Low Quartile Students Gain More From College Prep Courses

1
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
2
San Jose Unified A-G For AllAP Scoreswith a
score of AP 3
748 Test Taken
1197 Tests Taken
Source EdTrust West analysis of California
Department of Education data
3
Students taking rigorous courses will fail less
often...
4
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 Unpublished Draft, 2002.
5
LAUSD High Schools That Have High Percentages of
Their Graduates Completing A-G Have Fewer
Suspensions and Lower Failure Rates
Source Ed Trust West Analysis of School-Level
Data, School Accountability Report Cards, 2005.
6
Gaps Will Close.
7
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
8
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
9
And theyll be better prepared for the workplace.
10
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
11
Most 21st Century Jobs Require Postsecondary
Education
12
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.
13
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.

14
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

15
Employers are looking for better educated workers
elsewhereExample Toyota Motor Corporation
16
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
17
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
18
Time for a Default Curriculum?San JoseLos
Angeles UnifiedWoodland
19
3. Shouldnt we stop leaving teachers on their
own to decide what and how to teach in college
prep courses?
20
Students can do no better than the assignments
they are given...
21
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.
22
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.
23
Grade 7 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.
24
Grade 7 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.
25
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.
26
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?
27
Your thesis will take a position on the "larger
idea" then you'll break that larger idea into
smaller, but related ideas, i.e., components of
the larger idea. Those will form the basis for
the topic sentences of each of your body (or
developmental) paragraphs. Then, in the space of
your body paragraphs, you'll use specific,
concrete support from both The Odyssey and "0
Brother Where Art Thou. Some "larger ideas" you
might want to consider Women, or the feminine
elements in the works/ Men, or the masculine
elements in the works/ War, or fighting,
aggression ,Mentors, teachers, leaders/ Fortune,
wealth/ Fate, free-will, The role of characters'
personas, shadows, animas/The role of characters'
ids, egos, superegos/ Love, Lust, desire/
Homecoming/ Journeys/ Relationship between
parents and children/ Stupidity, Ignorance/
Intelligence, Scheming/ Manipulation, Persuasion/
Your Ideas!
28
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.
29
Good standards help
Source Model College Prep Curriculum from On
Course for Success, EdTrust and ACT, 2005
30
Instruction in high-performing schools
Teachers who report schoolwide instructional
consistency within grades and curricular
alignment from grade-to-grade work in schools
that performed better on average. . .Those
teachers who reported that their school has
identified essential standards and that their
classroom instruction is guided by state academic
standards were also more likely to be in high
performing schools. They report that the schools
curriculum materials in math and language arts
are aligned with the states standards and that
they frequently map state curriculum standards
onto their classroom lesson plans.
Source Williams, T., Kirst, M., Haertel, E., et
al. (2005). Similar Students, Different Results
Why Do Some Schools Do Better? A large-scale
survey of California elementary schools serving
low-income students. Mountain View, CA EdSource.
- Initial Report of Findings, see
www.edsource.org.
31
Course Titles Dont Guarantee Good Instruction.

• But not if they sit on the shelf.

32
CA Language Arts Curriculum Calibration Analysis
Source DataWorks Education Research, 2002.
33
Differences in Assignments across High Schools
Source Education Trust, Gaining Traction,
Gaining Ground How Some High Schools Accelerate
Learning for Struggling Students, 2005
34
3(a) And shouldnt we stop counseling students
out of dead end course taking patterns?
35
In One Typical California High School, Students
Can Get Credit Towards Math Graduation
Requirements forWood TechnologyorProduction
Welding
Source Course Catalog, Unidentified California
High School
36
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
37
These Course-Taking Patterns Arent Helpful for
Students Wanting to Go to College or Work
38
4. How can we provide extra instruction for
students who arrive behind?
39
Most of us think of semester- or year-long
increments to teach kids what they need to learn,
but...
40
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
41
Less Summer Vacation
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
42
Less Weekends, Holidays, Summer Vacation
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
43
Less Professional Development Days Early
Dismissal/Parent Conferences
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
44
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
45
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
46
Use of Instructional Time?

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

47
And the instructional time we do have is not
well-used, particularly for students who come in
behind..

• Students who arrive behind in readingoften
  simply assigned to courses that dont demand much
  reading.

48
Average High School Percent of Instructional
Time in Reading Intensive Courses
Source Education Trust, Gaining Traction,
Gaining Ground How Some High Schools Accelerate
Learning for Struggling Students, 2005
49
High Impact High School Percent of
Instructional Time in Reading Intensive Courses
Source Education Trust, Gaining Traction,
Gaining Ground How Some High Schools Accelerate
Learning for Struggling Students, 2005
50
High Achieving 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!

