One Size Does Not Fit All Washington Education Research Network Forum Improving Washington

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One Size Does Not Fit AllWashington
Education Research Network ForumImproving
Washingtons High Schools Insights from
Research and ExperienceMay 11, 2006Sue Cohn,
Coordinator for High School Improvement,Office
of Superintendent of Public Instruction
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Calls for Transformation of the American High
School

• A revolutionary approach to high school is needed
  one that challenges and engages students in
  meaningful, lifelong learning....Our children
  must leave high school with a solid foundation
  for success in todays increasingly competitive
  knowledge-based economy. Together we can do it.
• -Mark Warner,
• Governor of Virginia and Chairman of the National
  Governors Association, 2005

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Agenda

• Overview of OSPI reform initiatives
• High School Improvement Initiative (Initiative)
• High Schools That Work (HSTW)
• Successful Practices Network (SPN)
• Common themes
• Common processes
• Lessons learned
• Questions

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Firstinput from you

• What do you know about
• High School Improvement Initiative (Initiative)
• High Schools That Work (HSTW)
• Successful Practices Network (SPN)
• What do you hope to learn as a result of our
  conversation?

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Overview High School Reform Initiatives
(handout)

• High School Improvement Initiative (Initiative)
• High Schools That Work (HSTW)
• Successful Practices Network (SPN)
• Evaluation process
• Additional initiatives

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Looking to the futureA shift in culture -
from a focus on graduation from high school to
readiness for post-secondary opportunities
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Common Themes

• Culture focused on preparation for post-secondary
  career and college opportunities, not graduation
  or rules
• High expectations for all students
• Multiple pathways to rigorous and relevant
  curriculum and instruction which engage all
  students
• Personalization

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Common Themes

• Support and transition programs
• Sustained professional development and staff
  collaboration
• Effective leadership
• Safe and supportive learning environment
• Parent and community involvement

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• Its not about where students come from, but
  what educators do with them once they have them.
• Richard Esparza,
• Principal, Granger High School, HSTW

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Common Processes

• Process vs Prescription
• Personalization

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The unique characteristics of school cultures
and student populations suggest that the most
meaningful changes may depend on research that
is locally driven. -Michael Sadowski Closing
the gap one school at a time
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Common Processes

• Clear focus on raising achievement for all
  students through attention to policies,
  procedures, and practices
• Reliance on effective schools research and
  locally-driven data to drive goals and
  action-planning
• External review identifying strengths,
  challenges, and recommendations for improvement
• Internal review utilizing locally-driven data and
  results of findings of review team

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Common Processes

• External support and technical assistance
• Leadership team to usher school through process
• Involvement of stakeholders
• Systems approach

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• Once staff members change their behaviors, then
  a change in student behavior will follow.
• Dr. Gene Bottoms
• Site Development Workshop
• March, 2006

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Lessons learned

• High school staff members care about making a
  difference for their students.
• However, the dichotomy between effort and
  outcomes and between espoused and perceived
  expectations for our high schools confounds their
  work.
• The context culture and structures of schools
  impact ways in which staffs respond to calls for
  change and engage in new learning to improve
  their practice.

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Lessons learned

• An external review and technical assistance can
  provide a valuable lens through which staffs can
  examine the context in which they work and
  students learn.
• Yet, absent an internal review of local data,
  findings of an external review wont mobilize
  staffs to reflect on their practices and engage
  in new learning.
• Different initiatives, models and processes are
  anchored in a common belief that improvement of
  instructional practice is at the heart of
  improvement efforts.

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More lessons learned

• School improvement is an evolutionary process.
  Similar to staff, each school is at a different
  stage in the improvement process. Also similar
  to staff, schools can learn from one another and
  improve their practice regardless of where they
  are in the process.
• Change is not easyits grounded in shared
  beliefs, values, norms, and institutionalized
  practices all of which make transformation of
  the American high school challenging.

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Finally

• Schools must take a serious look at their
  curriculum, pedagogy, retention and tracking
  policies, testing and all the other policies and
  practices that create a school climate that is
  either empowering or disempowering for those who
  work and learn there.
• -Sonia Nieto

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• Context ALWAYS matters.
• There is not one size
• that fits all!