Doubling Student Performance

. . . And Finding the Resources to Do It

Allan R. Odden, Sarah J. Archibald, Allan R. Odden, Sarah J. Archibald

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781412969635
• eBook ISBN: 9781452273358
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Administración de la educación

"In my work, I see the power of good schools to change young lives for the better almost every day. This book takes us behind the doors of unusually high-performing high-poverty schools to show us how they do it and where they get the funding. The book is a valuable tool for educators who want to improve their results and a reminder to parents and policy makers that we should never expect less."
—Kati Haycock, President
The Education Trust

Radically reform your school and improve academic achievement using readily accessible resources!

At a time when the United States is struggling with far-reaching educational reform, school leaders need a blueprint for dramatically improving student success and supporting those efforts by effectively reallocating and managing available resources.

Doubling Student Performance combines the latest research with the authors? national study of diverse schools that were able to significantly boost student achievement. Strategies focus on reducing class size, promoting professional development, locating necessary funding, and providing academic support to struggling students. School leaders will find:

• Examples and case studies that include high-minority and high-poverty schools
• 10 key strategies for dramatically increasing student achievement, such as setting ambitious goals and emphasizing a collaborative culture
• Clear steps and specific tools to successfully reallocate resources

This book is a valuable tool for educators and policy makers who understand that reform is only possible when schools have the human and financial resources to do it.

1

Places That Have Doubled Student Performance

This chapter provides background information on the places we have observed making quantum increases in student achievement and using resources effectively and efficiently to fund instructional improvement. As noted in the preface, we use the phrase “double performance” as a shorthand way to describe large improvements in student academic achievement. In many cases, the example districts and schools profiled actually doubled student performance as measured by scores on state tests. Further, most of the examples are of doubling performance from the midrange of performance—from 40 percent of students scoring at or above a proficiency level—to a much higher level—80 percent or more of students scoring at or above a proficiency level. So the change represents significant and large improvements. In some cases, the doubling of performance is for a subgroup, such as when Madison (Wisconsin) doubled the performance of minority students. In other cases, the large improvement in student performance is in terms of the percentage of students achieving at the advanced level, such as when Monroe (Wisconsin) doubled the percentage of students achieving at the advanced level in math.

We also use the phrase “double performance” for schools that increase performance from a point just above average, such as 55 percent to 60 percent of students at or above proficiency, to a position at the top level, such as 90 or 95 percent, which was the case for many schools in Kennewick (Washington), one of the districts profiled in this book. Such change, while not literally double, represents significant and quantum improvements, especially since improving from a beginning point above the average to the top levels is somewhat harder than starting below the average and ending above the average.

Although our academic friends and colleagues have advised us to not use the phrase “double performance,” as it seems too specific and perhaps dogmatic to them, and to use a phrase such as significant or quantum improvements, we have found that the phrase “double performance” is a strong communication tool—it signifies a lot of change. Few in the public or policy arenas quibble with the phrase. Thus, we continue to use it.¹

Below, we profile districts and schools that have doubled performance. We start with rural districts and schools as most schools in the United States are located in small districts. We then provide information on our cases from medium-sized cities, many with considerable diversity in student demographics. We finally provide examples of schools in large urban districts characterized by high poverty and high minority concentrations. In this chapter, we provide background information and the general story of how each school doubled performance; the remainder of the book describes in more detail the processes used and the commonalities of both reallocating and allocating resources to accomplish the significant gains in performance. Tables 1.4 and 1.5, at the end of the chapter, summarize the gains made in each of the profiled districts and schools, respectively; this table can be used as a reference while reading other chapters as well.

The cases we provide derive from our work across the country on school finance adequacy, hence the larger numbers of schools and districts in Wisconsin and Washington. We constantly were asked what type of performance increase could be produced by the resources we recommended for adequate funding (see, e.g., Odden & Picus, 2008; Odden, Picus, Archibald, et al. 2007). We responded by saying the resources were sufficient for schools and districts to double performance. We then were asked to find and describe examples, which we did; many of which are featured in this book.

