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AUTHOR Gordon, David T., Editor TITLE Harvard Education Letter, 2002. INSTITUTION Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Graduate School of Education ISSN ISSN-8755-3716 PUB DATE 2002-00-00 NOTE 50p.; Published bimonthly. For the 2001 issues, see ED 459 920. AVAILABLE FROM Harvard Education Letter, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 8 Story Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138- 3752 ($38 for individuals; $49 for institutions; $52 for Canada/Mexico; $63 other foreign; single copies, $7). Tel: 800-513-0763 (Toll Free); Tel: 617-495-3432; Fax: 617 -496- 3584; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.edletter.org. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Harvard Education Letter; v18 n1-6 EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Educational Improvement; Educational Technology; *Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; High Stakes Tests; Information Technology; *Public Schools; Refugees; Second Language Instruction; Standardized Tests.; Teacher Certification; *Teacher Improvement; Trust (Psychology); Urban Schools IDENTIFIERS Japan

ABSTRACT This document is comprised of the 6 issues in volume 18 of the Harvard Education Letter, a bimonthly newsletter addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in this volume include the following:(1) January/February--"Curriculum Access in the Digital Age" (David T. Gordon) and "Using Charters To Improve Urban Schools" (Karen Kelly);(2) March/April--"Putting National Board Certification to the Test" (David T. Gordon) and . "Teacher Excellence: Improving the Conversation," an interview of Ann E. Harman of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards;(3) May/June--"Preparing for the Coming Avalanche of Accountability Tests" (W. James Popham) and "Lesson Study: Can Japanese Methods Translate to U.S. Schools?" (Karen Kelly);(4) July/August--"Fuel for Reform: The Importance of Trust in Changing Schools" (David T. Gordon) and "'Wide Open and Welcoming': How Trust Helped Transform a Small Chicago School" (David T. Gordon);(5) September/October--"Why Save Public Education?" (Deborah Meier) and "How Schools Can Help Refugee Students" (Shaun Sutner); and (6) November/December--"Beefing Up Professional Development" (Alexander Russo) and "Canadian Second-Language Immersion: What It Does--and Doesn't--Suggest for American ESL Students" (Karen Kelly). Regular features of the newsletter include editorial statements and summaries of recent research. (EV)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Harvard Education Letter, 2002

Volume 18, Number 1-6, 2002

David T. Gordon, Editor

Harvard Graduate School of Education Harvard University

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2002

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS This document has been reproduced as BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Lo,.Ara_ 010,0

Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 January /February 2002 YE RI TAS . I .1 ** Volume18,Number I

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I INSIDE

Making the Most of What's Available Resources for helping stu- dents with special needs. 3 Challenges Facing Curriculum Access in the Digital Age Publishers New technology-based strategies offer hope that students of all abilities When will the law catch up will have the opportunity to thrive in school to technology?

By David T Gordon 4 Using Charters to irn a school north of Boston, a dozen 7th graders are discuss the book with their teacher; they do this about Improve Urban Schools enjoying a novel experience. They are reading a book once every two weeks. Creative university programs om the district's required reading list, the same Thinking Reader employs elements of "reciprocal aim to boost minority book that their peers have been assigned. Hatchet, written teaching:' an instructional method for teaching reading achievement. by Newberyaward winner Gary Paulsen, is an adventure comprehension developed by reading specialists An- 5 story about a young man's two-month survival in the nemarie Palincsar and Ann Brown in the 1980s. The idea Canadian wilderness following a plane crash. Most of the is to get students to be active readers using a four-part insights students have learning disabilities, so they relate well to strategy: formulate questions, summarize, clarify, and Limits of"Change" Brian, the protagonist, because they predict. In one-on-one or group Schools do a great job of too have felt lost in the woods sessions, teachers and students take fiddling with organizational turns leading a discussion about structure. But that's not the when trying to read books written If we don't accommodate for kids their age. the text. Although the method takes same as making genuine They sit at computers, each different abilities and both teachers and students consid- improvements, writes wearing headphones, and read a erable time to master, research Harvard's Richard F. Elmore learning styles, can we digital text of Hatchet using a pro- shows that it can lead to dramatic 8 gram called Thinking Reader. For really say all students have improvement in the performance some, the computer simultaneously of poor readers. highlights each word on the screen equal access to the Still, it's labor intensive for and reads it aloud. Students who curriculum? teachers, and students in a tradi- Please visit our website: don't understand a particular word tional reading class can get inad- www.edletter.org can get a definition with a click of vertently left out of the discussions, the mouse. especially in a large class. Technol- Currently on the web: Occasionally, a cartoon genie appears on screen and ogy makes it possible for each student to directly engage The Research Feature prompts them to stop and think more deeply about the the text through prompts embedded in the story itself and This month's focus is on expanding opportunities for text. It may ask them to summarize what they've read, various decoding supportssupplemented, of course, by special needs students, with predict what happens next, formulate the kinds of ques- interactions with the teacher, who spends his classroom online links and other tions teachers might ask, and seek to clarify confusing time monitoring student progress and providing targeted resources. passages. If they forget what those strategies entail, the guidance to individual students. The Forum Feature genie offers hints. The students type their responses into a Activist Ron Unz and Harvard box at the bottom of the screena journal that will later New Expectations scholar Catherine Snow help them and their teacher assess their progress. The Why is access to age-appropriate books from the general square off in a spirited debate about bilingual education. teacher moves among the children, answering questions curriculum so important? For one thing, researchers say, the genie can't and prompting them furtherto be more such books are interesting to students and relevant to Also visit our past research features, including those on specific in their responses, perhaps, or to consider another their lives, a key to motivation. Also, those who are ex- civic education, sexual- point of view. The class will eventually gather off-line to cluded from the general curriculum because of disabili- minority students, and violence prevention. 3 ties have less in common with their peers, doesn't just say every child needs to do prehension? a blow to self-esteem. Then there's the welleveryone agrees with thatbut Most schools can't accommodate law. Under the 1997 Individuals with Dis- that we need to broaden our thinking multiple learning styles because they rely abilities Education Act (IDEA) reautho- about what success is and how we meas- almost exclusively on print media. Writ- rization, special education students must ure it." ing in the Journal of Special Education Harvard be given a fair opportunity to learn what Technology, Rose explains: "Print pres- Education Letter their mainstream peers do in the general Brain Networks ents information one way for everyone, EDITOR David T. Gordon curriculum. Schools are expected to ac- In their writings, Meyer and Rose point to yet students' varied learning needs and

PRODUCTION EDITOR commodate students' individual needs so recent brain research to bolster their argu- styles call for alternative formats. For ex- Dody Riggs that they can progress at a pace that is ment for multiple approaches to teaching ample, a bright student with dyslexia may ASSISTANT EDITOR Michael Sadowski cognitively challenging to them. Also, and learning. They note that neurologists be capable of understanding history and

MARKETING many state standards ask schools to im- such as Richard Cytowic have identified science concepts, but his inability to de- Karen Walsh prove learning outcomes for all students, three distinct but interrelated brain net- code words prevents him from learning FACULTY EDITOR Richard F. Elmore including those with special needs. To ac- works at work in every learner. Glucose these concepts from printed books. A stu- INTERN complish this, such students need fresh the sugar that fuels the brainburns at dent with a visual impairment who cannot Rachel Parkin methods of engaging and responding to varying intensity in the front, middle, and see standard-sized text is excluded from EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Katherine C. Boles, Lecturer, the curriculum. back of the brain, depending on which examining the concepts that are cogni- HGSE; Laura A. Cooper,Asst. Superintendent, Evanston Township Even before the 1997 IDEA amend- system is being taxed the most. The tively accessible to her." (IL) High School; Unda Darling. Hammond, Professor, Stanford ments, researchers at the Center for Ap- recognition network identifies certain pat- Because the words of a traditional University Sally Dias, Superinten- plied Special Technology (CAST) terns (letters, words, sounds, objects, etc.), book are fixed on the page, they cannot dent,Watertown (MA) Public Schools; Harold Howe II, Lecturer where Thinking Reader was developed the strategic network generates patterns be easily adapted for use by students who Emeritus, HGSE; Susan Moore Johnson, Professor, HGSE; Robert anticipated this change in thinking. Co- can't otherwise read them. Digital text is Kegan, Professor, HGSE; Peggy founders Anne Meyer and David Rose far more flexible and, with the right com- Kemp, Office of School Partner- ships, HGSE; Marya Levenson, started CAST in 1984 to explore the use puter programs, can give students access Director,Teacher Education, Bran- deis University; Deborah Meier, of technology for students with disabili- UDL can be daunting to materials that otherwise would require Principal, Mission Hill School, ties. By the early 1990s, they realized Boston, MA; John Merrow, Presi- expensive and time-consuming adapta- dent,The Merrow Report:Jerome that, rather than using technology to help because it requires us to tions. For example, to aid a student with T. Murphy, Professor, HGSE; Milli Pierce, Director, Principals' Center, students work with inaccessible materials low vision, a teacher could spend hours HGSE;Arthur J. Rosenthal Publish- broaden our thinking about ing Consultant; Catherine Snow, (such as books), the materials themselves, making large-sized photocopies of text- Professor, HGSE; Jay Sugarman, as well as the curricula they supported, book pages. With digital text, the student Teacher, Runkle School, Brookline, what success is and how to MA;AriadneValsamis, Director of had to be reconsidered. could simply increase the font size to suit Project Development, HGSE Meyer and Rose began using the measure it, says Rose. her need or use the text-to-speech func- Harvard Education Letter (ISSN 8755-3716) is published bimonthly name Universal Design for Learning tion to listen to the text being read. by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 8 Story Street, 5th (UDL) to describe their work. The term floor. Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. universal design comes from the fields of Promising Results Second-class postage paid at Boston, MA, and additional mailing architecture and product design, where it such as plans and actions (spelling CAST recently wrapped up an evaluation offices. Postmaster: Send address change(s) to Harvard Education refers to built-in accommodations such as words, playing a trumpet, solving an alge- of Thinking Reader funded by the U.S. Letter, B Story Street, 5th floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. ramps, sidewalk curb-cuts, and automatic bra problem in sequential steps), and the Department of Education's Office of Spe-

Signed articles in the Harvard doors that benefit users of all abilities. affective system produces a feeling re- cial Education Programs. More than a Education Letter represent the The CAST team began thinking about sponse to those patterns (pleasure at hear- hundred students reading in the lower views of the authors.

