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
Success Stories
Story posted July, 2008
Results:
• In 2005, 89% of students passed the Massachusetts math exam, up from less than 50% in 1999
• Now ranked in top 5% of Boston public schools on reading and math scores
In 1999, shortly before principal Mary Russo arrived at the Richard J. Murphy K-8 School in Dorchester, Mass., more than half the students failed the state math exam. Russo's mandate was to boost student achievement. To do so, she focused on establishing collaborative professional development practices that would help teachers learn from each other and work toward a common goal. With better instruction, she reasoned, those test scores would go up.
Teachers at Murphy now spend three times as many hours on professional development as the district requires. Every public school teacher in Massachusetts must ...
Working and Learning Together as a Team
Story posted July, 2008
Results:
• 90% of students passed the end-of-course test in Algebra II in 2007, up from 25% in 1998
• Narrowing the achievement gap - 84% of black and 85% of white students passed Algebra I in 2007
Granby High School is a large, urban, and diverse high school in Norfolk, Virginia, serving over 2,200 students, nearly half of whom are considered economically disadvantaged. Here students are enrolled in and passing high-level math classes including Calculus and Statistics. However, 10 years ago, few Granby students were taking advanced math courses, and of those who did, few passed. The school was described as "a high school in distress with low academic achievement and a high incidence of behavioral problems." Granby needed a change. School leaders recognized the need to push all of their students to reach higher levels in math, not only to be successful in postsecondary education, but to prepare for career opportunities as well. ...
Story posted June, 2008. Results updated February 28, 2012.
Results:
• In 2011, the percentage of Cashman students meeting or exceeding state standards was higher than the state average on both reading and math tests in grades 6, 7 and 8,* despite Cashman serving a significantly more disadvantaged population than the state as a whole
School improvement demands focus. Staff members at James Cashman Middle School in Las Vegas (where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch) believe that student achievement comes from challenging every student and ensuring that no student is overlooked.
Adopting this belief couldn't have come at a better time for the school. Cashman's students were struggling. The school was in the third year of school improvement, about to be taken over by the state. Teachers had been trained in a myriad of improvement programs, yet progress was excruciatingly slow. ...
Helping Students Demonstrate Their Math Knowledge
Story posted June, 2008
Results:
• 70% of students scored in the top levels of the MCAS in 2007, up from 35% in 2004
• 91% of 10th graders passed the math portion of the MCAS in 2007
• 83% graduation rate in 2007, with 89% graduation rate for both black and Hispanic students
Fenway High has a unique history. It was founded in 1983 as a program for students in at-risk situations who were failing in the more traditional high schools. Fenway became a pilot school in 1995 and is now open to all students, serving a diverse population that is 44% African-American, 36% Hispanic, and 15% Caucasian, with 46% receiving free or reduced lunch.
Fenway has an innovative approach to student learning, most notably in math, and has seen significant improvement in test scores over the past few years. Fenway's principal and math chair both agree that their continuous improvement in mathematics is supported by three key elements: ...
Using Electives to Get Struggling Students More Math
Story posted April, 2008
Results:
• Participants math benchmark assessment scores improved by 17% from 2004 to 2005 and 9% from 2005-2006
• Math Essentials students on average outperformed grade-level students as a whole on the first two benchmark assessments of 2006-2007
The high schools in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District had a problem. Some students were scoring below proficiency on their 8th grade standardized tests. Fueled by the conviction that all students can learn, and that high school is not too late to turn students' lives around, the district tried many strategies to address this challenge: It pulled students out of their grade level courses, subjected them to a computer-based intervention, and stretched a semester's worth of content into a year of instruction. Yet student performance data from these intervention programs showed no effect or, in some cases, even negative effects on student achievement. ...
"A Place for Everyone": Frankford Elementary
Story posted January, 2008. Results updated August 3, 2009.
Results:
• On average, 90% of students in grades 2-5 met or exceeded State Standards in reading and math on Delaware’s annual assessment (DSTP) in 2009
• 2009 performance highlights include 97% of 3rd graders and 94% of 4th graders passing the DSTP math test 
(compared to 79% and 77%, respectively, for the state as a whole)
The Frankford Elementary School motto is "A Place for Everyone." And, over the years, the school has proven that everyone can succeed if provided with individualized attention to meet specific learning needs.
Frankford Elementary sits in a small, rural community just ten miles from Bethany Beach, a summer vacation resort. Despite the school's proximity to expensive beach homes, most of the school's students come from low-income households. Seventy-eight percent of Frankford students qualify for free or reduced lunches. The student body is 43% Hispanic, 29% White and 26% African American. ...
Personalization Leads to Success in Port Chester
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Students now score on a par with wealthier neighbors on state assessments in English, and exceed them slightly in math
Surrounded by its much wealthier Westchester County neighbors, Port Chester, NY is a lower middle-class island in a privileged sea. Its middle school is home to about 800 students in grades six through eight. Latino students make up 68% of population, while African Americans and Whites make up 11% and 21% respectively. Sixty-five percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. But close attention to the needs of each individual student helps Port Chester Middle School keep pace with the county's wealthiest schools. ...
Arts Integrated Curriculum Helps Students Overcome Challenges of Poverty
Story posted January, 2008
Results updated December, 2011
Results:
• In 2010, the school outperformed the state in every test at every grade level, despite serving a significantly higher percentage of students in poverty overall (74% compared to 30%)
• 100% of fourth grade students met proficiency scores in science and math in 2010
Woodrow Wilson is a pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school located in Union City, New Jersey. One of the most densely populated cities in the United States, Union City has a large immigrant population-90 percent of the students are Hispanic-and high rates of poverty. In fact, the city has the lowest median family income in the state, and 84 percent of the school's population is eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch. ...
Goals 2000 and Beyond: Helping ELL Students Succeed
Story posted December, 2007
Results:
• Even the district's lowest-performing school gained nearly 248 points in California's academic performance index between 1999 and 2005
Given that the majority of their students were English language learners from low-income homes, teachers in the Livingston Union School District thought they "weren't doing so badly," Superintendent Henry M. Escobar recalls. But when they saw their results on California's first annual academic performance index in 1999 -"absolutely dismal," Escobar says, and among the state's lowest - they knew things had to change. District leaders believed that to narrow the gaps in student achievement, they had to change the culture in their schools. The key to doing that, they argued, was recognizing that teachers would need extra support to help their predominately poor, Hispanic students reach high expectations. "Our teachers are the heart of our program," Escobar says. ...
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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!
