Title: Professor Colleen A' Capper Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis University of WisconsinMadiso
1Professor Colleen A. CapperEducational
Leadership and Policy Analysis University of
Wisconsin-Madisoncapper_at_education.wisc.edu
- Vision into RealityInclusive, Collaborative, and
Culturally Responsive Schools -
2Leading for Integrated, Socially Just Schools and
Districts
3Session Outcomes
- Identify characteristics of integrated, socially
just schools and districts - Understand that integrated, socially just
practices apply across ability, language,
race/ethnicity, income, and sexual orientation - Understand why and how to move beyond separate
programs and special interventions to change the
core functioning of the school/district
4Workshop FrameworkIntegrated, Socially Just
Schools
- Focus on Equity
- Structure Integrated Environments
- High Quality Teaching/Learning Teacher Capacity
- Early Intervention
- Instructional Design
- Differentiated Instruction/Collaborative Teams
- Culturally Responsive Practices and Assessments
- Leverage Policy and Funding
5Literature
- Few empirical studies of schools that have
significantly raised achievement across student
differences - Including students labeled with disabilities and
students for whom English is not their home
language not a criterion - Where students learn matters (Sapon-Shevin, 1994
Slavin, et al, etc.)
6Research Question for this Session
- What specific strategies did principals employ to
- Increase student achievement?
- Make achievement gains in inclusive ways?
7Methods
- Participants
- Significantly raised achievement for students of
color, low income students, students with
disabilities, English language learners - Did so in inclusive ways
- 8 schools 2 high school, 5 elementary, 1 middle
continue to add to the data base
8Methods (cont)
- In-depth interview with principal
- In-depth interviews with other key staff
- Observation
- Documents/artifacts
- Constant comparative analysis
9THE GOAL
- Integrated, socially just schools and districts
- (a) All students, regardless of race, social
class, ability, language, sexual orientation
achieve at high levels--no gaps. - (b) Students integrated with each other--no pull
out programs.
10Integrated, Socially Just Schools
- 1. Believe all students can achieve
- 2. Hold self accountable
- 3. Imagine a different way of meeting student
needs - 4. Focus and take action
11STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
- Achievement is important
- NCLB may come and go but achievement will always
matter
12Achievement is the primary inequity and classroom
is focus of change
- Quality Instruction isnt everything, its the
only thing (Kennewick School District)
131. Believe All Students Can Achieve
- . . . . let not only the city, the state, but
the whole country know that you can take a school
of so-called poverty, the demographics being
probably 90 students of color, free and reduced
lunch 90 or 95. . . .you can take a group of
kids and put them up against any kid in the state
and they will compete. If you believe in these
kids, they will achieve. . . . There are no
excuses. . . .I dont care where these kids come
from, when they come in this building, your job
is to teach them.
142. Hold Selves Accountable
- Typical educators -
- Recognize inequities but not hold self
accountable - Deficit thinking blame others, the students
themselves, their families for lack of student
achievement
15Hold Self Accountable (cont)
- Now our job is to not leave anybody behind. We
want all of our kids, I dont care if theyre
cognitively disabled, we dont use that as an
excuse. . . . . This is a no-excuse school. Just
because you may be labeled special ed. or you may
be labeled ELL, that gives you no reason not to
meet the standard or exceed the standard.
163. Imagine Different Way of Meeting Student Needs
- Typical educators
- Cannot imagine how general education teachers
could be the reading and math experts for
literally all their students - Cannot imagine not having special education
classrooms, or not pulling out English language
learners
174. Focus and Take Action
- Typical educators -
- Can imagine it, but not know how to do it.
- Get distracted by everything else
18Take Action to Raise Achievement
- Beyond tinkering - Change coherence
- Restructure staff and re-assign students
- Provide conditions for authentic relationships
among students, regardless of difference - Establish school safety
- Focus on curriculum and assessments
- Develop teacher capacity
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22Special Ed Model Before(Theoharis, 2007)
Inclusion 209
Self-Contained K-5 significant disabilities
23Special Ed Model After (Theoharis, 2007)
24ELL Model Before (Theoharis, 2007)
Full time Pullout
Half- time Pullout
25ELL Model After (Theoharis, 2007)
261. Restructure Staff and Students
- District
- Bring back students served out of district
(at-risk, alternative, special ed) - Educate all students in school they would attend
if they did not have a label (no ESL or special
ed specialty schools) - No special bussing/busses
27Restructure Staff and Students (cont)
- School
- Goal Classroom Teacher IS the Expert
- Goal Specialists expected to teach all students
and general education curriculum (e.g. ESL
teacher teaches writers workshop to all students)
28Restructure Staff and Students (cont)
- 1. Assign students to heterogeneous classes (cut
tracking, cut at-risk classes, cut special ed
pull-out) - 2. Hire dually-certified teachers (ESL, special
ed., general ed, Title I) - 3. Re-assign specialist staff to general ed.
classrooms (ESL, special education, Title I,
gifted) as classroom teachers or to co-teach
292. Provide Conditions for Authentic Student
Relationships Across Differences
30Example from Practice
31Academics
- Classroom
- They use the same books as us?
32Integration Time
33Lunchroom
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34Music
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35Playground
Tennis Court
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net
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363. Establish School Safety
- No name calling/teasing
- Stop thats so gay.