©2002 by the President and K-12 curricula in a similar way. In any ing a tuba, boredom in writing essays, ex- 25th percentile read books like Hatchet Fellows of Harvard College. classroom, the abilities and learning styles citement about a novel) and therefore has and Yoko Kawashima Watkins' So Far Published as a non-profit service. All rights reserved. Special permis- of students can vary widely. If such differ- a lot to do with stoking or dampening From the Bamboo Grove. Sixty-three read sion is required to reproduce in any manner, in whole or in part, ences are not considered and accommo- motivation. a digital version on computer while a the material herein contained. dated, can we really say all students have Because of this, write Meyer and control group of 39 used traditional books HOW TO SUBSCRIBE equal access to the curriculum? Thus the Send $34 for individuals, $44 for Rose, a particular lesson or classroom and engaged in regular small-group and institutions ($46 for Canada/Mex- idea of UDL began to take shape, a model task will challenge students in different class discussions using reciprocal teach- ico, $56 other foreign, in U.S. funds only) to Harvard Education Letter. in which the diverse needs and abilities of ways. If, for example, a group reading as- ing. All 102 students took the Gates Mac- Subscription prices subject to change without notice. Single students are met by providing them with a signment aims to improve comprehension Ginitie reading assessmenta paper-and- copies, $7.00. Back issues and bulk variety of ways to learn what they need to skills (the strategic system), what happens pencil standardized testbefore and after subscriptions available at special reduced rates. know, demonstrate that understanding, to the student with low vision who wears the seven-month instructional period. and be assessed. herself out just trying to decipher the The results were promising, says Address all correspondence to Harvard Education Letter, "UDL expands the number of oppor- words on the page (the recognition sys- CAST's chief education officer Bridget 8 Story Street, 5th floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752; tunities kids have to succeed:' says Rose, tem)? She gets discouraged and certainly Dalton. After controlling for gender and phone 617-495-3432 in Massa- who also teaches in the Technology in can't benefit from the lesson on compre- pretest reading scores, those who used chusetts, 800-513-0763 outside Massachusetts; fax 617-496-3584; Education Program at the Harvard Gradu- hension strategies. Why not provide addi- Thinking Reader gained, on average, ap- entail: [email protected]& web: vAmedletter.org. ate School of Education. "It can be a tional help decoding, at least for the proximately a half-year in grade level in daunting prospect for schools because it moment, so she too can focus on corn- reading comprehension; those in the con-

Harvard Education LetterJanuary/February 2002 4 trol group averaged only slight gains. The terparts, some of whom could drift out of been shut out of reading engaging litera- half-year improvement was a notable group conversations or get distracted by ture because of their reading difficulties," achievement for kids whose reading in other struggling readers. Says Dalton: says Dalton. "Access to good, age-appro- the past had not improved very much "Students who were on the computer priate books helped them buy into the from year to year. managed to stay glued to the text for long work of reading and responding." Beyond the standardized test, other as- stretches. Some of them had never CAST researchers are reluctant to sessments revealed some advantages of demonstrated such concentration before." draw too many conclusions from this ini- Thinking Reader. Measurements of "time Interviews with students and class- tial study. Indeed, like a lot of education on task" showed that students using tradi- room observations suggest that Thinking research, it may raise more questions than tional texts were more likely to lose their Reader gave students a sense that they it answers. For instance, why did some focus and become distracted. Those using were in charge of the learning process and children make little progress using Think- Thinking Reader did not get as much understood what strategies could help ing Reader? Was technology in their par- time in group discussion as those in tradi- them make sense of their reading. Inter- ticular cases actually a hindrance? And tional reading classes, but they did have views also suggested that reading the why did some students make dramatically more opportunity to dig into the text and same books as their peers both encour- more progress using the computer than try to make meaning of it than their coun- aged and motivated them. "So many have the group's average gain? Also, why did

Making the Most of What's Available

Although the name Universal Design for Learning Bookshare.org, a project of the nonprofit organization (UDL) was coined at CAST, researchers there are Benetech, aims to provide an online archive of books for those just some among many who are working on ways to with visual impairments and other "print" disabilities. The make curriculum materials, tools, and activities more accessi- archive will be created in part by school practitioners sharing ble for students of all abilities. One organization that has em- scanned-in material. It is scheduled to launch in February 2002. braced the ideas behind UDL is the Education Development Website: www.bookshare.org Center (EDC), a Massachusetts-based curriculum developer The Council for Exceptional Children is a professional devel- and education consultancy. opment and advocacy organization dedicated to improving edu- For example, EDC researcher Bob Follansbee recently cation for students of all abilities, including those with disabili- developed Draft:Builder, a software program designed to ties. It's also a great information resource and runs the federally help middle school students learn the skills that are needed to sponsored ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Edu- write effective essays and research papers. The tool, pub- cation (http://ericec.org). Contact: 1110 N. Glebe Rd., Suite lished by Don Johnston, Inc., includes a variety of features 300, Arlington, VA 22201; 703-620-3660; fax: 703-264-9494; such as talking spell-checkers, variable fonts, and visual TTY: 703- 264-9446; email: [email protected]; website: models for effective outlining. www.cec.sped.org While many EDC projects center on developing technol- Education Development Center, Inc., devoted the summer ogy-based solutions, researchers there also recognize that 2000 issue of its journal Mosaic to inclusive practices including some schools may not have state-of-the-art resources or may UDL. It can be viewed on the web at www.edc.org/spotlight/ have already invested in "inflexible" textbooks and curricu- mosformat/spec_ed/intro.htm. Contact: 55 Chapel St., New- lum materials. With creativity and persistence, they can still ton, MA 02458-1060; 617-969-7100; website: www.edc.org make their classrooms and resources more inclusive, says The Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Judy Zorfiss, associate director of EDC's Center for Family, Department of Education provides leadership and grants to School, and Community. "Teachers often don't appreciate help states and local school districts better serve children with the power of the things they already have, which aren't ex- disabilities, particularly through the implementation of the Indi- pensive but can be very effective in helping certain students," viduals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It also funds she says. "A tape recorder can be put to good use by taping and publishes relevant research. Contact: Office of Special Edu- classroom discussions so students can play them back." cation Programs, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland The following organizations are just some of those work- Ave. S.W.,Washington, DC 20202; 202-205-5507; website: ing to improve accessibility for students of all abilities. www.ed.gov /officesIOSERS /OSEP/

Affiance for Technology Access is a network of community or- The Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights ganizations that helps children and adults with disabilities in- (PACER) sponsors programs to expand opportunities for chil- crease their use of technology tools. Contact: 2175 E. Francisco dren with disabilities. Contact: 8161 Normandale Blvd., Min- Blvd., Suite L, San Rafael, CA 94901; 415-455-4575; fax: 415- neapolis, MN 55437; 952-838-9000; fax: 952-838-0199; TTY: 455- 0654; TTY: 415-455-0491; email: [email protected]; 952-838-0190; email: [email protected]; website: website: www.ataccess.org www.pacer.org

5 Harvard Education Letter January/February 2002 For Further The Challenges Facing Publishers Information he availability of flexible, digital textbooks and stand in the way," says Harvard Law School Professor curricular materials will be key to any sustained Martha L. Minow, whose work includes analysis of the im- effort to provide students of all abilities with the Center for Applied Special Tech- plementation of state and federal laws protecting students nology (CAST), 39 Cross St, same educational opportunities. But as the widely re- with disabilities. Peabody, MA 01960; 978-53 I - ported case of Napster shows, digital material is easily 8555; cast@castorg. For publishers, digital-rights management is just one www.cast.org pirated and bootlegged. Publishing houses want to ward sticky issue, says Stephen Driesler, executive director of the off the headaches brought on by unauthorized distribu- Association of American Publishers' school division. An- R.P. Dolan and T.E. Hal I."Universal Design for Learning; Implications tion of copyrighted material that have plagued the film other challenge is that publishers are under pressure to for Large-Scale Assessment:' IDA and music industries. make significant changes to their production processes. It Perspectives 27, no. 4 (2001): 22-25. Federal law permits "the blind or other persons with won't happen overnight. The basic source files publishers disabilities" or organizations working on their behalf to re- K. Kelly."New Independence for producethat is, what actually gets sent to the printerare Special Needs Kids," in The Digital produce copyrighted books in accessible media, such as not typically created in programs that favor accessibility, Classroom, ed. D.T. Gordon. Cam- Braille and cassette tapes. However, the law is ambiguous: bridge, MA: Harvard Education says Driesler. Since textbooks are filled with illustrations Letter, 2000. are those with dyslexia, learning disabilities, or physical such as photos and charts, turning them into easily readable

A. Meyer and D. Rose. Learning to conditions that make the use of books difficult considered documents is no simple task. That should change once pub- Read in the Computer Age. Cam- "persons with disabilities"? Without a clear definition, lishers switch to using the highly flexible XML language. bridge, MA Brookline Books, 1998. some advocates for those with special needs are reluctant to "It'll probably be three to five years before XML is in use copyrighted material for what they think are legitimate widespread use in the industry, but it's coming," says A. Meyer and D.H. Rose. "Universal Design for Individual purposes and risk lawsuits from publishers. Driesler. "And it will definitely make accessibility much Differences:' Educational Leader- Other legal dilemmas include the fact that many pub- easier." ship 58, no. 3 (November 2000): 39-43. lishing contracts don't spell out who has rights to digital The biggest question publishers have about e-publishing material at all. Authors' advocates say if the contract is not LM. O'Neill."Thinking Readers: is what business model will prove to be viable when or if Helping Students Take Charge of clear, then authors retain those rightsand publishers can't electronic books make significant inroads into the market Their Learning:' The Exceptional grant permissions for digital content even if they want to. for traditional paper books. Will books be offered on a sub- Parent 31, no. 6 (June 2001): 32-33. Gradually, that issue may atrophy as more and more con- scription basis? Or pay-per-use? Driesler says there's no

R. Orlovis."Curriculum Access tracts include specific language on digital rights. consensus among publishers about what that model will and Universal Design for "The technology is just about there to open up worlds look like. "But I do know a lot of people are working very Learning: Special Report of ERIC of curricula to disabled children, but these legal issues may Clearinghouse on Disabilities and hard to try and figure it out," he says. Gifted Education. Reston,VA: Council on Exceptional Children, 1999.

