Improving Achievement and Closing Gaps Between Groups: Data Resources and Hints

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Improving Achievement and Closing Gaps Between
GroupsData Resources and Hints
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Eight Categories (for today, anyway)

• School and district assessment data
• Classroom value-added analyses
• Teacher and Student Work
• Student Views
• Whos Teaching Whom?

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• Time for Instruction
• Time, Staffing and Professional Development
• New Web-Based Resources

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And before were done, a few words about NCLB
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1. Assessment

• SOURCES
• State Depts of Education
• Greatschools.net
• Just 4 the Kids

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• What do the school and district data tell us
  about who is achieving and who isnt?
• And about who is improving and who isnt?
• If you were superintendent/principal, how would
  you summarize these results to your staff or
  community?

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• What more can test data tell you?
• Will item analyses help? If so, where do you get
  them?

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2. Classroom Value-Added Analyses
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How This Research Got Started
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Boston Students With Effective Teachers Showed
Greater Gains In Reading and Math
Average Student Growth Over One Year
Math
Reading
Source Boston Public Schools, High School
Restructuring, March 9, 1998.
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Effects On Students Math Scores In Dallas (Grades
3-5)
Beginning 3rd Grade
Change in Average Score on Math Assessment Over 3
years
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, Dash
Weerasinghe, " Teacher Effects On Longitudinal
Student Achievement" 1997.
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Teacher A
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Teacher B
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Teacher C
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In High Schools, Can Also Generate Predicted
vs. Actual Performance, by Classroom

• See Tennesee

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Another Option9-week Assessments

• Lancaster, PA

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Value-Added Resources

• William Sanders, SAS in the Schools
• Ysleta and Dallas, TX districts

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3.Teacher and Student Work

• grades/score analyses
• Standards in Practice
• Calibration

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A Students in High Poverty Schools Score at
About the Same Level as C and D Students in
Affluent Schools
Source US Department of Education, Office of
Educational Research and Improvement. What Do
Student Grades Mean? Difference Across Schools.
Educational Research Report (p. 3) January 1995.
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Source Accountability Targets Summary, San
Diego, Spring, 19982000 by The Education Trust,
Inc.
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Standards in PracticeA Quality
Control/Instructional Improvement Tool

• Developed in El Paso, Pueblo, Philly
• now in broad use
• teams of teachers, 2 hours a week
• is work meeting standards?

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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.
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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.
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Calibration Are Assignments at Standard?

• 2 week method
• crate method

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Useful ResourceDataWorks
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14 SC Schools Calibrated
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4. Student Views

• Surveys
• Focus Groups
• Shadowing
• Writing/Drama
• Data Analysis

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What Teenagers Say About School Rigor

• Fewer Than 3 in 10 Think Their School is Very
  Academically Rigorous

Source 1998 Annual Survey from Whos Who Among
American High School Students 2000 by The
Education Trust, Inc.
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Focus Groupseg. San Jose Unified
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Shadowing(make sure ALL types of students)
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Writing, Drama, Oral Presentations

• Note Bring your graduates BACK to talk with
  their teachers

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Or How About a Little Real-World Application of
Mathematics Skills?
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At Luke Moore, There are 17 Times More Sections
of Job Training
Than There are of Math
40
30
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Number of Sections
10
0
Math
Job Training
Source Luke Moore Master Schedule 2000-2001
2001 Calculations by YOUTHink
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At Luke Moore, There are 12 Times as Many
Students Enrolled
in Job Training as in Algebra, Geometry, Algebra
II, Pre-Calculus and
Calculus Combined
120
100
80
percent of
60
Percent of Students
students
enrolled
40
20
0
Math
Job Training
Source Luke Moore Master Schedule 2000-2001
Calculations by YOUTHink, 2001
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By the way, its not just students who ought to
be looking at whos in what courses...
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High-performing minority students often excluded
from higher-rigor courses
Source The Achievement Council and the Education
Trust West analysis of unpublished CA district
data, 2001.
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5. Whos Teaching Whom?

• collect data on teacher and student
  characteristics--what are the patterns?
• Analyzing master schedules--time AND talent

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Classes in High Poverty High Schools More Often
Taught by Underqualified Teachers
Teachers who lack a major or minor in the
field Source National Commission on Teaching and
Americas Future, What Matters Most Teaching for
Americas Future (p.16) 1996.
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Math and Science Classes of Mostly Minority
Students Are More Often Taught by Underqualified
Teachers
Source Jeannie Oakes. Multiplying Inequalities
The Effects of Race, Social Class, and Tracking
on Opportunities to Learn Mathematics and
Science (Rand 1990)
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Analyzing Master Schedules

• the most experienced and best educated teachers
  who are they teaching
• student loads AP vs. Remedial courses

