Now that state tests are over, past-tense, and consummated, let’s reflect again on vision, expectations, and implementation. One of the big questions facing American education is “Can it be done?” Can schools help all children learn to high levels, no matter the color of one’s skin, the language one speaks, or the balance of their bank account? In some districts, there exists an excuse syndrome called the “but” syndrome. For example, they could do better, but they come from a poverty background, but they speak another language, or but there is no support from home. Kids do the best they can do based upon the cards they have been dealt. We just need to intervene as new dealers and make sure that the things that we can control are of the highest quality and are supported by best practice and understanding of how people learn. Parents aren’t keeping the smart ones at home and sending the rest. Karin Chenoweth in her book “It’s Bring Done- Academic Success in Unexpected Schools” describes those outlier schools that have risen to the occasion and made sure that their students were successful independent of the “but” variables. What is being done in such schools? What is being done differently? How are they salting the oats? (You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink….but you can salt their oats.)
1. They don’t teach to the state tests. They teach a rich coherent curriculum tied to state standards.
2. They have high expectations for their students. They assume that their students are able to meet high standards and believe their job is to help their students get there.
3. They know what the stakes are. They know if their students don’t get a good education, they could face a lifetime of poverty and dependence.
4. They embrace and use all the data they can get their hands on. They want to know how their students are doing and match instruction with needs continually
5. They use data to focus on individual students, not just groups of students. They pay attention to every student.
6. They constantly reexamine what they do. If you do what you’ve done, you will get what you’ve gotten. If you want different, you must do different.
7. They embrace accountability. They know it is their professional obligation to do so.
8. They make decisions on what is best for kids, not what is best for adults. KACF…Kids always come first.
9. They use school time wisely. Students are engaged in productive activities all the time.
10. They leverage as many resources from the community as possible. They bring them in to the schools as fellow stakeholders.
11. They expand the time students- particularly struggling students- have in school. Programs occur before and after school and during the summer.
12. They do not spend a lot of time disciplining students, in the sense of punishing them. They do spend time disciplining children in the original sense of the word: leading them (think of the work disciple).
13. They establish an atmosphere of respect. Dignity is never destroyed for anyone.
14. They like kids….enough said.
15. They make sure that the kids who struggle the most have the best instruction, focusing on best practice and less on “love units.” ( I Iove to teach this; I love to teach that...e.g. apples, dinosaurs, solar system.)
16. Principals are a constant presence who practice collegial supervision.
17. Although the principals are important leaders, they are not the only leaders. Teachers, other administrators, and parents (School Boards) help make important decisions for the schools.
18. They pay careful attention to the quality of the teaching staff. Much time is spent on interviewing and selecting new staff members with the best skills for teaching and learning.
19. They provide teachers with the time to meet, plan, and work collaboratively.
20. They provide teachers time to observe one another. They learn from on another and provide feedback to one another.
21. They think seriously about professional development. Constant professional development is a priority. Who wants a heart surgeon schooled in the 1950s and no further training to do heart surgery on them in 2011?
22. They assume that they will have to train new teachers more or less from scratch and carefully acculturate all newly hired teachers.
23. They have high-quality, dedicated, and competent office and building staff that feel themselves part of the educational mission of the school.
24. They are nice places to work. Work hard…play hard.
When you overcome drag and gravity with enough thrust and lift, you get flight. James McDermott, a high school English teacher, laid down this challenge to his fellow educators: “We know what works in education. The research is prolific. Amazingly then, the question is not about what works, but about why we do not implement what we know works in all schools for all kids.”
1. They don’t teach to the state tests. They teach a rich coherent curriculum tied to state standards.
2. They have high expectations for their students. They assume that their students are able to meet high standards and believe their job is to help their students get there.
3. They know what the stakes are. They know if their students don’t get a good education, they could face a lifetime of poverty and dependence.
4. They embrace and use all the data they can get their hands on. They want to know how their students are doing and match instruction with needs continually
5. They use data to focus on individual students, not just groups of students. They pay attention to every student.
6. They constantly reexamine what they do. If you do what you’ve done, you will get what you’ve gotten. If you want different, you must do different.
7. They embrace accountability. They know it is their professional obligation to do so.
8. They make decisions on what is best for kids, not what is best for adults. KACF…Kids always come first.
9. They use school time wisely. Students are engaged in productive activities all the time.
10. They leverage as many resources from the community as possible. They bring them in to the schools as fellow stakeholders.
11. They expand the time students- particularly struggling students- have in school. Programs occur before and after school and during the summer.
12. They do not spend a lot of time disciplining students, in the sense of punishing them. They do spend time disciplining children in the original sense of the word: leading them (think of the work disciple).
13. They establish an atmosphere of respect. Dignity is never destroyed for anyone.
14. They like kids….enough said.
15. They make sure that the kids who struggle the most have the best instruction, focusing on best practice and less on “love units.” ( I Iove to teach this; I love to teach that...e.g. apples, dinosaurs, solar system.)
16. Principals are a constant presence who practice collegial supervision.
17. Although the principals are important leaders, they are not the only leaders. Teachers, other administrators, and parents (School Boards) help make important decisions for the schools.
18. They pay careful attention to the quality of the teaching staff. Much time is spent on interviewing and selecting new staff members with the best skills for teaching and learning.
19. They provide teachers with the time to meet, plan, and work collaboratively.
20. They provide teachers time to observe one another. They learn from on another and provide feedback to one another.
21. They think seriously about professional development. Constant professional development is a priority. Who wants a heart surgeon schooled in the 1950s and no further training to do heart surgery on them in 2011?
22. They assume that they will have to train new teachers more or less from scratch and carefully acculturate all newly hired teachers.
23. They have high-quality, dedicated, and competent office and building staff that feel themselves part of the educational mission of the school.
24. They are nice places to work. Work hard…play hard.
When you overcome drag and gravity with enough thrust and lift, you get flight. James McDermott, a high school English teacher, laid down this challenge to his fellow educators: “We know what works in education. The research is prolific. Amazingly then, the question is not about what works, but about why we do not implement what we know works in all schools for all kids.”
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