A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
Data Driven Instruction
Blog Entries
When Daniel P. King came to the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district in 2007, the district’s dropout rate was double the Texas state average. Now, it is half the state average.
How did the district do it? Dr. King and his colleagues created a College, Career and Technology Academy to steer dropouts--some as old as 25--back onto a path towards graduation. Not only do those students gain the skills and course credits they need to graduate, they also gain college credit along the way. (See a story about the Academy in our success stories section).
King recently spoke with us about the district’s remarkable success.
Public School Insights: What prompted you to create the College, Career & Technology Academy in the first place?
King: I was entering new into the district. I was moving from a small district to a large district, and I was overwhelmed when I saw that the district had a dropout rate that was twice the state average. The prior year had seen approximately 500 dropouts.
When I asked for an analysis of the 500 dropouts from the previous year I found that not only was there the typical freshman bubble (where students don't make it past the ninth grade, get stuck there and ultimately drop out), but there was [also] a relatively new phenomenon that I call the “twelfth grade bubble, ” [caused by] exit testing and rising standards.
In a small district I had dealt with [the dropout problem] very successfully, simply through ...
While the national debate rages over the benefits of early childhood education, an innovative, district-wide early childhood education initiative is bearing fruit in Bremerton, Washington. Since the initiative's founding, the percentage of Bremerton children entering Kindergarten knowing their letters has shot from 4% to over 50%. The percentage of Kindergarteners needing specialized education services has plummeted from 12% to 2%. And the share of first graders reading on grade level has risen from 52% to 73%.
Last week, I spoke with a woman at the center of the program: Linda Sullivan-Dudzic, the district's Director of Special programs. She described some keys to the program's success. The district:
- Aligns existing school and community resources
- Raises the quality of existing preschools rather than creating new ones
- Focuses on literacy and numeracy
- Heeds the research, and
- Holds all providers to high standards of quality
Read extensive highlights from our interview with Sullivan-Dudzic:
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: What are the major goals of Early Childhood Care and Education Group, and what do you believe you've accomplished in striving towards those goals?
SULLIVAN-DUDZIC: We have two goals. [The first is] to increase the number of children entering kindergarten with early literacy skills--and now we've added early math foundation skills. And the second goal is to decrease the number of children, students, with learning disabilities or learning differences associated with reading.
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: And do you feel like you've made headway in reaching your goals?
SULLIVAN-DUDZIC: Yes. In literacy definitely. We're just starting in math. We have decreasing numbers of kids qualifying as learning disabled, and we have increasing numbers of kids entering kindergarten with early reading foundation skills.
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: So you have all kinds of community partners?
SULLIVAN-DUDZIC: Sure. I started 29 years ago with Head Start, as a ...
Grover (Russ) Whitehurst was the founding director of the Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences. He currently directs the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy.
On June 4th, we praised him for questioning some education reformers' blind approval of innovation for innovation’s sake. (See his compelling essay, “Innovation, Motherhood and Apple Pie.”)
Whitehurst recently joined us by telephone to describe his concerns in greater detail.
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: Thanks for joining us.
WHITEHURST: I'm pleased to be here.
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: Let me begin with an incantation that I think you wrote. It runs, "Full moon and candles/magic times three/we summon the power of innovation/to be.” Can you explain that?
WHITEHURST: As I have talked to people in education about innovation, which seems to be the new buzzword, I have with some frequency asked them to give me an example of what they mean: an innovation that they t
hink is on the horizon that is going to transform the delivery of education in this country. The typical response is, we don't know what that would be.
So it seems to me that in many cases innovation is being invoked almost as if it is magic. We don't know exactly what it is and we don't know what it looks like, but if we could only release it, it would fix all of our problems.
What I was trying to convey is that we should not believe, as adults, in Santa Claus or magic to solve our problems. If we're thinking about innovation, we need to get serious about what it is, what types we're interested in, and how we expect to use processes of innovation to advance education.
PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: This gets to your definition of innovation….
WHITEHURST: First, I think it's important to note that innovation is just introducing something new, and you hope it's going to make things better. So much of what any organization does as it tries to solve problems falls under the general category of innovation.
Within that broad category, it is important to differentiate innovations that work from those that don't—effective versus ineffective innovations. If an innovation is the introduction of something new with the intent to be useful -- reality and intent are often two different things -- we need procedures and processes in place to carefully evaluate innovations so that we can tell the difference between those that are actually improving the state affairs versus those that are just a hope and a wish. ...
This cloak-and-dagger headline from Sunday’s Columbus Dispatch appears above an unexpectedly tame--though heartening--story about innovative teacher professional development in Ohio.
Apparently, some Ohio districts are using “value-added analysis” of student achievement data to guide school improvement and professional development efforts. The data allow teachers to estimate their impact on students’ academic progress from one year to the next. Teachers and principals can use these data to improve individual teachers’ practice.
The scores are “secret,” because neither the state nor Battelle for Kids, the private non-profit that supplies the teacher-specific data, are authorized to make them public. Administrators may not use the data to fire teachers. They do use them, however, to determine what teachers can do to improve their ...
The New York Times reports this morning that the Broad Foundation will fund a $44 million "Education Innovation Laboratory" to foster rigorous research and development in education. The initiative will first focus on--surprise!--incentive programs, such as paying students for high test scores. (Apparently, the cash-for-scores scheme hasn't worked out all that well so far.)