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Regular Team Sample
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Pre-IB Team Sample
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Vocational Teacher Sample
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11-12 IB/AP Teacher Sample
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6. What About the Matter of Time for
Instruction?
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Most of us think of semester- or year-long
increments to teach kids what they need to learn,
but...
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Analysis of of School Calendars Tells a
Different Story About Available Time
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The Full Year Calendar
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Less Summer Vacation
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Less Weekends, Holidays, Summer Vacation
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Less Professional Development Days Early
Dismissal/Parent Conferences
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Less Class Picnic, Class Trip, Thanksgiving
Feast, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukkah, Awards,
Assembles, Concerts
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Less State and District Testing
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Bottom Line

• Roughly 13-15 Eight-Hour Days Per Subject Per
  Year

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Kids Who are Behind Need Extra Instruction
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PSSA - Reading Performance Level, Lincoln Middle
School, Lancaster, PA
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7. What About Staffing and Time for
Professional Development?
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size ImpactsCore
Subject Teachers Only
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding SPED Specialists
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding Title I and ELL Specialists
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding Enrichment Teachers
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding Other Certified FTEs
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size ImpactsOptimal
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Reynolds Middle School More Effective Use of
Time Means Increased Instructional Opportunities
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8. Some New Web-Based Data Resources for YOU!
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New Dispelling the Myth Online
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Dispelling the Myth
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Dispelling the Myth
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Dispelling the Myth
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FINALLY, A FEW WORDS ABOUT HOW WE TALK ABOUT
GAP-CLOSING AND NCLB
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Statement of Purpose
Closing the achievement gap between high- and
low-performing children, especially the
achievement gaps between minority and nonminority
students, and between disadvantaged children and
their more advantaged peers. 20 U.S.C. 6301
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Some leaders are talking about the challenges in
the new law one way
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The federal government has put us in a bind . .
. Were never going to be able to meet the 100
mark. -Kerry Mazzoni, Californias secretary of
education Los Angeles Times September 25, 2002
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• Requiring every group of students in every
  school to be proficient within 12 years, is like
  asking every kid to jump the Grand Canyon.
• educator, Connecticut
• June 10, 2002
• Associated Press

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"It is so inflexible. If any group of kids fails
to meet the standard, the whole school is labeled
as failing. suburban superintendent (used to
doing extremely well under old system of
averages)
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These are what statisticians call
outliersunexplained exceptions in any field
that do not provide models that can be
successfully emulated. Michael Jordan, for
example, is an outlier that he can play at such
a level does not mean that any basketball player
with good training can do so. -Richard
Rothstein The New York Times April 10, 2002
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• "I have difficulty with the standards because
  they're so unattainable for so many of our
  students . . . We just don't have the same kids
  they have on Long Island or Orchard Park.
• Superintendent, New York October 21, 2002, The
  Buffalo News

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They may as well have decreed that pigs can fly
. . . I think the State Board of Education is
dealing with reality, not myth. Some of these
politicians just have their heads in the
sand. -Wayne Johnson, CTA President Los Angeles
Times August 6, 2002
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Think about the messages in what they say

• To parentsabout whose kids matter
• To studentsabout how much educators think they
  can learn and,
• To teachersabout whether they even have to try.

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Other leaders are talking about the challenge in
very different ways.
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• "We know the bar will always be raised. I call it
  a forklift, not a cart, because it's going
  forward and going up. But we are here to educate
  children, and we should have our standards
  raised."
• Martha Stone, assistant superintendent of
  curriculum and instruction, Irving School
  District, TX

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"Neither poverty nor race is an excuse. All
children can rise to the standards and there are
many schools in the data that you have to prove
it. Rick Mills, Commissioner of Education,
New York. March 28, 2002, New York Times
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With proper instruction, students here can blow
other kids away in the humanities. The more you
challenge them, the better they'll do.
Dolores Edwards Sullivan, an English teacher
in the predominantly African American Roosevelt
school district, whose 11th graders are starting
to earn higher marks on state Regents exams.
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Yes, parents may have the greatest impact on how
their children come to us. But we have the
greatest impact on how they leave
us. Superintendent, North Carolina
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• "If you love children, you can't say this law is
  a waste. . . It has to come down to someone
  making sure these kids are getting an education.
• Denise Allen, Kentucky
• November 13, 2002, Lexington Herald Leader

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"At the end of the day, we are responsible for
every child. Will we do it? Certainly. Will we
look good early on? I doubt it." Superintendent
, Wake CountyJune 2, 2002 News and Observer (NC)
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Yes, this is going to be hard. But how we
communicate will play a large role in whether
people will even try.
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The Education Trust

• For More Information . . .
• www.edtrust.org
• DC 202-293-1217
• Oakland 510-465-6444