- Teachers themselves make negative comments or
anti-gay remarks - School-wide discipline program
- Responsive Classrooms
- Love and Logic
- School-wide incentive program (points for school
dances, school events) - Pair with authentic/engaged curriculum and
pedagogy
374. Focus on Curriculum and Assessments
- Addressed achievement needs not with special
pull-out programs (i.e., homework club, Saturday
school, reading recovery, Read 180 etc.) - School-wide curriculum reform
- School day re-organized to focus on literacy and
math blocks (2 hours of structured literacy,
daily) - Clear standards for student work
- Clear scope and sequence teachers know what to
teach and when - Display student work that meets and exceeds
standards - Students learn how to assess their own work based
on the standard (know current reading levels) - All bulletin boards, hall displays show standards
and data
38Focus on Curriculum and Assessments (cont)
- For example, if you were a 6th grader here, and
depending on the teachers the student had, you
might do ancient Egypt 3 years in a row.
39Focus on Curriculum and Assessments (cont)
- . . . every teacher really takes each child and
breaks down their test scores. . . so they are
really designing their lesson plans to reach
children where theyre specifically at, so its
not kind of a stab in the dark where theyre just
saying, well, I think kids need synonyms. They
really know that these 5 kids tested low in
synonyms . . . . so they will just teach them
synonyms for that day. They really try and tweak
their lessons to meet exactly where each child is
at.
405. Develop Teacher Capacity
- Classroom teachers ARE the experts in reading and
math (not special ed., Title I, etc.) - On-going professional development on the
specifics of teaching - Teacher collaboration as professional development
- Daily individual and team planning time
- Weekly planning time with facilitator
- Extended planning time (apply for)
- Apply for summer planning time
- Guidance and social work support teaching teams
41Develop Teacher Capacity (cont)
- One of the things I told the ELL teachers that
they needed to do was they needed to collaborate
with the classroom teachers . . . they needed to
understand what the whole balanced literacy piece
was all about. They needed to teach readers
workshop, they needed to know how to teach
writers workshop. . . . They collaborated with
one another so that in the absence of the regular
classroom teacher, the ELL teacher would just
come right in, so the kids would know them. . . .
. What was interesting about it is the ELL
teachers just didnt work with the ELL kids, they
worked with all the kids in the classroom. . . .
. Its a collaboration piece between the ELL
teacher and the regular ed teacher, but that ELL
teacher must be able to understand and know the
curriculum.
42Closing
- Youve got to respect them, youve got to
care about them, and youve got to believe in
them. . . . Youve got to believe that these kids
can do it, and now our teachers do . . . . We
care about the kids and we believe in them. Like
I told my teachers at the beginning, if you
believe in these kids, they will achieve.
43Closing (cont)
- We are on the front lines of a great and truly
important civil rights struggle. We are the
carriers, the foot soldiers, of a mighty dream of
equity in this country. Every day in our
classrooms and schools, we are either moving this
dream forward or not. . . . If we are to realize
the dream, it really is in our hands. We are the
ones who can make the dream come true.
(Scheurich Skrla, 2003, p. 27).
44Publications
- Cases of the schools
- Educational leaders for social justice (Capper
Young) (forthcoming, Sage Publishers) - How to do it
- Leading for social justice Transforming schools
for all learners (2007, Corwin Press, Frattura
Capper) - Meeting the Needs of Students of All Abilities
How to Lead Beyond inclusion (2000, Corwin
Press, 2nd edition, forthcoming, Fall, 2008)
(Capper Frattura)
45Publications (cont)
- Articles with further details
- Frattura, E., Capper, C. A. (2007). New
teacher teams to support integrated comprehensive
services. Teaching Exceptional Children, 39(4),
16-21. - Frattura, E. Capper, C. A. (2006). Segregated
programs versus integrated comprehensive service
delivery for all learners Assessing the
differences. Remedial and Special Education,
27(6), 355-364.
46Publications (cont)
- Capper, C. A., Rodriguez, M. A., McKinney, S.
A. (in press). Leading beyond disability
Integrated, socially just schools and districts.
In C. Marshall and M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership
for social justice Making revolutions in
education (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ
Prentice Hall.
47Publications (cont)
- Articles on preparing educators for social
justice - McKenzie, K. B., Christman, D. E., Hernandez,
F., Fierro, E., Capper, C. A., Dantley, M.,
Gonzalez, M. L., Cambron-McCabe, N., Scheurich,
J. J. (2008). From the field A proposal for
educating leaders for social justice. Educational
Administration Quarterly, 44(1), 111-138.
48Publications (cont)
- Capper, C. A., Theoharis, G., Sebastian J.
(2006). Toward a framework for preparing
educational leaders for social justice.
International Journal of Educational
Administration, 44(3), 209-224.
49Publications (cont)
- Capper, C. A., Alston, J., Gause, C. P.,
Koschoreck, J. W., Lopez. G., Lugg, C. A.,
McKenzie, K. (2006). Integrating
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender topics and their
intersections with other areas of difference into
the leadership preparation curriculum Practical
ideas and strategies. Journal of School
Leadership, 16(2), 142-157. (also suitable for
teacher education)