Reading Online is a peer-reviewed lournal of the International girls in both groups outperform boys on such as Thinking Reader are to take root, them with ease. Reading Association dealing with the final standardized tests? Did the fact giving all students access to the general Such a resource will be welcomed in K-12 literacy research and that Thinking Reader is a new, exciting practice. Go to ed curriculum, one thing will certainly districts like Concord, New Hampshire, www.readingonline.com product affect the outcomesand would have to change: the way information is where teachers and parent volunteers scan

D. Rose."Universal Design for children still show improvement a few presented in the classroom. For that rea- textbook pages into computers to make Learning: Deriving Guiding Princi- years down the line, once the novelty son, CAST is leading the National Center them accessible to students with disabili- ples from Networks that Learn:' Journal of Special Education Technol- wore off? on Accessing the General Curriculum ties. "It's time consuming and requires ogy 16, no. 2 (Spring 2001): 66-67. A new three-year federal grant to per- (NCAC), a collaboration with the federal constant upkeep to scan your own materi- form more studies and make improve- Office of Special Education Programs, the als," says Donna Palley, special education ments to Thinking Reader may answer Council for Exceptional Children, Har- coordinator at Concord High School. some of those questions. That work will vard Law School, Boston College, and "Somebody's always having to wait for contribute to a small but growing body of the Minnesota-based Parent Advocacy another chapter to be scanned." research demonstrating the benefits of Coalition for Educational Rights. The William Henderson, principal of the digital texts with helpful, built-in re- group is working to increase awareness of PatrickJ.O'Hearn Elementary School in sources such as changeable fonts, glos- the benefits of digital materials. Boston, has a similar hope. "I'd like to saries, concept maps, multimedia tools In a related project, CAST is creating have [an online] library where we could (video, sound), illustrations, tutorial aids, a web-based depository of digital curricu- get not only books but also creative lesson e-notebooks, etc. These resources are lar materials and professional develop- plansredesigned for those with all showing positive effects on students' ment resources called the Universal kinds of disabilities," says Henderson, achievement and motivation among Learning Center. The resources will be whose diverse, inclusive school of 220 special needs and general education pop- offered in a variety of formats and will in- students serves more than 50 special ulations alike. clude search capabilities so that educa- needs students. "That would enable teach- If universally designed innovations tors, parents, and students can access ers to spend more time teaching and less 6 41 Harvard Education LetterJanuary/February2002 time adapting lessons to individual kids." So we're going to have to work hard to ing, technology's leverage is lost. Yet as CAST's chief technology officer, devise a system of digital-rights manage- the work of CAST and organizations with Chuck Hitchcock, says he expects to have ment that gives schools the materials they similar missions demonstrates, digital a "reasonably well-established" online need while protecting publishers' prod- technologies can be powerful tools in the service in place by the end of the year. ucts and copyrights." hands of teachers who use proven, re- But he cautions that it is just a beginning. To some, the promises of UDL and search-based teaching strategies, have The real challenge will be to get the coop- programs like Thinking Reader may high-quality professional development, eration of publishing houses, which are sound Pollyannaish, especially when the and the support of administrators who are skittish about licensing digital materials. resources needed for such innovations are committed to finding fresh approaches to "None of the publishers are eager to do scarce in many schools. Without enough meet the needs of all students. this," says Hitchcock. "They're nervous. of the right equipment or the right train-

Using Charters to Improve Urban Schools Two university-run programs are taking advantage of flexible charter school laws in an effort to raise minority achievement

By Karen Kelly

Charter schools were originally in- (UC) in 1997 sent shock waves through body is 54 percent Hispanic, 25 percent Editor's note: tended as pilot sites, laboratories the state's entire education system. Many African American, 20 percent Asian This is the third where educators could try to worried that African American and Latino American, and 13 percent white. installment of an solve the most vexing problems facing students, who were already attending col- Gabay says there's a more serious occasional series U.S. education. Critics of charters say that lege at lower rates than their white and atmosphere at Preuss than at other San on charter schools. experiment has failedthat the schools Asian American counterparts, would be Diego high schools she's worked in, due have yet, on the whole, to produce the further disadvantaged. in part to the fact that students are re- successful innovations promised by char- The change prompted Hugh Mehan at quired to take the curriculum necessary ter boosters. UCSan Diego to create a charter school for entrance into the University of Cali- The truth is probably somewhere in on his campus specifically aimed at help- fornia system. They also stay in school New! the middle: both charter schools and tra- ing low-income students from inner-city until the end of July and spend an extra Focus Series ditional schools offer examples of the best San Diego prepare for college. "A group hour in school every day. "At my old No. 7 and worst of public education. However, of us recognized that we'd have even less school, these were the kids who fell in certain cases charter laws have given diversity among our students unless we through the cracks," says Gabay. "They Minority university researchers the opportunity to did something," says Mehan, a sociology wouldn't be in the advanced, college Achievement develop experimental schools that offer professor. The result: the Preuss School preparatory classes. But here, we don't A collection of examples of how the resources of higher UCSD, which opened in 1999. let anyone get lost." HEL articles on such The curriculum is anchored by AVID education in research, teaching, and man- From the moment students arrive at topics as the achieve- agement can be marshaled to promote ef- the Preuss School on the UCSD campus (Advancement via Individual Detemina- ment gap, high-stakes fective K-12 reform. they are given a clear message: they will tion), a rigorous, "untracking" program testing, and more. This article profiles two such pro- prepare for college, they will be accepted, first used in nearby San Diego high 32 pp. $14.95. gramsin San Diego and Chicago and they will succeed in college. For schools in 1980 to prepare underachiev- where researchers have used charter many, it's the first time they've heard such ing students for college. Early on, the stu- To order: call 800-513-0763; schools to wage one of the most persist- a message. Tenth-grade English teacher dents learn the Cornell note-taking sys- email: orders@ ent battles U.S. schools must face: the rel- Jan Gabay remarks: "It's like in a family tem, in which they write their notes on edletter.org; web: one side of the page and their questions atively low achievement of poor and mi- where going to college is a given. You www.gse.harvard. nority students. Both are showing positive know you're going to do it somehow." about the work on the other. Every other edu/hepg/ma results and are providing models for other To qualify for the charter school, stu- day, those questions become the focus of public schools. They also show how, dents must be eligible for the federal a two-hour advisory session, during given the right support, even children school lunch program, come from fami- which the students work one-on-one with from the most disadvantaged back- lies in which neither parent earned a tutors from the university and a teacher. grounds may succeed academically. bachelor's degree, and demonstrate moti- The exercise aims to expose students vation in their previous work. Mehan says to the types of questions they will ask in San Diego: College Prep he made sure it was legal for a public college classes. As the students advance The end of affirmative actionbased ad- charter school to use such criteria before the oldest are in 10th grade this year missions at the University of California founding the school. The resulting student the advisory class will include standard-

Harvard Education LetterJanuary/February 2002 ized-test preparation and assistance with have to help them maintain that:' Mary Hoffman, the school's director of college admissions. AVID coordinators Another advantage to the Preuss curriculum and instruction. "We have the For Further act like advisors at elite prep schools who School is its location on UCSD's La Jolla flexibility to design programs and struc- Information visit colleges, make numerous phone campus. The charter school is sending its ture the school day without those con- calls, and compile elaborate dossiers on first group into the college classroom this straints." behalf of their students, says Mehan. year, enrolling six of its 10th graders in a The school's primary educational fo- Center for Education Reform, Mehan insisted on using AVID after pre-calculus course. Mehan says they ex- cus has been literacy, with a model pro- 1001 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite seeing its success elsewhere. His research pect every student will be taking courses gram that requires every student to spend 204,Washington, DC 20036; 202- 822- 9000; fax: 202-822-5077; group compared 353 students in 14 San on campus by their senior year. three hours each morning reading and email: [email protected]. Diego high schools who spent three years "There's a huge psychological barrier writing. For example, in teacher Amanda www.edreform.com in the AVID program with 288 students to get kids from southeast San Diego to Djikas' classroom, the day begins with 15 Center for School Improvement, who left after one year. Overall, 48 per- go to UCSD," says education professor minutes of quiet reading for her 36 University of Chicago, 1313 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637; 773- cent of the AVID students attended a four- Randall Souviney. "That's the biggest kindergartners and 1st graders. Then, 702- 3645; fax: 773-702-2010. year college, compared to 37 percent of benefit of this schoolthey can walk most of the class spreads out to literacy www.csi.uchicago.edu their classmates in San Diego and 39 per- across the campus and play on our fields work centers around the room. There's an S. Choy."Students Whose Parents cent nationwide in 1990. Did Not Go to College: Postsec- and it makes it a less scary place. That's assignment at each onethey might write ondary Access, Persistence, and The findings are even more striking our hope, anyway." in their journals, create stories on the Attainment" Washington, DC: among minority students: 55 percent of U.S. Department of Education, computer, or read books from a basket NCES, 2001. Available online at African American students who spent especially aimed at their reading level. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/ three years in AVID pursued a bachelor's "We spend a lot of time in the beginning coe1200 1 /essay/index.htm 1 degree, versus 38 percent of African "We're trying to invent a of the year teaching them how to sit and D. Kerbow, J. Gwynne, and B. Americans in San Diego and 33 percent Jacob."Implementation of a new institution where work alone," says Djikas, who team- Balanced Literacy Framework and nationwide. And among Latino students, teaches the class with another teacher. Student Learning. Implications 43 percent enrolled in four-year colleges for Program Development" senior staff are like clinical Hoffman says the ultimate goal of the Chicago: University of Chicago after three years of AVID, compared to exercises is to achieve reading and writing Center for School Improvement, 25 percent in San Diego overall and 29 professors in a teaching 2001. Available online at independence. A Center for School Im- www.csluchicago.edulresear percent nationally. "Our data show that hospital;' says Bryk. provement study conducted by David ch.html#papers such students are not necessarily trapped Kerbow, Julia Gwynne, and Brian Jacob H. Mehan."Tracking Untracking. by their social circumstances:' writes suggests that this "balanced literacy" pro- The Consequences of Placing Mehan. Low-Track Students in High- gram has been effective. The group stud- Track Classes," in Race, Ethnicity, Parents play a key role at Preuss. The ied seven district schools that used the lit- and Multicutturalism:Policy and school holds regular classes to introduce Practice, ed. P. Hall. New York: Chicago: A Focus on Literacy eracy framework from 1996 through 1998 Garland, 1997. them to the basics of college preparation. At the University of Chicago, another and found that students in classrooms