Source Education Trust, Gaining Traction,
Gaining Ground How Some High Schools Accelerate
Learning for Struggling Students, 2005
51
When Kids Are Behind, Schools Must Provide More
Instruction and Support
Students and Teachers Need More Time

• Kentucky provides extra time for struggling
  students in high-poverty schools, in whatever way
  works best for the community before school,
  after school, weekends or summers.
• Maryland offers extra dollars for 7th and 8th
  graders who need more support
• San Diego City created more time, mostly within
  the regular school day, by doubling even
  tripling the amount of instructional time in
  literacy and mathematics for low-performing
  students.

52
SJUSDs Structural/Programmatic Changes to
Support All Students in A-G

• Master Schedule
• Block scheduling
• Shadow Classes
• Seventh Period/Zero Period
• T-Periods
• Coring
• Open Enrollment in A.P.
• Extended Day/Week/Year
• AVID
• Detracking/Mixed Ability Grouping in Grades 4-9
• Desegregated Classes in Grades 10 -12

53
5. Are there better ways to accelerate our more
advanced students?
54
Over past 20 years, fastest growing part of the
high school curriculum AP, IBcollege-level
courses.

• At same time, fastest growing part of the college
  curriculum remedial, developmentalhigh
  school-level courses.

55
5(a). Are there better ways to catch our low
performing students up, quickly?
56
How much does it cost to fund interventions and
services to support A-G for All in SJUSD?
15
180

• Pays for
• College Counselors, Mentors, Coordinator of Peer
  Tutoring
• Homework Center
• Math Lab, English/Language Arts Lab, Reading Lab
• Additional Classes, Additional Teachers

Per student. Schools in more affluent areas
require less for implementation, remediation and
support.
Source San Jose Unified School District
57
Need to think hard about thisand be mindful of
both strengths and weaknesses of various
strategies.How? Data Driven Everything.
58
High Impact High Schools vs. Average Impact High
Schools

• High Impact High Schools - have early warning
  systems to identify students who need help so
  that they can be caught up.
• Average Impact High Schools - more likely to
  provide remedial help after students have
  faltered.

Source Education Trust, Gaining Traction,
Gaining Ground How Some High Schools Accelerate
Learning for Struggling Students, 2005
59
Schools that Close the Achievement Gap Use Data
to Understand Skill Gaps of Low-Achieving Students
Source After the Test, Using Data to Close the
Achievement Gap, Springboard Schools 2005.
http//www.springboardschools.org/research/other_r
esearch.html
60
What Works? Extensive use of student assessment
data. Principals from better performing schools
more often reported that they and the district
use assessment data from multiple sources
curriculum program and other commercial
assessments, district-developed assessments, and
the California Standards Tests and the CAT/6 to
evaluate teachers practices and to identify
teachers who need instructional improvement.
Teachers report receiving CST/CAT-6 test data in
a variety of formats for all students in their
grade level disaggregated by specific skills for
all students in their classrooms and
disaggregated by student subgroup for students in
their classrooms. Principals report using the CST
and CAT/6 data to examine school-wide
instructional issues, to develop strategies for
moving students from below basic and basic to
proficient, to compare grades within the school,
to identify struggling students and evaluate
their progress, and to inform and communicate
with parents.
Source Williams, T., Kirst, M., Haertel, E., et
al. (2005). Similar Students, Different Results
Why Do Some Schools Do Better? A large-scale
survey of California elementary schools serving
low-income students. Mountain View, CA EdSource.
- Initial Report of Findings, see
www.edsource.org.
61
High Impact High Schools vs. Average Impact High
Schools

• High Impact High Schools -use data to plan
  improve teaching /learning /making teacher
  assignments.
• Average Impact High Schools- use data primarily
  to measure past student performance.

Source Education Trust, Gaining Traction,
Gaining Ground How Some High Schools Accelerate
Learning for Struggling Students, 2005
62
in high-performing high schools, this study
found that teacherslook at test results together
and use those results to determine which students
need more help. Then they work with colleagues to
discuss how to provide that help. These frequent
assessments are particularly important for
English language learners and students reading
below grade level.
Source Three Lessons from Californias Highest
Achieving High Schools, Springboard Schools, 2005
63
MONITORING AND MEASURING, FREQUENTLY IS KEY.
Source After the Test, Using Data to Close the
Achievement Gap, Springboard Schools 2005.
http//www.springboardschools.org/research/other_r
esearch.html
64
6. How Can We Organize Schools in Pursuit of
Different Outcomes
65
School Size Matters
66
4-State StudySmall Schools Reduce
Power of Poverty by 30-50
Source Rural Community Education Trust, 2/2000
67
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
68
But small alone is not enough. . .
69
Its easy to fall into a pattern of blaming poor
results on problems beyond our control.

