Students Can’t Wait: Schools Must Turn Knowledge into Action to Raise Achievement and Graduation Rates

1. Students Can’t Wait:Schools Must Turn Knowledge into Action to Raise Achievement and Graduation Rates Leading Change Gene Bottoms gene.bottoms@sreb.org

2. Why the concern? • Too many unprepared students to: • Succeed in high school and postsecondary studies • Compete for a good job • Declining graduation rates • Rising workplace requirements

3. Leading Change Eighth-Grade Students Algebra I Ready Source: NCES NAEP 2005

4. Leading Change Preparing all groups of students for challenging high school work requires teaching all students the same curriculum taught to the best students and to the same high standards. It requires the courage to lead to turn knowledge into action and teach everyone an accelerated curriculum.

5. Leading Change On Freshmen Requiring Remedial Courses – 2000

6. Getting Serious About High School Graduation 6

7. Leading Change Income Differences between High School Graduate and a Dropout – $260,000 Lifetime • For 2004 dropouts, this converts to a national lost lifetime earnings of $325 billion • For Georgia $14 billion • For Texas $32 billion Source: Route 2005

8. Leading Change The barriers to turning knowledge into changed school practices are not outside the school. They are inside it. We are too wedded to old practices and beliefs suited for another time. Today, they are like a millstone around our neck holding students back. How long will poor and minority students have to wait, before we lead to shed our old beliefs and practices?

9. Leading Change • Name one characteristic of high schools and middle grades schools that are both raising achievement and completion rates.

10. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 1. Rigorous Curriculum with a Focus • College-preparatory core for all • Academic or career focus beyond the core • Focus is on mastery of subject matter not state test • Use common end-of-grading period exams in grades 9 and 10

11. Leading Change Percentage of Students Completing Two Parts of Academic Core Curriculum Source: 2006 HSTW Assessment

12. Leading Change To turn knowledge into practice, the message is clear. If school leaders and teachers do not lead to develop a plan for enrolling more students in challenging academic courses in high school and in middle grades, it will not happen.

13. Leading Change • What can your school do to have more students complete HSTW/MMGW recommended academic core?

14. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 2. High Classroom Expectations – Rigorous • Teachers define A and B work • Students redo work until it meets standards • Teacher assignments, students’ work and classroom assessment aligned to standards • Frequent assessment and feedback

15. Leading Change Students’ behavior and attitude toward school changes when school leaders agree to do whatever it takes to get students to grade-level standards, prepared for challenging high school studies and for postsecondary studies and careers. Achievement goes up, graduation rates increase and students become more engaged when leaders lead to set higher expectations and support students to meet them.

16. Leading Change • What action can your school take to have common, high expectations in all classrooms?

17. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates • Relevant and Meaningful Learning Experiences for Students • Access to high-quality career/technical studies • Use academic skills to complete real tasks • Theme-based and career-focused small learning communities • Postsecondary-like in quality • Early access for at-risk students

18. Leading Change School and teacher leaders who lead to act on research evidence that many students learn best through challenging, real-world assignments create career/technical courses that become places where students use academic skills to address adult-like problems, projects and tasks.

19. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 4. Relevant – Teachers use engaging instructional strategies • Reading and writing for learning in all classes • Use real-world problems and materials • Cooperative learning • Stress study skills and other habits • Integrate technology into instruction • Research-based independent study

20. Leading Change School and teacher leaders who turn knowledge into action confront rather than ignore negative data. For example, they act when 50 percent of students say they are enrolled in classrooms where they seldom have to read or write for learning. They lead to engage the faculty in developing a school-wide literacy plan and they support teachers in learning classroom strategies to engage students in reading and writing activities that enhance achievement in all classes.

21. Leading Change Students’ interest and achievement in mathematics and science increases when they work in teams to solve real problems and are held accountable to assist each other to demonstrate content mastery. Effective schools lead to act on this knowledge and support their teachers with training and time to plan standards-based instructional units together using research-based strategies with study and literacy skills integrated into class assignments.