North KenwoocV0aldand "We teach them how to check their chil- new charter school aimed at raising un- where teachers had more fully imple- Charter School, 1109 E.46th St., dren's notes, how to access information derachievement has grown out of some of mented the framework had "significantly Chicago, IL 60653; 773-753-9906; fax: 773-753-9935. about college, and what kind of support the successesand frustrationsof a higher scores" on reading ability meas- http://charter.uchicago.edu children need once they get there:' says teacher professional development partner- ures than those in classrooms with low Preuss School UCSD, 9500 principal Doris Alvarez. ship with the city's schools. The univer- levels of implementation. Gilman Dr. #0536, La Jolla, CA She also gives parents a reading as- sity's Center for School Improvement has Hoffman says it took two years to es- 92092-0536; 858-658-7400; Fax:858-658-0988; email: signmentcopies of a U.S. Department led literacy-based inservice programs for tablish a solid literacy framework in the [email protected]. of Education report, "Students Whose teachers in ten struggling Chicago ele- North Kenwood/Oakland school. Then in httpi /preuss.ucsd.edu Parents Did Not Go to College: Postsec- mentary schools for the past 12 years. But the winter of 2001 they officially opened ondary Access, Persistence, and Attain- center director Anthony Bryk says the their doors as a professional development ment." The study analyzed data from progress has been slow. "We felt part of lab, allowing teachers from other district three of the department's national longitu- what made it slow was a crisis of imagi- schools to learn how to improve their lit- dinal studies and found that 49 percent of nation. These teachers hadn't seen a eracy instruction. School founder Bryk graduates whose parents had no college school organized and functioning in the says this outreach to other Chicago teach- experience were unqualified for admis- ways we described:' says Bryk. ers who serve large numbers of disadvan- sion to a four-year college. By contrast, That realization provided the impetus taged students is one of North Kenwood's only 15 percent of students whose parents for the North Kenwood/Oakland Charter most important missions. earned bachelor's degrees were unquali- School, a pre-K through 8th-grade, pre- "We're trying to invent a new institu- fied. The study also found that an aca- dominantly African American school, tion where senior staff of the school are demically challenging high school pro- which opened in 1998 and serves as a like the clinical professors in a teaching gram can reverse that trend. demonstration site for its neighbors. "This hospital," says Bryk. "So we designed a Parent Theresa Aviles has appreciated is the pure form of what we developed in professional development school that the school's candor. "Here, they tell us the the district schools, where it couldn't be would be a superb place of learning for truthyour child needs a 3.0 to go to the implemented 100 percent because of bu- children and adults." University of California. We know we reaucratic constraints," says co-founder Fifth-grade teacher Angela Thomas

Harvard Education Letter January/February 2002 8 was part of the first group to attend North ods over lunch. "It gives you an accurate Hoffman and Bryk are confident that just Kenwood's professional development lab. picture of how this teacher deals with getting teachers to think about their in -. After filling out an application stating her real-life situationsyou're not just read- structional methods and observe master goals for the two-week sabbatical, ing a book about the ideal situation," says teachers will almost certainly lead to im- Thomas was paired with a senior teacher Thomas. "You see how she deals with the proved classroom practicewhether that at the charter school who visited her unexpected." happens in a charter school or a tradi- classroom before and after the laboratory It will be some time before re- tional public school. experience. During the two-week train- searchers can document what, if any, Karen Kelly writes from Ottawa, Ontario. She is ing, Thomas spent her morning observing long-term impact the North Kenwood a frequent contributor to the Harvard Education the school's three -hour literacy block, program will have on the professional Letter. then quizzed the teacher about her meth- practice of the teachers it serves. But

Limits of "Change" School systems are also characterized of external benchmarks. For Further continued from page 8 by weak internal accountability. When I If the only benchmarks you have Information use that term, I mean the intersection be- come from your own connoisseurship students learn the content and how the tween the individual's sense of responsi- your particular opinions and ideas about pedagogy relates to the development of bility, the organization's expectations what good practice isthen you're in R.F. Elmore."Building a New knowledge and content. Nor are most about what constitutes quality instruction trouble. Real improvement comes when Structure for School Leadership!' teachers interested in addressing the intel- and good student performance, and the you visit a classroom where somebody is Washington, DC: Albert Shanker Institute, 2000. lectual challenge that some students learn systemic means or processes by which we doing the same thing you areonly the content and some don't. As a result, actually account for what we do. How much better. That's when the real conver- R.F. Elmore."Professional Devel- opment and the Practice of Large- we are asking schools to make improve- frequently do we observe teachers? How sation, the tough conversation about im- Scale Improvement in Education!' ments in the presence of an extremely do we analyze performance data? How do provement takes place. Whether you're a Paper forthcoming from the Albert Shanker Institute,Washing- weak technical core. we think about teachers' performance? novice or an expert, the important thing is ton, DC. Also, schools are not organized to The schools in which these things are to focus on the next stage of improvement R.F. Elmore, P.L Peterson, and S.J. support problem-solving based on cooper- aligned have very powerful approaches to and to determine where that increment of McCarthey. Restructuring in the ation or collaboration. The ethic of atom- the improvement of instruction. When knowledge and skill is going to come Classroom:TeachingLearning,and p SchoolOrganization. San Francisco: ized teachingteachers practicing as in- they are not alignedand in most cases from. Jossey-Bass, 1996.

dividuals with individual stylesis very they are notschools have extreme diffi- The norms and values that go with F. Newmann."Linking Restructur- strong in schools. We subscribe to an ex- culty responding to external pressure for ambitious conceptions of learning and ing to Authentic Student Achieve- tremely peculiar view of professionalism: ment" PhiDelta Kappan72, no. 6 improved performance. improvement grow out of practice, not (February 1 991): 458-463. that professionalism equals autonomy in Meanwhile, the usual remediation vice versa. School improvement doesn't practice. So when I come to your class- strategies we employ when kids fail to happen by getting everyone to come to room and say, "Why are you teaching in meet the statewide testing requfrements the auditorium and testify to their belief this way?" it is viewed as a violation of are to give them the same unbelievably that all children can learnnot if it means your autonomy and professionalism. bad instruction they got in the first place, sending everyone back to the classroom Consider what would happen if you only in much larger quantities with much to do what they've always done. Only a were on an airplane and the pilot came on greater intensity. This is what we call the change in practice produces a genuine the intercom as you were starting your louder and slower approach. change in norms and values. Or, to put it descent and said, "I've always wanted to more crudely, grab people by their prac- try this without the flaps." Or if your sur- Better Benchmarks tice and their hearts and minds will follow. geon said to you in your pre-surgical con- This brings me back to the notion of im- Finally, instructional leaders need to ference, "You know, I'd really like to do provement versus the notion of change. know and model the knowledge and skills this the way I originally learned how to Improvement is a discipline. It requires needed to do this work. This includes do it in 1978." Would you be a willing picking a target that has something to do knowledge about performance, knowl- participant in this? with demonstrated student learning, one edge about development in content areas, People get sued for doing that in the that's ambitious enough to put schools in knowledge about the improvement of in- "real" professions, where the absence of "improvement mode." If you're a school struction. Leaders need to create struc- a strong technical core of knowledge and leader whose students are scoring consis- tures for how they learn in schools. If you discourse about what effective practice is tently in the 95th percentile, you need an- can't model the norms and values you ex- carries a very high price. Instructionally, other performance measure because that pect others to adopt, it's unlikely that any we know what works in many content one is doing you no good except to real improvement will take place. areas. But the distribution of knowledge help your marketing. For improvement Richard F. Ehnore is Anrig Professor of Educa- is uneven, and we resist the idea of cali- purposes, you need a new ceiling, a goal tional Leadership at the Harvard Graduate brating our practice to external bench- to push for that's quite a distance from School of Education and the Faculty Editor of the marks. where you are. You also need some kind Harvard Education Letter.

