Mobilizing Your Community for School Improvement: Strategies and Working Models

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Creating Smalls Schools that Promote Equity and
Excellence
Warren Simmons, Annenberg Institute for School
Reform, Brown University
Small Schools Its all about the kids February,
2005 Portland, Oregon
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Goals of the Session

• Provide national overview of the small schools/
  small learning communities movement
• Discuss major lessons learned
• Discuss broader vision of school and district
  redesign needed to achieve twin goals of
  excellence and equity for all students.

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Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown
University

• Established in 1993 with a gift from Ambassador
  Annenberg to Brown University
• Key Features of Current Work
• Action research and teaching
• Primarily capacity-building support to large,
  urban districts and their core partners
• Four Focus Areas
• Leadership Community, Central Office, and
  School
• Opportunity Accountability
• District Redesign
• Community Engagement

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School and District Reform Portfolio at the
Annenberg Institute

• Schools for a New Society High School Redesign
  (Carnegie Corporation, Gates Foundation)
• The Learning Partnership (MacArthur Foundation)
• National League of Cities Mayors Education
  Policy Advisors Network
• Aspen Institute Urban Superintendents Network
• Central Office Review for Results and Equity
• Teaching and Learning Review
• School Improvement Toolbox

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What is the challenge?
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Student Voices

• Lack of clarity about what it takes to succeed
  Grades, complete work, behave well
• Many feel not much is expected of them.
• Curriculum is repetitious and not challenging.
• Little support for grappling with issues of race,
  ethnicity, gender, income/class, etc.

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NAEP 2003 Reading Achievement Percentages in
Grade 4

• Basic Partial mastery of knowledge and skills
• Proficient Solid academic performance including
  subject matter knowledge, application of such
  knowledge, and analytic skills.
• Advanced Superior performance.

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NAEP 2003 Reading Achievement Percentages in
Grade 8

• Basic Partial mastery of knowledge and skills
• Proficient Solid academic performance including
  subject matter knowledge, application of such
  knowledge, and analytic skills.
• Advanced Superior performance.

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Too Few 17 Year-Olds Demonstrate Strong Reading
Skills
Source USDOE, NCES, 1999 NAEP Summary Data Tables
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Too Few 17 Year-Olds Demonstrate Strong Math
Skills
Source USDOE, NCES, 1999 NAEP Summary Data Tables
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Teacher Voices

• Lack of clarity about what good instruction looks
  like
• Lack of support for providing differentiated
  instruction for English language learners,
  students with disabilities, and students with
  significant gaps in achievement
• Lack of system support for identifying and
  sharing local expertise and models of promising
  practice

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Why Small Schools and Small Learning Communities
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Annenberg Challenge Lessons

• Small schools and learning communities improve
  teacher and student performance.
• Every child benefits from high expectations.
• Schools are too isolated.
• Schools need allies.
• Professional development is key.

• School need strong leadership.
• Accountability needs to be reciprocal.
• Public education is better than its image.
• Large grants are no substitute for adequate
  funding.

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Small Schools and SLCs Support Authentic Learning

• Learner-centered
• Knowledge-centered
• Community-centered
• Assessment-centered
• Source National Research Council (Bransford,
  Brown, Cocking)

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Small Schools and SLCs Salient Structures

• Communities no larger than 400 students
• Extended learning time
• Common planning time
• Looping
• Shared space
• Shared schedules

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Small Schools and SLCs Salient Instructional
Features

• Personalized course of study (rigorous
  coherent)
• Interdisciplinary, multicultural curricula
• Active learning on part of adults and students
• Curriculum-related assessment
• School-based decisionmaking
• Community engagement and partnership
• Choice on part of students and educators
• Source Christman, J. MacPherson, P. (1996)

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What is progress to date?
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Lessons Learned Overall

• Small Schools/SLCs outperform more traditional
  schools serving comparable students
• Small schools require new curriculum know-how.
• Communities without teacher and student stability
  and shared learning experiences are communities
  only in name.
• Without careful planning and altered beliefs
  about who can learn at high levels, small schools
  repeat old tracking patterns in a new form.

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Lessons Learned

• Progress is most consistent when there is a
  strong spine of curriculum and instruction in
  core subjects. Teachers need good examples of
  instructional activities, units of study, and
  assessment tools in each subject area and grade.
• Low progress schools need additional guidance and
  support from central office and external
  partners.

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Equitable and Effective Classrooms Things to
See

• Shared understanding of essential learnings.
• Standards reflected in tasks and materials.
• Rich range of learning resources and tools.
• Variety of learning activities used over time.
• Attention paid to learning as both a process and
  mastery of content and skills.
• Student work analyzed and revised (learning vs.
  grades).
• Learning guided by salient themes, questions,
  issues and problems.

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Lessons Learned

• Large blocks of time and support are necessary
  for planning and professional development.
• Phase-in approach to implementation needed to
  develop capacity, acquire necessary resources,
  and to ensure that success of new schools
  enhances rather than undermines the success of
  others.

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Lessons Learned

• Districts Matter What kind of system do we need
  to create a community of successful schools?
• Portfolio of Schools
• Pre-K to 16 Pathways for Learning
• Needed supports, timely interventions
• Ensure schools have power and resources to make
  good decisions
• Make decisions and hold people throughout the
  system accountable using leading and lagging
  indicators of progress
• Engage the community to guard against immediacy
  and attentional shift.

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Districts Making ProgressFoundations for
Success MDRC,CGCS

• Focused on student achievement.
• Outcome and practice-centered accountability.
• Focused on lowest-performing schools.
• Increased curricular coherence.

• Redefined central office role to guiding,
  supporting and improving instruction.
• Data-driven decision-making.
• Focused on reading and math.

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What will be our legacy?