A Focused Approach to Learning Will Help All Students Succeed

Student Achievement Best Practices

By Bobby Moore, Senior Director of Effective Practices at Battelle for Kids

The question of how we help students reach their full potential is at the core of our work at Battelle for Kids. Since 2008, we have been studying highly effective teachers and principals in Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas based on value-added data to uncover what they do that makes them so effective and how these lessons can be used to improve the practice of all educators. We also developed SOAR, one of the largest school-improvement collaboratives in the country, to help Ohio districts use value-added analysis to improve teaching and accelerate student progress.

Last month, I wrote a guest blog (Job-Embedded Professional Development Critical for Successful Implementation of the Common Core) about the importance of job-embedded professional development as one of three strategies with the highest impact in accelerating student progress and achievement. The other two were building capacity around formative instructional practices system-wide and adopting a systemic approach to struggling (and advanced) students. Let’s take a deeper look at all three strategies in the context of helping students succeed.

1. Building capacity around formative instructional practices system-wide. The research is clear: formative instructional practices (FIP) are one of the best investments we can make for student learning. Often called formative assessment or assessment for learning, FIP is the formal and informal way that teachers and students gather and respond to evidence of student learning. FIP is about:

• Using clear learning targets;
• Collecting and documenting evidence of student learning;
• Providing effective feedback; and
• Encouraging students to take ownership of their learning.

Battelle for Kids has created online modules and learning resources to help a school or district “FIP their School.”

2. Adopting a systemic approach to struggling (and advanced) students. In an era where teachers are expected to grow students at all skill levels, the old Response to Intervention (RTI) model for responding only to struggling students is quickly becoming obsolete. Schools must develop an RTI model in which teachers respond to students who master material as well as those who need more assistance to grasp the curriculum. As states move to include student growth measures in evaluations, educators who are only good at growing struggling students may not be identified as highly effective.

3. Purposeful collaboration or job-embedded professional development. We know professional development needs to be embedded into each day and throughout the year. However, teachers cannot just be asked to collaborate, collect, and analyze data, or work as a team. There must be a commitment to develop teachers’ skills, structures, and procedures to engage in purposeful collaboration. Educators must learn how to:

• Create collaborative norms;
• Collect and analyze data (value-added analysis, formative and summative assessment information);
•  Challenge each other’s assumptions and mental models;
• Facilitate effective meetings;
• Lead change; and
• Deal with resistance.

When fully developed, these functioning qualities of a high-performing team will have an immediate impact on improving school culture and preparing every child to succeed in college, in their careers, and in life.

Bobby Moore is the Senior Director of Effective Practices at Battelle for Kids, a not-for-profit organization that works with states and school districts and across the country to improve educator effectiveness and accelerate student growth. He can be reached at bmoore@BattelleforKids.org.

Student Achievement through Music

A Post on Student Achievement Best Practices

by Daryl Silberman, Director of Orchestras

West Salem Titans Orchestra

I love to hear the stories from my mom about when she grew up – no TV’s, no cell phones, no computers, not much of anything other than a radio. After school, kids back then maybe had a few activities they could pursue in sports, music or dance. Most kids would come home after school, get their homework done, and then play or help around the house. My mom was raised in a culturally inspired family – she took dance classes and music lessons. She remembers actually having time to practice flute and piano. She took the train into the city (NY) for her dance class once a week.

I compare that schedule to the schedule of my orchestra students – the busiest student of mine has the following activities: Advanced Chamber Orchestra, after school Advanced Symphony Orchestra, Varsity swimming for our high school, club swim team, varsity cross country, Students for Change club, 4 hours a week volunteering at the Salem Hospital, taking 3 AP exams in May, 4.0 GPA and graduating Valedictorian this year. She is the only person I know who can actually fall asleep playing violin, and yet still play all the notes correctly and be counted upon to lead a section. My students on the whole are so much busier than I ever was, and certainly more busy than my mom’s generation.

With all that in mind, I challenge myself to share my passion of music with my students and endeavor to help my students become the best musicians they can be. My goal is that they love music and support the arts (classical and/or string music in particular) for the rest of their lives. So, well beyond my preparation, teaching and grading, I concern myself with introducing them to as many aspects of a musical life that I can. I bring guest conductors into my program often, making sure there is time for the students to ask them questions about how they got to be where they are in life. I bring coaches in to work with my individual sections. I make sure that all students in my program have access (for free or little money) to attend local collegiate and professional symphony orchestra concerts. I also make sure that stringed instrument music is presented in many genres – orchestral, historically informed baroque performance, chamber music, solo recitals, contemporary (rock/jazz/crossover). Students need to know that music happens all around them and that at whatever level they can play it, they are always welcome to love it.

Today is the day after the spring concert for me – we played mainly classical pieces, with the exception of Robert Kerr’s Gathering Storms and a really cool arrangement of Bach Cello Suite I Prelude by “Piano Guys” Stephen Sharp Nelson for 8 cellos – and we will celebrate by playing some electric stringed instruments for the next few days. I have brought in all my electric violins and my electric guitar sound effects pedals – our A wing will be filled with the lovely sounds of experimenting stringed instruments for the rest of the week. All in the name of keeping strings relevant in the 21st century.