9 Harvard Education LetterJanuary/February2002 The Limits of "Change" Supporting real instructional improvement requires more than fiddling with organizational structures

By Richard E Elmore

or the last 15 years, I have been studying the geo- change in structure, any change in practice, and any change logical accumulation of education reforms in U.S. in student performance. That is the big problem with the schoolsthe sedimentation of the last two or three usual approaches to school improvement. We are viscerally geological eras. In a book I wrote with Penelope Peterson and instinctively inclined to move the boxes around on the and Sarah McCarthey on the structure and restructuring of organizational chart, to fiddle with the schedule. We are at- schools, the main finding we report is that changing structure tracted and drawn to these things largely because they're visi- does not change practice. In fact, the schools that seem to do ble and, believe it or not, easier to do than to make the hard We Welcome the best are those that have a clear idea of what kind of in- changes, which are in instructional practice. Your Comments structional practice they want to produce, and then design a The pathology of American schools is that they know structure to go with it. how to change. They know how to change promiscuously Write or email us at My favorite story, which is now increasingly confirmed and at the drop of a hat. What schools do not know how to do Harvard Education Letter by the aggregate analysis of block schedulingthe current is to improve, to engage in sustained and continuous progress 8 Story Street, 5th Floor structural reform du jour of secondary toward a performance goal over time. So Cambridge, MA 02138 educationinvolves a high school social the task is to develop practice around the [email protected] studies teacher I interviewed recently. notion of improvement. I asked him, "So what do you think of American schools know block scheduling?" He said, "It's the how to change. What Weak Theories best thing that's ever happened in my We can talk about what's wrong with the teaching career." I asked, "Why?" And they don't know is how state accountability systems that are he said, "Now we can show the whole springing up everywhere. But the fact is I to improve. movie." that school improvement strategies are That captures my take on structural being driven by performance-based ac- reform. We put an enormous amount of countability systems. These systems in- energy into changing structures and usually leave instruc- volve setting standards about what constitutes good practice, tional practice untouched. Certainly that message has been a solid curriculum, and acceptable student performance. They confirmed by Fred Newmann's work at the Center on entail various kinds of stakes for students and for schools Organization and Restructuring of Schools, and other re- and virtually none for teachers and administrators. (Interest- search. We're just now getting the first generation of aggre- ingly, the stakes tend to fall most heavily on the kids, who gate studies on block scheduling, which, shockingly, show have the least representation in state legislatures.) no relationship between its adoption and any outcome that The problem, however, is that the organizations we work you can measure on student performance. Of course, this is in aren't built to respond to this kind of performance pres- exactly what one could have predicted, given the previous sure. We may know what to do theoretically, but I have seri- research on structural reforms. ous doubts that we know what to do at the level of practice. The reasons for this are pretty straightforward. Notice that For example, I've been in enough high school math classes I didn't say structural changes don't matter. They often mat- over the last five years to know that there is no developmen- ter a lot, especially when you're talking about U.S. high tal theory of how students learn algebra. The kids who don't schools, which are probably either a close third or tied for make it and don't respond to the kind of instruction they're second as the most pathological social institutions in our receiving are simply not included in the instructional model. society after public health hospitals and prisons. There are And teachers in the classrooms I've observed take no respon- problems in high schools that cannot be solved without mak- sibility for the lowest-performing students. That's because the ing dramatic changes in structure, but in the vast number of prevailing a theory of learning suggests that teaching mathe- cases there is no instrumental relationship between any matics is not a developmental problem but a problem of apti- tude. Some people get it, some don't. (In this regard, literacy This essay was drawn from an address given by Professor is perhaps an exception.) Elmore at a recent institute on leadership and policy hosted People do not believe that these problems can be solved by The Principals' Center at Harvard University. It has been by inquiry, by evidence, and by science. They do not believe edited for this issue. that it is necessary to have a developmental theory of how continued on page 7

Harvard Education Letter January/February 2002 10 YE RI AS * * HarchlApril 2002 II Volume 18, Number 2

INSIDE

interview Teacher Excellence: Improving the Conversation An interview with Ann E. Putting National Board Certification Harman of the NBPTS. 5 to the Test new and noteworthy After years of development, this credential for veteran teachers is Do AP and IB Courses drawing high praiseand tough questions, too. Have Merit? By David T Gordon A new study by the National Research Council says yes, but recommends changes in n February 1997, David Lustick was itching for 140-page portfolio of essays, sample lessons, and how courses are taught. a challenge. He had earned a master's degree in student work aimed at demonstrating his ability to education and taught high school chemistry in plan lessons, teach strategies of scientific inquiry, 6 New York City for four years. Now he was in Sao and lead productive classroom discussions. Added to insights Paolo, Brazil, teaching at the American School. It the portfolio were two 20-minute videos of Lustick was after midnight, and Lustick was watching Presi- at work in the classroom. Finally, he flew to Miami Six Principles of Effective dent Bill Clinton's State of the for an all-day test of his science Accountability Union speech on television. "To knowledge through six written "We have done a splendid have the best schools, we must exercises. job of holding nine-year-olds accountable," writes Douglas have the best teachers," the presi- Has the $200 million Fewer than half of that year's B. Reeves. But what about dent said as he endorsed the Na- applicants succeeded; Lustick invested by charities and adults? tional Board for Professional was among them. It turned out to Teaching Standards (NBPTS). taxpayers in this be a highlight of his young ca- 8 Clinton noted that just 500 of reera rich professional devel- the nation's three million teachers credentialing system opment experience that increased had been certified by NBPTS as been money well spent? his understanding of his own accomplished veteran teachers strengths and weaknesses as well Please visit our website: since 1994, the first year of cre- as his confidence. "I felt much www.edletter.org dentialing. He asked Congress to more empowered both as a provide the resources to encourage 100,000 teachers teacher and as an individual. The process really Currently on the web: to become National Board certified in the coming forced me to stop and look at my work, to think The Research Feature years. "We should reward and recognize our best about my performance in the classroom, to consider This month's focus is on teachers. And as we reward them, we should quickly how students might experience my lessonssome- National Board Certification forteachers, with online links and fairly remove those few who don't measure up, thing I took for grantedand to ask, 'Is this really and other resources. and we should challenge more of our finest young the best I can do?" he says. The Forum Feature people to consider teaching as a career." Since 1987, 44 states and 280 school districts "One Kid at a Time: Big That was the first time David Lustick heard of have invested tens of millions of dollars to encour- Lessons from a Small School." National Board certification. The idea grabbed him: age teachers to try for Board certification. By the A discussion about the "I felt that my practice was unrecognized. This was end of 2001, 16,037 teachers were National Board experimental Met School in a way to distinguish myself and improve my mar- certified in 19 areas ranging from Early Child- Providence, RI, with Dennis ketability for future positions." Later that year, hood/Generalist to Adolescence and Young Littky, founder of the alter- Lustick paid the $2,000-plus fee out of his own Adult/Mathematics. This year, 20,202 teachers have native high school, and Eliot Levine, coauthor of One Kid pocket and began the process of getting National applied for certification. Based on 2001 results, at a Time, a book about the Board certification to teach high school science. more than half will succeed at the end of the 10- school. During the next seven months he prepared a month process, for a total of more than 26,000

11 teachersa long stride toward the bodies for graduates of teacher-educa- in this credentialing system been Board's mark of certifying 100,000 tion programsthe National Council worthwhile? teachers by 2006. for Accreditation of Teacher Educa- The Board isn't shying away from Why the increasing interest? Some tion (NCATE) and the Interstate New these and other issues. In fact, it re- teachers, like Lustick, do it for the Teacher Assessment and Support Con- cently brought more than 200 scholars Harvard challenge and enhanced prestige. Oth- sortium (INTASC)have aligned to Chicago to discuss what research Education Letter ers respond to financial incentives their standards with the National would not only address the concerns EDITOR such as bonuses and better pay. Still Board's. of critics but improve the process. At David T. Gordon others expect to use the credential as a The Board has helped spark a na- the conference, NBPTS officials in- PRODUCTION EDITOR Dody Riggs springboard to leadership positions tional conversation among teachers vited proposals from all quarters of

ASSISTANT EDITOR within the teacher ranks. For most about what constitutes good practice, the education research community and Michael Sadowski candidates, the draw is probably a an effort that aims to let teachers take pledged to raise millions of dollars to MARKETING Karen Walsh combination of all three incentives. control and "own" the discussion fund new studies. Once the studies are

FACULTY EDITOR Although just one-half of one per- about teaching standards. To get certi- underway, says NBPTS director of re- Richard F. Elmore cent of the nation's teachers are certi- fied, teachers must be able to explain search and information Ann Harman, EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Katherine C. Boles, Lecturer, fied, their influence is greater than the and demonstrate their classroom prac- the Board will step back and let the HGSE; Laura A. C.00per,Asst. numbers suggest. For one thing, they ticesvia ten written entries and two evidence speak for itselfregardless Superintendent, Evanston Township (IL) High School; Linda Darling- are helping to shape an emerging con- classroom videosin a way that satis- of the results (see interview, p. 5). Hammond, Professor, Stanford University; Sally Dias, Superinten- sensus among education professionals fies the expectations of scorers in the One study already completed dent, Watertown (MA) Public about what defines teacher quality. national office. supports the contention that Board- Schools; Harold Howe II, Lecturer Emeritus, HGSE; Susan Moore For another, they comprise a powerful certified teachers are more capable, on Johnson, Professor, HGSE; Robert constituency of professionals who average, than those who aren'tat Kagan, Professor, HGSE; Peggy Kemp, Office of School Partner- demonstrate an ability and willingness least as measured by NBPTS criteria. ships, HGSE; Marya Levenson, Director,Teacher Education, Bran- to articulate those standards to their One study showed Researchers, led by Lloyd Bond of the deis Univers*Deborah Meier, colleagues. Ninety-three percent of University of North CarolinaGreens- Principal, Mission Hill School, Board-certified teachers Boston, MA; John Merrow, Presi- candidatesboth successful and un- boro, compared the practice of 31 dent,The Merrow Report Jerome teachers who have won certification T. Murphy, Professor, HGSE; Milli successfulsay they believe the outperforming their peers Pierce, Director, Principals' Center, Board certification process has made with that of 34 teachers who failed the HGSE;Arthur J. Rosenthal, Publish- ing Consultant; Catherine Snow, them better teachers. Almost as many in II of 13 categories. process. They observed each teacher Professor, HGSE; Jay Sugarman, say the process taught them to create in class for about 75 hours, inter- Teacher, Runkle School, Brookline, ; MA;AriadneValsamis, Director of stronger curricula (89%) and im- viewed both teachers and students, Project Development, HGSE proved their ability to evaluate student and examined lesson plans. In addi- Harvard Education Letter (ISSN 875S-3716) is published bimonthly learning (89%). "This [process] has given teachers tion, four students from each class by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 8 Story Street. 5th Like most school reform efforts of a structured environment in which to were randomly asked to submit sam- floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. the past two decades, the program be- develop and use a vocabulary of good ples of their work for evaluation. All Second-class postage paid at Boston, MA, and additional mailing gan in the wake of "A Nation at Risk," practice," says Jill Harrison Berg, a 65 teachersdrawn from North Car- offices. Postmaster: Send address Board-certified humanities teacher in change(s) to Harvard Education the 1983 federal report that decried olina, Ohio, and Washington, DC Letter, 8 Story Street, 5th floor, the state of U.S. schools. As a result, the Cambridge (MA) public schools. had similar education and experience. Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. the Carnegie Forum on Education and "The process is really an intensive "The differences we observed were Signed articles in the Harvard Education Letter represent the the Economy put together its Task professional development exercise. pervasive, compelling, and consis- views of the authors. Force on Teaching as a Profession. Its It requires teachers to explain the tent," the researchers wrote. National ©2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. 1987 report, "A Nation Prepared: choices they make in their practice Boardcertified teachers did a better Published as a non-profit service. Teachers for the 21st Century," sug- and that means they have to learn to job in 11 of 13 categories, including All rights reserved. Special permis- sion is required to reproduce in gested creating a voluntary system of be articulate about teaching." improvising and adapting lessons as any manner, in whole or in part, national certification comparable to situations dictate, critiquing their own the material herein contained. Tough Questions HOW TO SUBSCRIBE the medical profession's licensing performance, articulating high stan- Send $34 for individuals, $44 for procedures. Yet for all its positive reviews, both dards, designing lessons aligned to institutions ($46 for Canada/Mex- ico, $56 other foreign, in U.S. funds With the financial backing of supporters and skeptics of Board certi- those standards, and showing a deep only) to Harvard Education Letter. Subscription prices subject to Carnegie and other foundations, the fication are pressing for answers to knowledge of their subject. They change without notice. Single major teachers unions, and the U.S. tough questions. Do students learn showed more enthusiasm for teaching, copies, $7.00. Back issues and bulk subscriptions available at special Department of Education, the NBPTS more in classes taught by Board- and in two categoriesunderstanding reduced rates. was launched as a private, nonprofit certified teachers? Do low-performing verbal and nonverbal responses of