• For example, high 9th grade failure rates
  generally blamed on poor preparation, difficult
  transitions.
• But

70
One High School Student/Teacher Ratio by Grade
Source Jovenes Unidos Padres Unidos March,
2004.
71
Same High SchoolCounselor Deployment by Grade
Source Jovenes Unidos and Padres Unidos March,
2004
72
Likewise, large achievement gaps at
exittypically blamed on large achievement gaps
at entry.But
73
Poor kids and kids of color get less than their
fair share of experienced and well educated
teachers.
74
In Californias highest minority schools, 1 in 5
teachers are underprepared or novice. In
Californias lowest minority schools, only 1 in
10 teachers are under-prepared or novice.
Source Center for the Future of Teaching and
Learning, The Status of the Teaching Profession
2005
75
More than half of the teachers with internship
credentials work in the highest minority schools
Source Center for the Future of Teaching and
Learning, The Status of the Teaching Profession
2005
76
And, not surprisingly, when students have more
under-prepared teachers, they do less well.
Schools with lowest passing rates on the CAHSEE
have the most underprepared/novice teachers.
Source Center for the Future of Teaching and
Learning, The Status of the Teaching Profession
2005
77
If youre a student in CAs lowest performing
schools, your odds of having more than one
underprepared teacher is 3 in 10
In CA schools in the lowest achievement quartile
In CA schools in the highest achievement quartile
3 in 10 a students odds of having had more
than one underprepared teacher.
1 in 50 a students odds of having had more
than one underprepared teacher.
Source Center for the Future of Teaching and
Learning, The Status of the Teaching Profession,
2005
78
Dollars Spent on Teachers 80 of a Schools
Budget
Source Californias Hidden Teacher Spending Gap
How State and District Budgeting Practices
Shortchange Poor and Minority Students and Their
Schools, Education Trust West, 2005.
79
Average School Gaps in 10 Largest CA Districts by
School Type
80
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 California Dept of Ed, 2003-04 data
81

• Looking at these two schools, some might
  automatically think
• Student demographics lower student performance

But this assumption ignores the underlying
factors.
82

• The average teacher at Locke High School 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.

83
Districts report only district averages for
teacher salaries, even on school levelSchool
Accountability Report Cards
84
Help us make this information publicly available
and accessible Visit www.hiddengap.org to report
your districts data.
85
If we had the courage and creativity to change
these patterns?
86
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87
(No Transcript)
88
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.
89
Successful High Schools Provide Intensive
Ongoing, Site-Based Professional Development and
Collaboration

• If the performance picture in our schools is to
  show dramatic improvement, teachers need
• Regularly-scheduled collaboration time
• Access to expertise
• Feedback and coaching on implementation.

Source Springboard Schools, Lessons from
Californias Highest Achieving High Schools, 2005
90
High Performing Schools and Districts Act
Immediately on Results from Snapshot Assessments

• When the data suggests individual kids are behind
  those kids get immediate help.
• When the data suggests that ½ or more of the kids
  in a class are behind, the teacher gets help.
• No one right way, but high performers have
  consistent methods to intervene and help ...
  whoever needs it . . . when they need it.

91
Would More Money Help?
92
California ranks 43rd in per-pupil spending. We
could do much better.
Note These figures are adjusted for regional
cost differences. Source Education Week, Quality
Counts 2006
93
Still, the Money We Do Have is Not Distributed
Equitably.Per Student Funding Lowest Poverty
Districts vs. Highest Poverty Districts
Source Education Trust, The Funding Gap, 2005.
Data are for 2002-03 school year and include a
40 adjustment for low-income students.
94
Funding Gaps in California Inequities in State
and Local RevenueAnd these are the gaps between
districts, remember inequity is exacerbated by
the gaps within districts.
Source Education Trust, The Funding Gap, 2005.
Data are for 2002-03 school year and include a
40 adjustment for low-income students.
95

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

96
Some Districts Get More for Less.
97
Some districts that out-perform spend lessNAEP
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
98
In the End, It is About Choices Adults Make.

• At the Main, Achievement and Opportunity Gaps
  Come from Choices That Educators and Policymakers
  Make. Choices About
• - How Much to Spend on Whom.
• - What to Expect of Different Schools and
  Students.
• - Choices Even About Who Teachers Whom.
• - Choices About How to Organize Classroom and
  Schools.

99
Join Us! The Education TrustWests Biennial
Conference All Kids College and Work Ready
What will it take to close the gap?
April 2 4, 2006 Los Angeleswww.edtrustwest.org