The Opportunity By Mike Schmoker

The Opportunity By Mike Schmoker - Transcript

THE OPPORTUNITY
From “Brutal Facts” to the
Best Schools We’ve Every
Had
Dr. Mike Schmoker
DO WE TRULY WANT THE BEST
SCHOOLS WE’VE EVER HAD?
 Because organizations only improve…
“where the truth is told and the brutal facts
confronted”
Jim Collins
“We must overcome the awful inertia of
past decades”
Michael Fullan
Brutal Facts
 Only about 50% of students who enter
college ever graduate – primarily because
K-12 does not prepare most of them for college.
Haycock; Conley
 Only 32% of our college-bound students
are adequately prepared for college.
“Understanding University Success”
Center for Educational Policy Research
 Only 7% of low-income students will ever
earn a college degree.
Haycock
Brutal Facts
 “The Teacher Effect makes all the other
differences pale in comparison.”
William Sanders
 Five years of effective teaching can
completely close the gap between low-
income students and others.
Marzano; Kain & Hanushek
The Real Opportunity…
 “Most of us in education are mediocre at
what we do.”
Tom Wagner
Harvard Graduate School of Education
 Every study of classroom practice
reveals that most teaching is mediocre—
or worse
Goodlad; Sizer, Resnick; Powell, Farrar & Cohen;
Learning 24/7 Classroom Study
In a 45 minute class
only 15 minutes of
actual instruction
takes place.
WHY IS MOST TEACHING
MEDIOCRE?
 The administrative superstructure of
schools buffer teaching from outside
inspection.
Richard Elmore
 You can’t expect what you don’t inspect.
Peter Senge
BRUTAL FACTS
 Despite hundreds of initiatives,
programs and plans, we still DO NOT
INSPECT:
1. WHAT is actually taught (essential
standards)
2. HOW WELL (effective lessons/units)
Gordon; Elmore; Marzano; Tyack & Cuban;
Hess; Berlinger
EFFECTIVE LESSONS HAVE:
 A clearly stated standard
 Teacher examples (modeling)
 Whole group practice
 Partner practice
 Individual practice
 Assessment
 Adjustments based on the assessment
results
Checks for
understand
.
Addresses
higher level
thinking
skills
FIRST THINGS FIRST: IMPROVE
INSTRUCTION
 Replace “IMPROVEMENT PLANNING”
with a focus on “IMPROVED
TEACHING” through learning
communities.
 VIABLE CURRICULUM
 Start with high leverage opportunities,
literacy instruction
Crayola
Curriculum
LEARNING COMMUNITIES: AN
ASTONISHING CONCURRENCE
 “Professionals do not work alone;
they work in teams…to accomplish
the goal– to heal the patient, win
the lawsuit, plan the building.”
Authur Wise: Teaching Teams: a 21st – Century
Paradigm For Organizing America’s Schools
1. First: Adopt “Simple Plans” to
create & sustain LEARNNG
COMMUNITIES
1. DATA – driven (academic priorities)
2. GOALS: that are measurable/tied to an
assessment
3. TEAMWORK that produces short-term
assessment results
…Anchored by a GUARANTEED & VIABLE
CURRICULUM
DATA DRIVEN PRIORITIES
1. SET measurable, annual goals
2. IDENTIFY lowest –scoring
standards from ASSESSMENTS
3. USE formative assessment data
(measurable results from lessons)
Teacher teams
create tests for
non-tested
courses.
AUTHENTIC TEAM-BASED PLC’S:
Plan lessons or units teach
assess adjust instruction
Faculty meetings should
focus on teaching, not just
announcements. These
meetings can be used to
build instructional team
strategies.
2. GUARANTEED VIABLE
CURRICULUM
Do schools ensure that a viable
curriculum actually gets taught?
Often curriculum has no impact
on instruction.
Curriculum Guide = well-meaning
fiction
Teaching based on textbooks?
2. GUARANTEED VIABLE
CURRICULUM
Instructional Dead End Cycle
The more worksheets a teacher
gives The more
worksheets to grade. When
are these graded? During
Instruction time?
3. LEADERSHIP IN THE PCL
 “The heart of instruction is the
monitoring of instruction.”
Dan Lortie
 We do not monitor instruction.
Berliner; Marzano; Smith & Andrews; Elmore;
Reeves
THE LEADERSHIP ILLUSION
 “Direct involvement in
instruction is among the least
frequent activities performed by
administrators of any kind at any
level.”
Richard Elmore 200
This is not a matter of work ethic;
It is a matter of misplaced priorities.
LEADERSHIP
 Monitoring: Instruction and
Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum
 LEADERS MUST:
 Conduct Walk-throughs looking for:
 Clear focus on essential standards
 Critical reasoning/higher-order thinking
 Essential elements of an effective lesson
LEADERSHIP – Team Management
 QUARTERLY CURRICULUM
REVIEW:
Leaders and Team discuss…
 Quarterly assessments/results
 Lists of standards taught
 Grade books reflecting standards
 Scored student work samples
RECOGNIZE & CELEBRTE
 “Small wins” to overcome
resistance & promote buy-in
The #1 LEVER FOR IMPROVING
MORALE AND EFFECTIVE
PRACTICE
 Best leverage
 Low cost leverage
4. UNPARALELLED OPPORTUNITY:
LITERACY INSTRUCTION
 “Underdeveloped literacy skills
are the number one reason why
students are retained, assigned to
special education, given long-term
remedial services and why they fail
to graduate from high school.”
Ferrandino and Tirozzi: presidents of
NAESP and NASSP
BRUTAL FACTS; GOLDEN
OPPORTUNITY
40 minutes a day for writing
60 minute a day for actual reading
WRITING IMPORTANT?
 Writing is the litmus paper of
thought…the very center of schooling. Ted Sizer
 Writing aids in cognitive development
to such an extent that the upper reaches of Bloom’s taxonomy could not be reached without the
use of some form of writing.
Kurt and Farris 1990
BRUTAL FACTS
 “For all its unparalleled cognitive
benefits, little or no real writing
instruction takes place in the
regular classrooms.”
Kameenui and Carnine
We don’t teach writing…we make
writing assignments.
K-12/COLLEGE SUCCESS
 Analytical READING
 Persuasive WRITING
Only 31% of college graduates can read a
complex book and extrapolate from it.
National Center for Education Statistics
Only 24% write at the “proficient” level; 4%
were rated “high”
NAEP study
FOR SWIFT, DRAMATIC
IMPROVEMENT FOCUS ON:
 TEAM-BASED Professional Learning
Communities
 GUARANTEED and VIABLE
Curriculum
 RADICAL changes to literacy
instruction
With CELEBRATION of EVERY
“SMALL WIN”
WHY BOTHER?
 With an average teacher = 30-50
percentile gain in 3 years.
Marzano, Sanders
The question is not, “Is it possible to
educate all children well?”
But rather
Do we want to do it badly enough?”
Deborah Meier