Address all correspondence to organization led by an all-star roster schools benefit in any measurable children, and offering feedback to Harvard Education Letter, of advisors from the fields of policy, way? Why do the passing rates of mi- studentsthe Board-certified teachers 8 Story Street, 5th floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752; research, and practice. Drafting com- nority NBPTS candidates trail those also performed better, but not by phone 617-495-3432 in Massa- prehensive, research-based standards of whites by wide margins? Is the as- statistically significant margins. chusetts, 800-513-0763 outside Massachusetts; fax 617-496-3584; and assessments took almost five sessment biased against teachers who email: [email protected]; Better' Educations? web: www.edletter.org. years: The result was a widely praised employ more traditional, teacher-cen- credentialing system with broad sup- tered instructional methods? In other Critics noted, however, that the stu- port in the ranks of education profes- words, has the $200 million invest- dents' academic performance got little sionals. Indeed, two major licensing ment of charitable and taxpayer funds or no consideration in the Bond study. National Board officials hope a new national total. That is due in part to scored? The Board asked UNC study of North Carolina's Board generous incentives. Board-certified Greensboro's Lloyd Bond, a respected certified teachers can find a concrete teachers get 12 percent more than African American researcher, to look link between Board certification and their noncertified peers from the state; for answers. He conducted a small improved student learning. William P. in districts like Charlotte-Mecklen- study and found nothing in the Sanders, head of assessment services burg they get another 10 percent on process itself to account for the dis- for SAS in School, a North Carolina top of that. In addition, North Car- crepancy. "Rather, adverse impact based research and development firm, olina administers end-of-grade stan- may well be traceable to more sys- will apply his "value-added" method dardized tests for students in grades temic factors in U.S. society at large," in examining the work of Board-certi- 3-8 and end-of-course tests for high he concluded, and suggested more re- fied teachers in North Carolina. schoolers, providing a significant search. The purpose of value-added as- body of data for Sanders to analyze. Gloria Ladson-Billings of the sessment is to quantify in a concrete He expects to begin publishing results University of WisconsinMilwaukee way the impact that teachers have on later this year. and Linda Darling-Hammond of their individual students by examining Stanford University took up the issue, the progress (or lack thereof) those Adverse Impact looking at how the work of urban students make over several years on Another top research priority for the teachers of color gets evaluated by standardized tests. The method en- National Board is to reduce the dis- teacher assessment programs, includ- ables researchers to identify the years crepancy in pass rates between white ing the National Board's. According in which student achievement grew, teachers and teachers of color. While to the researchers, these teachers face shrank, or stayed the same. Doing so 53 percent of white candidates for cer- significant obstacles to becoming gives a better picture of teacher effec- tification passed in 2001, just 22 per- NBPTS certified. They don't get as tiveness than simply averaging test cent of African Americans and 38 per- much institutional support, incentives, scores, Sanders contends. If, say, a cent of Hispanics did. Is there some and collegial encouragement to pursue student in a 6th-grade class scores bias hidden in the portfolio assign- certification as their white counter- well above average while another ments? Or in the way portfolios are parts typically do. Also, they tend to scores at rock bottomjust as they did the previous yearcombining their scores might suggest an accept- able, if not spectacular, performance Rules of Attraction by the teacher. A value-added analysis The incentives and rewards for pursuing National Board certification would reveal that neither student vary from state to state, district to district. For example, San Francisco made progress in the teacher's class. Unified School District offers a candidate support program and a In Tennessee, Sanders concluded $5,000 annual bonus for the 10-year life of the certificate. Neighboring that the connection posited by many Oakland pays $500 toward the NBPTS fee and provides assistance for researchers between students' aca- the videotaping; those who teach at low-performing schools can earn a demic performance and such factors $5,000 annual bonus from the state for four years. Other examples: as socioeconomic status was not as important as teacher effectiveness. "I Austin, TX: National Boardcertified teachers (NBCTs) receive an an- can adjust for race, socioeconomic nual $2,000 pay raise and can earn another $1,000 a year for extra work status, school location, [and] class such as mentoring. They keep the raise even if promoted out of teach- size, and come up with different re- ing into professional or administrative positions within the district. sults," he says. "The one thing that Cherokee County, NC: Lends candidates laptop computers. Those who you can never hide is teacher quality. achieve certification keep the computers. In addition, all NBCTs get a It is the single most important factor." 12 percent pay raise from the state. Critics of Sanders' work argue that even the best teachers may not be able Colonial, DE: Gives each NBCT a $500 voucher for classroom materi- to compensate for lack of family in- als. (State pays most of the application fee.) volvement, class size, students' prior Coventry,RI:Successful candidates get a $6,500 annual stipend, which knowledge, and other factors. And increases to $7,000 in the 2003-04 school year. The district also pro- then there's the fact that Sanders' vides use of video, editing, and computer equipment. (State pays most method relies on standardized tests, of the application fee.) which some would say don't necessar- Denali Borough, AK: Provides leave time and substitute teachers for ily tell what students have learned in a candidates. (State may pay part of application fee.) particular class but what they have learned from all sources, including Washoe County, NV: Candidates get three days' paid leave for portfo- family, friends, and media. lio preparation. Successful ones get an 8 percent raise for the life of the Sanders has rich soil for his North certificate. (State pays most of the application fee.) Carolina project: the state has 3,660 Source: NBPTS Board-certified teachers, most among the states and nearly a quarter of the

13 Harvard Education LetterMarch/April 2002 teach a greater proportion of under- nine-state Education Leaders Council practice in writing, such as the "tacit achieving students, teach in isolation to develop its own advanced certifica- knowledge" earned through years in with fewer professional development tion for veteran teachers and alterna- the classroom. Are all excellent teach- For Further opportunities, and have less familiar- tive certification for new teachers with ers articulate about their practice? Information ity with the formats and requirements $5 million in seed money from the Are all those who are articulate about of such assessments. U.S. Department of Education. The their practice excellent teachers? Furthermore, the researchers' new American Board for Certification review of educational literature on of Teacher Excellence will certify Board Games? what constitutes "good teaching" teachers based on how well they and Questions about performance also L Bond."Culturally Responsive revealed that such definitions do not their students perform on standardized raise concerns about cutting corners in Pedagogy and the Assessment of Accomplished Teaching:' Journal include some of the skills and strate- tests. the application process. Michael of Negro Education 67, no. 3 gies employed by successful teachers A different but related concern is Podgursky, an economist at the Uni- (1998): 242-254. of urban students of color. Research raised by Robert Burroughs, assistant versity of MissouriColumbia, has ar- R. Burroughs."Composing Stan- shows that such teachers usually make professor in the College of Education gued that long-distance judging of ap- dards and Composing Teachers." special efforts to develop caring rela- at the University of Cincinnati, who Journal of feacher Education 52, plications makes cheating more likely. no. 3 (May/June 2001): 222-223. tionships with studentssometimes notes that the process "may be as He points out that no input is re-

