Many schools and districts are in the process of working very hard to increase achievement scores. Educators, parents, communities, and state legislatures are increasingly disenchanted with "business as usual" schools. Teachers are under extreme pressure to raise the achievement level of all students. Schools are coping with new accountability measures, increased expectations from the public, and new state curriculum standards and state assessments. When new standards and state assessments have been introduced in other states, they have drastically affected student achievement and teacher/school success. The whole process is even more difficult in high schools with the additional criteria of increasing SAT scores, decreasing drop-outs, ensuring students take advanced placement courses, and wide-spread student apathy.
Forty-nine of the fifty states currently are implementing new assessments, introducing new curriculum frameworks, initiating "school-to-work" programs, holding students accountable for performance and content standards, and providing a more focused K-12 program. At the same time, these states are holding schools and teachers to higher accountability standards, acknowledging that you cannot raise students' standards unless you raise teachers' and principals' standards. As school districts across the nation strive to restructure their schools and raise standards for all of education, questions will inevitably be raised concerning "What is the best that we know?" --- the best practices as well as the best process for changing instruction in a school. If we were going to build a new school today, what would be the educational program of that school using the best that we know?
A list of district/school restructuring and staff development activities has been compiled by studying districts across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia that have implemented new frameworks and standards. From over 20 years of district and school evaluations, categories of exemplary practice have been documented from over 3100 exemplary schools. This includes data from the over 700 so-called 90 - 90 schools (90% or more of the students on free and reduced meals and 90% or more of the students on or above grade level passing state tests). The single most important criteria of the analyses was that schools' using and practicing these activities increased achievement significantly.
The list of exemplary practice is arranged into categories in order for districts and schools to see the "big picture" of an overall restructuring process, and, at the same time, be able to see how the categories fit and connect to one another. Successful school restructuring is extremely complex, so schools have to know how to connect many components and efforts in order to actually reach their goals. Therefore, the categories can be seen as a comprehensive 2, 3, or 4 year program, and/or as single focused efforts in various combinations, depending on district/school needs and timeline.
Connections to Learning
The one over-riding theme or focus of the "exemplary practice" list is that all of the successful districts/schools re-conceptualized school around learning rather than coverage of content or teaching activities. Teachers plan and teach differently in schools when the focus is on learning and continuous improvement. Administrators and decision-making teams plan, evaluate, and make different decisions when the focus is on learning and continuous improvement. With this focus on learning, and all the pieces of restructuring listed, it is highly recommended that schools and districts use exemplary practice instead of established practice or "flavor-of-the-month" type of smorgasbord staff development so common in low-performing districts and schools across the nation. It has been especially helpful to districts/schools under pressure to raise achievement scores, since it provides a comprehensive picture of what it means to focus on learning.
The success of the Learning-Focused Schools Model has evolved over the last 20+ years and is currently the major continuous improvement process for over 3000 schools in 20 states. The Model is based on schools focusing on learning and achievement for all students and implementing all five categories of exemplary practice. Schools and districts that try to confine their restructuring efforts to a minimum (only 1-2 categories) consistently find that their efforts fall far short of their goal. Research and exemplary schools evaluations have shown that all of the categories must be addressed, focused, and connected.
Exemplary Practice Categories and Critical Factors of Success
CATEGORY ONE: Curriculum Frameworks, Benchmarks, and Maps
- Prioritized Content Standards With K-12 Benchmarks
- Uses the Prioritized Curriculum for Differentiated Pacing, Acceleration, and Remediation
- Grade Level and Course Expectations
- Curriculum Maps of Units (Student Learning Maps)
- Unit Frameworks and Lessons for Key Concepts/Skills On-Line
CATEGORY TWO: Instructional Strategies For Learning
- K-12 Content Reading Comprehension and Writing Emphasis
- Cognitive Instructional Strategies Consistent and Pervasive Across School
- Graphic Organizers For Reading/Writing Across the Curriculum
- Differentiated Assignments To Promote Learning At All Levels
- Thinking Skills/Processes for Extending Thinking
- Acceleration and Previewing Strategies For At Risk Students
CATEGORY THREE: Assessment To Promote and Measure Learning
- Assessment Used to Increase Learning in Addition to Assigning Grades
- Assessment to Guide Continuous Improvement
- K-12 Comprehensive District-Wide Quarterly Benchmark Assessments
- Rubrics Consistently Used Across All Classrooms
CATEGORY FOUR: School and Teacher Organization
- Modified Block, Flexible Schedules K-12
- Multi-Grade Vertical Teams, and/or Teacher Looping K-10 Holding Students In Common --- Consistent at K-5; Focused 6-12
- Shared Decision-Making Teams for Curriculum/Instruction
- Parental Involvement At All Levels
CATEGORY FIVE: Short and Long-term Planning
- Specific School Improvement Plan Linked To A Staff Development Plan
- Framework of Three Year School Continuous Improvement Plan
- Pilot, Evaluate, and Revise All Components
- Formative Evaluation Of All Programs On a Yearly or Bi-Yearly Basis; Uses Evaluation Data To Expand or Eliminate Programs
- Comprehensive Plan for Transition
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The change process in education can be a great deterrent to widely accepted innovations and applying exemplary practice. While individuals may change on a personal choice basis, schools find it very difficult to get entire faculties to adopt or adapt new strategies as a group. Therefore, when trying to achieve change for entire buildings or districts, successful schools/districts found using a phased-in cycle approach to staff development worked best for the change process. This process links to the restructuring plan and allows for “state-of-the-art” staff development that includes:
- Awareness sessions
- Workshop and workplace applications for "trying it out."
- Follow-up sessions and extending thinking sessions, using:
- standard workshops
- teachers as mentors and coaches
- information resources
- Piloting strategies in small groups.
- Small and large group “learning evaluation” both during and after implementation
It is important to target staff development toward our knowledge of the change process. The Learning-Focused Schools Model takes into account four processes of adult learning -
- readiness for change;
- resistance to change;
- accountability; and
- administrative and teacher leadership.
Districts in many states have already successfully implemented their state and local initiatives by developing comprehensive plans using exemplary practice. The Learning-Focused Schools Model can be implemented successfully in one school, in a school district, or in a regional consortium of schools and districts.