is this happening in smaller districts?

• Napa Valley Unified, Napa County California
• Enrollment 17,000 students
• (2 traditional high schools, 5 middle schools,
  21 elementary schools).
• Districtwide 37 Low-income
• Districtwide 37 Latino
• Districtwide 48 White

110
A Tale of Two SchoolsNapa Valley

• Browns Valley
• Elementary
• Napa Valley Unified
• 74 White
• 16 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 811

• McPherson
• Elementary
• Napa Valley Unified
• 74 Latino African American
• 80 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 611

111
A Tale of Two SchoolsNapa Valley

• The average teacher at McPherson Elementary gets
  paid an estimated 5,627 less every year than his
  counterpart at Browns Valley Elementary.
• If McPherson spent as much as Browns Valley on
  teacher salaries for its 33 teachers, the school
  budget would increase by 186,000 every year.

112
Impact?
113
Illinois Distribution of School TQI by School
Percent Minority

• Very high percent minority schools are likely to
  have very low school TQIs.
• There is little difference in TQI distribution
  below the highest minority quartile (i.e. below
  about 60 minority.)

114
Percent of Students More/Most Ready by High
School TQI and Highest Math Level
Presley, J. and Gong, Y. (2005). The Demographics
and Academics of College Readiness in Illinois.
http//ierc.siue.edu/documents/College20Readiness
20-202005-3.pdf
115
Lets Get That Again!

• STUDENTS WHO STUDIED ALL THE WAY THROUGH CALCULUS
  IN SCHOOLS WITH THE LOWEST TEACHER QUALITY
  LEARNED LESS MATH THAN STUDENTS WHO ONLY WENT
  THROUGH ALGEBRA 2 IN SCHOOLS WITH JUST AVERAGE
  TEACHER QUALITY.

116
What if we had the courage and creativity to
change these patterns?
117
The Rivkin, Hanushek, and Kain estimates of
teacher performance suggest that having five
years of good teachers in a row could overcome
the average seventh-grade mathematics
achievement gap.
1.0 standard deviation above average, or at
the 85th quality percentile
SOURCE Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin,
How to Improve the Supply of High-Quality
Teachers, In Brookings Papers on Education
Policy 2004, Diane Ravitch, ed., Brrookings
Institution Press, 2004. Estimates based on
research using data from Texas described in
Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement,
Working Paper Number 6691, National Bureau of
Economic Research, revised July 2002.
118
Despite our greater understanding of how
important teachers are, it has been very hard to
get traction on an improvement agenda.
119
Lastly, and what everyone will always want to
talk about. . . 6. Would more money help?
120
California Inequities in State and Local Revenue
Per Student
Note Both figures are after 40 low-income
student cost adjustment
Source The Education Trust, Funding Gaps,
2006.
121

• But how much more money will help
• depends on how wisely we spend it.

122
Some districts get more for less.
123
Some districts that out-perform spend less.NAEP
2005 Grade 8 Math -Overall Scale Scores
7,132
8,311
11.920
8,283
7,284
11,312
12,562
6,923
7,799
10,199
11,847
Source National Center for Education
Statistics, http//nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/n
de and Standard and Poors www.schoolmatters.com
124
Call for Proposals Now Open.Registration Begins
in the Fall.
SAVE THE DATE!
The Education Trust West 510-465-6444 www.edtru
stwest.org