R. Burroughs,T.A. Schwartz, and in a way that might appear too infor- much an evaluation of a teacher's quested from local school administra- M. Hendricks-Lee."Communities mal, too "parental" to outsiders. These tors who know the applicants and of Practice and Discourse Com- teachers also improvise ways of deliv- their worka significant departure munities: Negotiating Boundaries in NBPTS Certification?' ering curricula that might otherwise from the medical model in which su- Teachers College Record 102, no. 2 be out of sync with the students' cul- pervising physicians weigh in on a (April 2000): 346-376. "A master teacher has to tures, experiences, and communica- young doctor's competence. Carnegie Task Force on Teaching tion patterns. be a master at getting Staging video performances is an- as a Profession. "A Nation "But how is a sense of caring and other concern, says Brent Stephens, a Prepared:Teachers for the 21st results," says Michael Century?' NewYork Carnegie cultural solidarity exhibited in an as- Boston elementary school teacher Forum on Education and the sessment? What words, gestures, Economy, 1986. Poliakoff. "The process of who was certified last year. Stephens pieces of evidence can be collected says that, in his experience, teachers S.M. Johnson."Can Professional teaching doesn't matter so Certification for Teachers Re- that demonstrate the connection be- and their coaches discussed removing shape Teaching as a Career!' Phi tween a teacher and her students?" much if you don't know all but the best-behaved kids from a Delta Kappan 82, no. 5 (January asked Ladson-Billings and Darling- class before shooting video. "It ought 2001): 393-399. Hammond in a report written for the what you're teaching and if to be appalling to anybody," he says, G. Ladson-Billings. The Dream- National Partnership for Excellence "but a lot of teachers did it. So you keepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children. San and Accountability in Teaching. Since students don't learn:' see these videos of eight quiet kids in Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994. the NBPTS assessment doesn't appear a conspicuously empty classroom. 051172_,MAIMMI G. Ladson-Billings and L Darling- to take into account such relationships, That sort of thing wasn't discouraged. Hammond."The Validity of some of the methods employed by ur- And as more people get certified and National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)/ ban teachers might not be measurable writing about his or her teaching prac- help each other, the opportunities for Interstate New Teacher Assess- by scorers at the national office. tice as it is an evaluation of the teach- gaming the system will grow." ment and Support Consortium (INTASC) Assessments for ing itself." Burroughs, who has Ann Harman of NBPTS says that Effective Urban Teachers: Content vs. Pedagogy coached more than 100 candidates for cheating is no surprise but also not a Findings and Implications for Of course, disagreements about defin- NBPTS certification at all grade lev- great concern. "Any testing program Assessments:' Paper prepared for the National Partnership for ing good teaching are not limited to els, writes in the Journal of Teacher has its cheaters, and we deal with Excellence and Accountability in questions of racial and cultural differ- Education that "candidates must solve them harshly. Anyone caught cheating Teaching, May 2000. ences. For example, the Board has a number of rhetorical problems" in is disqualified for life." She also ques- National Board for Professional been especially criticized for overem- the course of preparing a portfolio. tions whether removing certain kids Teaching Standards. 1525 Wilson Blvd., Suite 500, Arlington,VA phasizing teaching methods at the ex- "Like a club, NBPTS has a particular would be effective: "It's not a strategy 22209; 703-465.2700; fax: pense of content knowledge. Michael way of talking (standards) and a par- I would recommend because it doesn't 703-465-2715. Poliakoff of the National Council on ticular way of doing (portfolio for- www.nbpts.org give you the best opportunity to show Teacher Quality (NCTQ) is one such mats)," he writes. "Because these par- what you can do. In fact, highlighting National Board for Professional critic. "[The National Board] doesn't Teaching Standards. What ticular ways are often unfamiliar, classes where students may present a Teachers Should Know and Be Able encourage mastery of subjects as it candidates can often feel like out- difficult challenge is a better strategy to Do. Arlington,VA: NBPTS, should, nor does it ask teachers to siders, vulnerable to worries about ad- to demonstrate competence." 1999. show that their teaching translates into equacy and susceptible to bouts of de- M. Podgurslry."Should States student achievement," he says. "A fensiveness." Policy Issues Subsidize National Certifica- tion!' Education Week, April II, master teacher has to be a master at Burroughs points out that some While the NBPTS tries to work out its 2001:38, 40-41. getting results. The process of teach- candidates have trouble imagining research and logistical questions, a ing doesn't matter so much if you their audience. Who are the unseen, number of practical issues challenge don't know what you're teaching and unknown judges that will read this policymakers. Since its inception, the if students don't learn." stuff? Some teachers also question Board has focused on identifying The NCTQ, which is based in Falls whether they can adequately capture what it considers master teachers, Church, VA, is partnering with the the complexity and dynamics of their leaving questions about how that des-

Harvard Education LetterMarch/April 2002 14 ignation is used to state and local Will the present level of financial in curricula and standards, in school school boards, says Susan Moore support and big bonuses from states schedules, in graduation requirements Johnson, Pforzheimer Professor of and districts continue? Last fall, Vir- and promotion policies. The effort to Teaching and Learning at the Harvard ginia cut back its bonus to newly cer- ensure that teachersthose who actu- For Further Graduate School of Education. In the tified teachers from $5,000 to about ally spend their days with students Information highly localized landscape of U.S. ed- $1,632 and its annual salary bonus are highly skilled and motivated to ucation, a national credential takes on from $2,500 to $816, disappointing improve their practice is arguably the very different meaning from district to many who had been drawn by the pay most important measure communities district, especially in terms of teacher increase. can support. pay, recruitment, retention, and pro- Will affluent districts poach Early research suggests that Na- M. Podgursky. "Defrocking the motion. teachers with bonuses that poorer dis- tional Board certification may be a National Board!' Education Next I, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 79-82. As the number of National Board tricts can't match? In Virginia, Board- way to do so. Its requirements are cer- certified teachers grows, national and certified teachers who may lose their tainly more rigorous than those of M. Poliakoff."Mastering the Basics!' Philanthropy IS, no. 6 local policymakers, union leaders, and state bonus money might be tempted standard certification programs. At the (October 2001): 22-25. K-12 administrators will have to de- to move to higher-paying districts like same time, it can give teachers, who Online at www.philanthropyround cide what practical meaning such a Fairfax County. On the other hand, so often practice in isolation, the op- table.orgimagazines1200 I certification should have: some districts are using bonuses to at- portunity to join a larger community octoberipoliakoff.html

Will it become a nationally tract teachers to schools that need the of practitioners and have a say in the C.Tell. "Appreciating Good portable credential, so that teachers most help: in San Francisco, teachers national dialogue on what constitutes Teaching. A Conversation with Lee Shulman!' Educational can pursue opportunities in new dis- can earn $80,000 in bonus money good teaching. But like all reform Leadership 58, no.5 (February tricts rather than going to the back of over the course of 10 years for work- measures, the success or failure of 2001): 6-11.

the line with each new job they take? ing in low-performing schools. Board certification will depend on D.D.Wilcox The National Board Johnson points out that although most Think of all the measures taken in how one question gets answered: for Professional Teaching Standards: U.S. professions reward mobility, the past two decades to improve U.S. What's in it for studentsand not just Can It live lip to Its Promise? Washington, DC:Thomas B. teaching stymies it because of local- schools: changes in administrative in well-off communities but in poor Fordham Foundation, 2000. ized contracts. structures, in testing and assessment, ones, too?

Teacher Excellence: Improving the Conversation

Ann E. Harman, director of research her competency is to get as many kids Is the NBPTS venturing into political and information for the National as possible above average. Sanders is quicksand by trying to establish direct Board for Professional Teaching Stan- saying that a teacher who does that is links between the presence of Board- dards, is coordinating the NBPTS's not really doing her job because some certified teachers and better student efforts to beef up scholarly research kids make no progress at all. She loses performance on standardized tests? about the certification process and its sight of the fact that she's teaching not When the public thinks of student effects. She recently spoke with the just a class but individuals in a class. achievement it tends to think of stan- Harvard Education Letter about that You can have very high-scoring kids dardized test scores, so we must ad- work. who learn nothing in a particular year. dress the question. But we want to Teachers should be required to focus broaden the conversation, too. Student The Board has asked well-known re- on them as much as on struggling performance on standardized tests is searcher William Sanders to examine kids. We need to use this assessment important, of course, but we'd also the effectiveness of its teachers using to get beyond the numbers game and like to consider student achievement his "value-added" analysis of stan- enlarge the conversation about how to in other waysfor example, what stu- dardized test scores. What's the ad- meet the needs of all our students. If dents are learning, how deeply they vantage of using that model? not, we're losing sight of what's really learn a subject and how effectively The Sanders model looks at the important, which is the quality of in- that are more than standardized tests growth in each student's performance. struction and quality of student learn- can measure. When you just measure average ing. Until now, standardized tests are scores in a class, you are inviting all we've given the public to evaluate The Board assessment is criticized as teachers to focus on kids who are just student learning, so to get the conver- favoring those who use learner-cen- below the standard because the best sation moving forward we first have tered progressive pedagogies, such as chance a teacher has of demonstrating to address that issue. continued on page 7

15 Harvard Education LetterMarch/April 2002 new and noteworthy

Do AP and IB Courses Have Merit? A new study by the National Research Council says yes, but recommends changes in how courses are taught

For Further Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which are in- many AP and IB math and science classrooms. These Information tended to be the equivalent of introductory col- courses, especially in science, place too much emphasis lege-level classes in a variety of subjects, are more on content knowledge and not enough on the depth of un- popular than ever. The number of AP exams taken by U.S. derstanding students need for college-level study, the com- high school students rose more than 10 percent in 2001 mittee found. and has more than doubled in every decade since the tests The committee based its conclusions on what they saw "AP Central" website by were first administered in 1956. Another accelerated pro- as a mismatch between research on cognition and many the College Board: gram for high school students, the International Baccalau- teachers' approaches to advanced instruction: "Curricula httpd/apcentral.college board.com reate (IB) program, has also grown in popularity. In 2001, for advanced study should emphasize depth of understand- close to 23,000 U.S. students took the IB examinations, ing over exhaustive coverage of content. They should fo- J. P Gollub, M.VV.Bertenthal, J. B. Labov, P. C. Curtis, eds. more than half the total of 44,000 worldwide. cus on central organizing concepts and principles ..." Learning and Understanding. Some college admissions officers see AP or IB courses Lee Jones, vice president of the College Board in Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. on a transcript as evidence that a student is ready for ad- charge of the AP program, says the organization is "really High Schools. Washington, DC: vanced-level work. But in a study released in February by open" to the criticisms outlined in the NRC report. "I National Academy Press, the National Research Council (NRC), a committee con- 2002.Available online at don't see this as a huge blow to the program, but a good httpd/boolcs.nap.edul sisting of college professors, high school teachers, and ed- set of constructive outside advice that we should pay at- books/030907440 I ihtml ucational psychologists criticized the curricula taught in tention to," Jones says. W Lichten."Whither Jones contends that much of the problem with AP Advanced Placement?" courses may actually stem from the College Board's Education Policy Analysis Archives 8, no.29 (June 24, long-standing practice of emulating introductory col- 2000).Available online at AP Scoring Scale and Distribution lege-level curriculum, much of which emphasizes httpd/epaa.asu.edidepaa/ v8n29.html (2000-01 school year) breadth over depth. "Many colleges still buy into the idea of survey courses," Jones says. "We're begin- Letter Grade % Score College Board Rating Equivalent ofTests ning to realize that modeling [AP courses] after intro- ductory college courses may not be the best strategy." 5 Extremely well qualified A 14 Harvard University recently announced that it 4 Well qualified B 20 would no longer offer advanced course placement for 3 Qualified C 27 AP scores of 4, and Yale and Stanford may soon fol- 2 Possibly qualified n.a. 25 low suit. After Harvard dean Harry Lewis pointed out