Daryl Silberman has been the director of orchestras at West Salem High School in Salem, OR since August 2007. Under her leadership, the orchestra has traveled to Chicago and Boston with Heritage Festivals, hosted the Salem-Keizer District Orchestra festival annually, and her Chamber Orchestra has qualified and performed at the OSAA State Orchestra festival annually (placing 1st in 2011). She came to public school teaching after a successful career as a freelancer for years.

We can't, and it's the hardest part.

Check in at the webinar’s page for Autism Training Solutions free webinar, “Training Educators to Do Behavior Assessments” on February 29!

It’s me, Jared Heath, again. There’s something you’ve got to know about School Improvement Network and February’s free PD theme, “Behavior and Classroom Management: Make It Work, Make It Last.” To put it simply, we can’t change student behavior. Here's why.

I know we’ve talked a lot about the great advances students have made when teachers use PD 360. I’ve written about it in many places, and I’m proud to work for this company because of it. But whether we’re talking about student behavior, differentiated education, or test scores, it really isn’t PD 360 or School Improvement Network making those changes.

I used to think it was teachers who made the difference. But that’s not really true, either. Is it? And teaching something that you know is so important and watching the concepts and principles bounce right off their heads is the hardest part of teaching that I can fathom.

When I taught, I took too much credit.

I taught ESL classes, and my students were from all over the world. In one class, I had students from Brazil, Japan, China (Cantonese speaking), Taiwan, and several Central American countries. Having been conversational in German, French, Chinese, and Spanish at various points of my life, I understood the frustrations of learning a new language, and as a student of the English language and English literature, I also understood the capricious nature of my native language. I was armed and ready to help these students learn English.

And they did. I was recognized early on for the advances that my students made. I didn’t understand then what that truly meant—I was recognized for the advances that my students made. Now as I look back, I see that any other organization would have had those 20 – 30 students howling for my blood as I received recognition for their accomplishments.

When I didn’t do well in school as a youngster, I also had a bad habit of giving teachers too much credit—it was somehow their fault when I didn’t perform as well as I wanted to.

The truth is that education belongs to the student. As teachers, we are facilitators. As a company, School Improvement Network is a supporter. But the only person who can decide what to do with the training given to her is the little girl with her new pink backpack and her open mind.

February’s free PD theme on schoolimprovement.com is built to help you give students what they need. Many of our students need the right tools to start building better behavior, and it is up to us to provide those tools. But if you will allow me to wax optimistic and don my rose-colored glasses, I feel that we need to believe in kids just a little more and give them a bit more credit.

I would never diminish our roles as educators. I simply discovered as I reflected on my time as a teacher that the more my students knew that I believed in them, the more they learned. And perhaps they even became so much more, because they believed in themselves, too.

What experiences do you have where your students felt empowered? Have you had experiences where the message didn’t get through, or worse, it blew up in your face?

Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Check in at the webinar’s page for Autism Training Solutions free webinar, “Training Educators to Do Teacher Evaluations” on February 29!

Teaching: Positive vs Negative Reinforcement

We have a guest post from our friends at Core Essentials about effective teaching strategies!

Reinforcement has been used to help strengthen and increase the probability of a specific response for decades. The use of reinforcement procedures can be used with both typical and atypical developing children as well as students with different psychological disorders. There are two types of reinforcement: positive and negative. However, many teachers find it difficult to distinguish between the two. When it comes to teaching a class full of students, you will find that a combination between positive and negative reinforcement will work best. 

 Positive Reinforcement

 Positive reinforcement is a very powerful and effective tool to help mold and change behavior. It works by praising and rewarding desired behavior, which then makes the behavior more likely to happen in the future. The following are some ways to make positive reinforcement work best in a teaching environment.

• Targeted praise: Students and children in general respond more positively to praise, more specifically targeted praise. For example, saying “April, you did a great job on your essay” will be more effective than saying “good job class.”
• Specific timing: In addition to making the positive reinforcement more specific, timing is also important. For instance, if a student only answers a question partially then total positive reinforcement isn’t necessary. Only after the student has done the desired behavior should heaping praise be given.
• Reward irregularly: Rewards are much more effective when they are used sparingly. This will also help improve overall student behavior, because rewards could be given at any moment and not just on certain days at a certain time.

 Negative Reinforcement

For most people, the term “negative reinforcement” gets easily mistaken for punishment, which is not the case. With negative reinforcement, you are increasing a behavior, whereas with punishment, you are decreasing a behavior. Negative reinforcement can also be thought of as when a negative or unwanted behavior is stopped or avoided due to removal of a certain stimulus/item after the behavior is exhibited. That way the likelihood of the positive behavior occurring again will be increased and coupled with a positive direction.

 For example, if you have a student that forgets to turn in homework, then they will receive negative reinforcement by getting a bad grade; therefore that behavior turns into an unwanted behavior for the student. If the student turns homework in and is met with a positive reaction, then that is negative reinforcement and the student will be likely to turn homework in because of the positive response.

 The use of positive and negative reinforcement is a continual balancing act that is never quite perfect. However, as a teacher, it is your responsibility to continue working towards achieving a balanced discipline and reward plan that works best for you and your students.

 This article was written by Core Essentials, a values education program, designed for grades K-5, that provides affordable, simple, and downloadable tools allowing schools to quickly incorporate values education into their curriculum. Our program encourages individual classrooms, the entire school, and every family to emphasize the values they learn each month.