Here's hoping that the Innovation Laboratory also gets around to research on building schools' capacity to improve instruction.
The Forum for Education and Democracy has some ideas on this score. ...
Success Stories
Fremont County School District's 180 Degree Turnaround
Story posted March 26, 2013
Results:
- In 2012 the district made AYP for the first time
- During the first four months of the 2012-2013 school year, multiple grades in the elementary and middle schools have seen 7 months to 19 months growth in student learning
Fremont County School District #38 is located on the Wind River Indian Reservation. 98% of 440 students are members of the Arapaho Tribe.
CHALLENGE
For many years, the students of Fremont County School District #38 were far behind in their reading, writing, science, and math skills and abilities. Students often transferred from one grade to the next, several grade levels behind where data-driven norms suggested that they be. In addition, frequent changes in district leadership meant no sustained systematic approach to addressing achievement by school leaders. Teachers were left to do what they could on their own and students suffered from years of systems' breakdowns. One of the many negative results of the disorganization plaguing the district was that Fremont #38 was continually unable to meet the Annual Yearly Progress goals set by the state under the No Child Left Behind legislation. The lack of strong systems and ...
North Carolina Educators Nationally Recognized for School Reform Efforts
Story posted March 26, 2013
Results:
- Over the past two years, Oak Hill has raised its composite score (which combines the results from third- fourth- and fifth-grade reading and math exams, plus fifth-grade science) by nearly 25 percent
- The percentage students meeting proficiency in math rose from 55 to 86 and in reading from 33 to nearly 50
- 85 percent of students are proficient in science, surpassing the state average by ten points
- Named a North Carolina 2012 Title I School of the Year
The hard work and dedication of educators and school leaders at Oak Hill Elementary School in High Point, N.C. has received much-deserved recognition for its school reform efforts.
Closing its achievement gaps between students by significant margins has earned Oak Hill North Carolina’s Title I School of the Year award by the state’s Title I Distinguished Schools Recognition program. This honor comes with a $32,500 award and national recognition at a conference in Nashville, Tenn.
Educators shared with conference goers the growth Oak Hill has experienced in the areas of data-based instruction, standards-based planning, school culture, and areas in need of ...
Viers Mill Elementary School: Success for the Long Haul
Story posted November 9, 2009. Results updated February 27, 2013. Note: You can read more about Viers Mill at http://www.learningfirst.org/collaboration-viers-mill.
Results:
- In 2012, over 95% of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students met proficiency standards on state reading tests
- In 2012, over 98% of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students met proficiency standards on state math tests
- In all instances, the school outperformed the state despite serving a higher percentange of students in poverty
If you're looking for a Cinderella story, get to know the people at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland:
One of the [paraeducators] who had been here a long time said, "you know, they used to call this place 'slumville.'" Now, she says "the President's visiting here...." He came to our school for the work we did. He didn't just happen to show up.... It was the apotheosis of my entire career.... The President of the United States--the President of the United states!--is in our cafeteria...because of the work that went on in this building....
That's Susan Freiman, Viers Mill's staff development teacher, describing President Obama's surprise visit to the school last month. She worked hard with her colleagues to turn the once struggling elementary school into a national exemplar where almost every student is proficient on state tests. That is no mean feat for a school where most students are from low-income families and ...
Story posted December 17, 2012.
Results:
- Six years ago, the school—which enrolls 475 students in grades 6–8, 69% of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch—was one of the lowest performing middle schools in Kentucky; today the students outperform 90% of the students in the state.
- West Carter has met AYP the last three years; continued overall growth; and as of 2010, ranked in the top 10% of the 327 middle schools in Kentucky.
No student has been retained at West Carter Middle School in Olive Hill, KY, in the last five years. Staff members proudly point to that fact as evidence that their decision to not permit zeros is working. That’s a bit misleading, because coupled with the no-zero policy were a number of programmatic initiatives and supports that allowed all students to meet state standards and demonstrate significant academic growth. Six years ago, the school—which enrolls 475 students in grades 6–8, 69% of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch—was one of the lowest performing middle schools in Kentucky; today the students outperform 90% of the students in the state. ...
A "Beacon of Light": Baldwin Academy
Story posted December, 2007. Results updated October 23, 2012.
Results:
Outperforms state averages in all subjects across all grade levels, despite serving a higher percentage of low-income students.- Baldwin's school rating based on state test scores rose from 493 in 1999 to 858 in 2012 (the statewide goal is 800)
- Standardized test scores continue to improve - for example, from 2011 to 2012, 5th grade ELA proficiency rates increased from 49% to 69%; science rates increased 56% to 78% and math rates increased from 67% to 91%.
Baldwin Academy Principal Bonnie Wilson refers to her school as a "beacon of light" for the surrounding community in the San Gabriel Valley of California. Today, Baldwin's light is shining brighter than ever thanks to a high level of support for staff, plus extensive collaboration among teachers at all levels. ...
SIGN UP
Sign up for our e-newsletter on public school success.
A VISION FOR GREAT SCHOOLS
On this website, educators, parents and policymakers from coast to coast are sharing what's already working in public schools--and sparking a national conversation about how to make it work for children in every school. Join the conversation!