As we conducted our research, we also read research by others who identified districts and schools that were producing large improvements in student achievement and also reducing the achievement gap. We reference those studies and citations in the comments below. Finally, in July 2007, we worked with the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis Department in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to run a weeklong conference on “doubling performance.” PowerPoints of the two districts, two high schools, three middle schools, and three elementary schools can be downloaded at http://www.education.wisc.edu/
elpa/conferences/WILA/.

1. RURAL DISTRICTS AND SCHOOLS THAT HAVE DOUBLED PERFORMANCE

This section includes background information on the instructional improvement efforts in Rosalia, a very small rural district in Washington; Abbotsford, a small rural district in northern Wisconsin; and Monroe, a rural district in Wisconsin that doubled performance at the advanced level of achievement.

Rosalia, Washington²

Rosalia School District, a small rural school district with one K–12 school, serves approximately 240 students. The eastern Washington school resides in a small town of less than 1,000 people with a largely agricultural economic base. The highly mobile (30 percent) student population consists of mostly (92 percent) white students, approximately half of whom receive free or reduced-price lunch. In the past five years, the students and school staff have undertaken a successful campaign to improve teaching and learning.

The performance gains the district produced are impressive. From 2001–2005, reading scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) increased from 68 percent to 100 percent of fourth-grade students meeting the standard, and from 32 percent to 94 percent of seventh-grade students meeting the standard. From 2003–2005, tenth-grade students’ reading scores on the WASL increased from 63 percent to 100 percent meeting the standards. Writing scores on the WASL also increased from 2001–2005 with fourth-grade scores starting at 39 percent of students meeting the standard and increasing to 70 percent, seventh-grade scores rising from 55 percent to 67 percent, and tenth-grade scores growing from 58 percent to 79 percent of students meeting the standard. Similarly, over the same five-year period, math scores on the WASL increased from 43 percent to 85 percent in fourth grade, 36 percent to 67 percent in seventh grade, and 58 percent to 74 percent meeting the standard in tenth grade.

Focus on Improving Teaching and Learning

Rosalia school staff committed themselves, in their words, to implement best-practice and research-based strategies. They started by analyzing WASL scores, established a baseline performance level, and used that as a reference point from which to make great progress. For the first few years, they focused on broad areas and then moved to analyzing the data by strands (student, class, etc.). From the test score data, they set high performance goals for math, reading, and writing; they wanted all their students to read and write well and to be able to think analytically. With the help of in-house experts, collaboration time was focused on analyzing the state test scores and setting these high goals.

They also selected new curriculum programs that better matched the state content standards, called the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs), and the corresponding Grade Level Expectations (GLEs). Teachers started talking about the content they were and were not teaching and engaged in a curriculum mapping process. They wanted to make sure they were teaching the curriculum content that was included in the state standards and assessed on the state test; this would constitute what they called “teaching with purpose.” In this process of mapping, they also pulled resources from other districts.

For the first three to four years, the content focus of the improvement effort was reading at the elementary school and then reading in the middle school. After accepting the concept that every teacher is a reading teacher, they incorporated writing into the language arts focus and began to consider every teacher a writing teacher as well. During the most recent years, there has been a strong focus on math with an emphasis on teacher inservice and training. Most students (approximately 90 percent) take algebra by the end of eighth grade, and about 30 percent of students take calculus in twelfth grade. Now, the district is concentrating on improving science instruction.

Rosalia staff also realized that they could make even more progress if they intervened earlier in their students’ lives. They had had a preschool program for 15 years but in the last five years had switched the content of that program to a rigorous kindergarten readiness program. They also targeted the program to children from families with low incomes. It took a couple of years to see results, and now, almost all of the delayed kids have caught up to grade level, and the average kids are up to one to one and a half years ahead when they enter kindergarten. By the end of kindergarten, approximately 95 percent of students can read.

Two big components of Rosalia’s success story, the staff’s investment in professional development and their approach to struggling students, are described in subsequent chapters on those topics: Chapters 5 and 6, respectively.

Cultural Change Supported by Instructional Leadership

Over this period, cultural change drove Rosalia staff and students from a norm of mediocrity to an expectation of excellence. Staff developed a shared mission and vision for themselves and their students that culminated in a living document in which they pledged to partner with parents, provide a safe learning environment, educate all students, and empower them to make correct choices.