22. Leading Change • What can your school do to integrate academic and career/technical studies?

23. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 5. Relationship/Support: Extra Help • Every student counts • Full-court press to get students to meet standards • Required extra time support • Extra help that motivates students • A system for grade and credit recovery

24. Leading Change Teachers who invest in extra help believe their students are worth the effort. Having a teacher as a mentor and coach increases a student’s desire to work hard, perform at a higher level and understand the value of a middle grades and high school education.

25. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 6. Relationship: Guidance and Advisement • Every student connected to an adult • Intrusive advisement and support • Engage parents in planning students’ program of study • Every student has a goal and a plan • Frequent contact between student and advisor

26. Leading Change We know that students who are not connected to an adult, who do not have a goal beyond high school and who are not in some extra curricular activity are less likely to finish high school. We know that school becomes meaningful for students when they set a goal and follow a plan to achieve their goal. Leaders lead in taking action to link every student to an adult, to help every student form goals with parent involvement and connect students to some activity and group beyond the classroom.

27. Leading Change • What actions can your school take to help every student have an adult mentor?

28. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 7. Relationship/Support: Middle Grades/High School Transition • Align middle grades curriculum to high school readiness standards • Intensive summer experiences for unprepared students • Double-dose/mastery strategy in grade nine

29. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 7. Relationship/Support: Middle Grades/High School Transition • Lower student/teacher ratio in grade nine with best teachers as leaders • Reduce failure rates in grade nine • Career and education exploratory opportunities

30. Leading Change Middle grades and high school leaders do not ignore the negative numbers showing many students leaving the middle grades unprepared for high school. They do not participate in the “blame game.” They lead by looking for ways to benchmark the middle grades curriculum to high school readiness standards, to ramp up the ninth grade and to build a supportive relationship with students to help them meet rising high school expectations.

31. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 8. Transition: Senior to Postsecondary and Career • Make full use of the senior year • Graduate students who make it to the senior year • Jump start for college for those meeting college-readiness standards • Ready start for unprepared students planning to attend college • Job start for those not planning to attend

32. Leading Change All groups of students improve when given similar experiences. If leaders lead to implement all parts of the HSTW/MMGW design and enroll more students in high-level mathematics and science courses, students can succeed in those courses and all groups of students will experience similar growth in achievement.

33. Leading Change • What actions can your school take to improve transition – middle grades to high school; high school to postsecondary and career?

34. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 9. School Leadership: Focus on Continuous Improvement • Shared leadership • Goals and priorities are clear • Maintain a demanding but supportive environment • Constantly searching for new ideas • Use data to guide changes in practices • Leadership involved in looking at student work

35. Leading Change Courage is needed by school and teacher leaders to lead to turn knowledge into action and to lead to implement well what we know works. Effective leaders know how to water the flowers and not the rocks in their garden.

36. Leading Change Improving Achievement and Completion Rates 10. District Leadership: Supportive of Schools’ Efforts • Resources aligned to an improvement agenda • Builds capacity of leadership teams • Provides continuity of focus and support • Support school to take the right action • Goals and accountability focused on both achievement and completion

37. Leading Change More students accept greater responsibility for their own learning when teachers and school leaders lead to take responsibility to place emphasis on rigor, relevance, relationships and continuous reflection to create schools where more students understand the importance of what they are learning and its value as a bridge to the future.

38. Leading Change Rigorous Curriculum Plus Relevance, Support and Reflective Leaders Met Reading Goal Met Math Goal Met Science Goal 87% 86% 83% 75% 64% 60%

39. Leading Change Closing the Knowing – Doing Gap is about • Changing students’ behavior by changing adult behavior; • Having a core group of school and teacher leaders act in unison; • Helping students and parents set goals; • Creating a continuous improvement climate; • Raising expectations for all groups of students; and • Adults convincing all groups of students that they are worthy.