1. THE OPPORTUNITY
From “Brutal Facts” to the Best Schools We’ve Every Had
Dr. Mike Schmoker

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. The Real Opportunity…
In a 45 minute class only 15 minutes of actual instruction takes place.
“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

6. 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

7. BRUTAL FACTS
Despite hundreds of initiatives, programs and plans, we still DO NOT INSPECT:
WHAT is actually taught (essential standards)
HOW WELL (effective lessons/units)
Gordon; Elmore; Marzano; Tyack & Cuban; Hess; Berlinger

8. EFFECTIVE LESSONS HAVE:
Checks for understand.
A clearly stated standard
Teacher examples (modeling)
Whole group practice
Partner practice
Individual practice
Assessment
Adjustments based on the assessment results
Addresses higher level thinking skills

9. 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

10. 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

11. 1. First: Adopt “Simple Plans” to create & sustain LEARNNG COMMUNITIES
DATA – driven (academic priorities)
GOALS: that are measurable/tied to an assessment
TEAMWORK that produces short-term assessment results
…Anchored by a GUARANTEED & VIABLE CURRICULUM

12. DATA DRIVEN PRIORITIES
SET measurable, annual goals
IDENTIFY lowest –scoring standards from ASSESSMENTS
USE formative assessment data (measurable results from lessons)
Teacher teams create tests for non-tested courses.

13. 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.

14. 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?

15. 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?

16. “The heart of instruction is the monitoring of instruction.”
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

17. 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.

18. Monitoring: Instruction and Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum
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

19. 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

20. “Small wins” to overcome resistance & promote buy-in
RECOGNIZE & CELEBRTE
“Small wins” to overcome resistance & promote buy-in
The #1 LEVER FOR IMPROVING MORALE AND EFFECTIVE PRACTICE
Best leverage
Low cost leverage

21. 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

22. BRUTAL FACTS; GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
40 minutes a day for writing
60 minute a day for actual reading

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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

26. 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”

27. WHY BOTHER?
With an average teacher = 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