As described in the next chapter on the change process, leaders in Rosalia have worked hard to create a culture of instructional improvement at the school. For example, a cultural expectation to increase instructional time permeates the school, and when some teachers consistently finished teaching 10 minutes early, others helped them get better at using every minute of instructional time. Another district might allow some teachers to remain less effective at using instructional time, but at this school, the community collaborates and works toward making everyone stronger.

As a result, teachers have taken more responsibility for student learning. Teachers tell struggling students they have to come in for extra help, which is a cultural shift. Secondary teachers are now consciously teaching students instead of just content, and those adolescents have responded to this caring. Teachers greet every student coming into classrooms, wanting every student to be touched everyday. Students were surprised at first but noticed when a teacher missed connecting with them. The fights, weapons, and drugs that were previously a problem in the school have ceased, and now, students are excelling not only in academics but also in extracurricular activities such as band and Future Farmers of America in which they have won competitions. Rosalia staff created a more academic feel for the students. For example, they mirror a college schedule in the secondary grades with only two semester finals per day and let the students come to classes late.

Summary

Rosalia School District has beaten the odds over the past several years and produced large and impressive gains in student achievement by (1) setting high goals for performance on the state tests, (2) restructuring their school and reallocating resources to fund their new educational strategy, (3) redesigning professional development for staff by providing almost unlimited resources for training and collaboration, and (4) reinforcing achievement for struggling students by identifying struggling students early, reducing reading class sizes in the elementary grades, providing extended-day learning opportunities, and implementing a three-tier intervention model. By implementing these core strategies, Rosalia staff and students successfully changed their culture to embrace and support excellence in teaching and learning. Although this district has made significant, quantum progress, it needs to make even more progress and to show similar improvements in all the core subject areas at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

Abbotsford, Wisconsin³

Abbotsford is a rural, primarily working-class town in central Wisconsin. The main industry in the area is the meatpacking plant, Abby Meats. Since 1991, Abby Meats—like many meatpacking plants in the upper Midwest—has attracted a steadily increasing number of Mexican immigrants to work in its two local factories. This external economic condition has had an impact on the demographics in the school district. Enrolling about 625 students in kindergarten through Grade 12, the district has grown from zero percent to 13 percent Latino in just 15 years. The lower grades of the elementary school indicate an even more rapidly increasing trend of English Language Learner (ELL) students. In 2005, the entering kindergarten was 33 percent Latino, a record for the school that had no ELL or students of color until 1991. Despite this steady increase in Latino students, the school has continued to serve a fairly stable population of low–socioeconomic status (SES) students. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch has been larger than half the school population for several years and in 2006 totaled 62 percent of all students.

The growing population of ELL students and high percentage of low SES students presented challenges to the school system, which underwent significant changes to meet the needs of its students and the requirements of No Child Left Behind. An analysis of test score data indicated that the district’s efforts were successful and had produced a considerable increase in the percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced over the last four years. District scores in reading increased from 78.8 percent to 93.5 percent of students scoring at or above proficient and advanced levels. The percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced in language arts rose from 73 percent to 93.5 percent. In mathematics, the district scores rose from 55 percent to 87.1 percent scoring at proficient and advanced.

Although overall scores have improved, the school has had even greater success with low-income students. The percentage of proficient and advanced students from low-SES backgrounds increased from 31 percent to 82 percent in mathematics and increased in both reading and language arts from 69 percent to 89.5 percent These scores show a significant growth in achievement in both reading and math for those students most at risk and demonstrate the possibility of serving all students well.

This success is largely due to reform efforts at the elementary school, where leaders have ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• 1. Places That Have Doubled Student Performance
• 2. The Stimulus for Change and the Educational Change Process
• 3. Ten Steps to Double Student Performance
• 4. Reducing Class Size
• 5. Finding Resources for Professional Development
• 6. Funding Extra-Help Strategies
• 7. Linking School Finance Adequacy to Doubling Performance
• Links to Web-Based Tools for School Leaders
• References
• Index