I No recommendation n.a. 13 that the preparation of students with scores of 4 on AP exams was "significantly inferior" to that of stu- dents who scored 5s, the faculty council unanimously Growth in the AP Program endorsed Lewis' finding. While several departments at Harvard already accept only 5s for AP credit, the Year Schools Candidates Exams Taken change becomes official university policy with the class of 2007. 1955-56 104 1,229 2,199 Despite the need for reform, the NRC committee 1960-61 1,126 13,283 17,603 believes the AP and1Bprograms have merit. "Pro- 1965-66 2,518 38,178 50,104 grams for advanced study, particularly the Advanced 1970-71 3,342 57,850 74,409 Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) 1975-76 3,973 75,651 98,898 programs, are major contributors to science and 1980-81 5,253 133,702 178,159 mathematics education at the high school level," the 1985-86 7,201 231,378 319,224 researchers write. They also note that the programs 1990-91 9,786 359,120 535,186 "provide challenging opportunities for motivated stu- 1995-96 11,712 537,428 843,423 dents that might not otherwise be available." Rather 2000-01 13,680 844,471 1,414,387 than recommending cutting back on AP andIBpro-

Source: AP data reprinted with permission of the College grams, the NRC report calls for schools to make Entrance Examination Board. these courses more available to students who cur- rently have less access to them, particularly minority, rural, and poor urban youth.

Harvard Education LetterMarch/April 2002 6 Interview they develop effective assessment through the whole process againun- continued from page 5 methodologies for determining less they want to be certified in a dif- whether their curriculum has met ferent category. We're working with construcfivism. How do you respond? those goals? And do they have the ca- the Educational Testing Service on de- Very rarely do we see a teacher pacity to turn the data from those as- veloping such an assessment. It will whom you could call a purely con- sessments into information that in- require evidence of classroom teach- structivist teacher or a purely didactic forms their future instruction? ing, so you can't have moved on to teacher. Good teachers use an array of Teachers tell us how much this another job and still be a Board-certi- methods all the time. Because the Na- process [helps them] because it forces fied teacher. It will also include a con- tional Board assessment is standards them to have deep and personal con- tent-knowledge piece, either through based and relies on written commen- versations about what they're doing, the assessment center or perhaps taries, I have no doubt that a teacher how they're doing it, and why they're through a dissertation-type project or who has a didactic style and who doing it. an action-research project to demon- achieves good things with her students strate deep content knowledge and would do very well. Our assessment is National Board Certification lasts for [the ability] to impart that knowledge concerned with four things: Can ten years, meaning the first certificatesto students. Finally, it will require teachers set high and appropriate expire next year. Is there a recertifica- documenting one's work in the com- learning goals for their students? Can tion system in place? munity. they develop assignments and instruc- Not yet. But we're developing a tion that will help their student plan to allow teachers to renew their achieve those learning goals? Can certification so they won't have to go

Six Principles Principle #5: Continuous age. Now, I have taught statistics for a For Further continued from page 8 Improvement long time, and no amount of listening Information Jeff Howard, president of the Efficacy to Garrison Keillor will convince me teaching strategies. Institute, uses an analogy that may that that is a possible distribution. But When U.S. Secretary of Education resonate for people who have kids at there's another issue here. When you Rod Paige was running Houston's home. He calls it the Nintendo Effect, hear these comparisons made to schools, he did not say, "My way or which refers to the child who cannot norms and you hear comparisons D.B. Reeves. Accountability In Action:A BlueprintforLearning the highway" to 200 schools. He said, focus or concentrate and is always made to the average, normally the vis- Organizations. Denver:Advanced "You want respect for diversity, in- moving about the classroom until you ceral reaction is that this is something Learning Press, 2000. cluding different styles, approaches, turn on the Nintendo machine, where- that hurts poor kids. However true that D.B. Reeves. Making Standards and strategies? You got it. But the upon the child is transfixed, moving might be, it also hurts advantaged Work How to Implement Standards- price of freedom is transparency. The not a follicle of hair as he sits for kids. Based Assessments in the Classroom, School, and District Denver: price of trying different things is being hours in front of the machine. The bell curve.is insidious for all Advanced Learning Press, 1997. able to come to one another, and come The question Dr. Howard asks is, kids. It is an ineffective, inappropriate Center for Performance Assess- to me, with transparent results. Tell "How long would that child be staring way to measure student achievement. ment, 1660 South Albion St, Suite me what worked, tell me what didn't at the screen if you mailed his Nin- You've got some "above average" 1110, Denver, CO 80222; 800- 844 -6599; 303-504-9312 (local); work." That's what accountability re- tendo scores to him nine weeks kids who are inappropriately compla- fax: 303-504-9417; email: quires. You can embrace different hence?" Part of what keeps him en- cent and who are hurt by norms as info@makingstandardsworkcom. www.maldngstandardswork. strategies provided that you report gaged is not just what's happening on surely as kids who are in the low end COT those strategies. Win or lose, succeed the screen. It is that he gets feedback of the bell curve. Do you know the or fail, we report them. that is timely, immediate, and rele- 55th-percentile kid who gets a 55th- It's important to remember that re- vant. If we're going to build a holistic percentile score in reading and cannot specting diversity doesn't mean anar- accountability system, once-a-year write an essay to save his soul? The chy or that all views are equal. You feedback is not sufficient. We should 55th-percentile student in math who can have respect for diversity without be building a system that every month cannot apply the algorithm in different giving up foundational principles. We gives feedback to our children, our contexts? The only thing that really have the ability, maybe even the man- leaders, and our teachers so we can matters is whether students are meet- date, to say that some values are bet- get busy building better instructional ing expectations that are clear, objec- ter. The values of freedom, truth, and systems. tive, and immutablenot who beat justice are better than the values of whom. oppression and totalitarianism. That's Principle #6: Focus on Achievement, not Norms Douglas B. Reeves is chairman and founder the kind of thing we ought to be able of the Center for Performance Assessment to say. Not every principle is up for There is actually a state where the and the International Center for Educational grabs. Board of Education voted that 80 per- Accountability. cent of students must be above aver-

17 Harvard Education Letter March/April 2002 Six Principles of Effective Accountability Accountability-based reforms should lead to better teaching and learningperiod By Douglas B. Reeves

"We have to think about accountability in a very differ- got to investigate which strategies in our own communi- ent way," says Douglas B. Reeves, chairman and ties are specifically associated with improved student founder of the Center for Performance Assessment and achievement. And let's focus on behaviors, not just test the International Center for Educational Accountability. scoresin other words, measure what the grownups do. "We have done a splendid job of holding nine-year-olds We need to set as many standards for the adultsthe accountable. Let me suggest as a moral principle that board members, the administrators, the teachers, per- we dare not hold kids any more accountable than we haps someday even the parentsas we do for kids. expect to hold ourselves." We Welcome At a recent forum hosted by the Principal's Center at Principle #3: Relevance Your Comments the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Reeves out- There ought to be a direct relationship between the lined the principles of what he believes comprise effec- strategies schools employ and improvements in student tive school-based accountability systems. His remarks learning. Of course, relevance isn't always obvious. Write or email us at were edited for this issue: Some research indicates that, with the exception of at- Harvard Education Letter tendance, the number-one factor associated with im- 8 Story Street, 5th Floor Principle #1: Congruence proved test scores and behaviors in the classroom hap- Cambridge, MA 02138 Objectives and strategies are sometimes developed in pens to be more nonfiction writing. [email protected] complete contravention to what the accountability sys- It may be obvious that more nonfiction writing is re- tem calls for. Accountability must be the unifying theme lated to better writing scores, and it may make sense that draws strategy, rewards, recognition, and personnel that more nonfiction writing is highly related to better evaluations together. reading scores. Less obvious is the I once worked in a district that fact that even a little more nonfiction planned to focus its accountability writing in a curriculum is also related system on the principle of prioritized Respect for diversity has to better math, science, and social standardsthat is, focusing on the to include a willingness studies scores. In these instances, we most important standards rather than find specific relationships between trying to cover everything at once. to try different our classroom strategies and our re- That was the rhetoric. But the first sults. line of the teacher evaluation form approaches, techniques, Do these relationships prove was, "Did the teacher cover the cur- and teaching strategies. causality? Not necessarily. But they riculum?" do provide us with a way of testing In another district, accountability- the hypothesis that more nonfiction minded educators said, "We look at writing will improve test scores and the evidence. We know that if more children are in- student behavior. If I were to ask every teacher, "Why volved in extracurricular activities, our attendance and can't you do more nonfiction writing?" many would student achievement will be better." Yet when you say, "I don't have the time." Time, time, time is the looked at the recognition and reward system in that dis- number-one issue. These teachers are articulating the trict, the teachers they rewarded and recognized were hypothesis that if they spent more time on writing, they the most exclusive, the ones who protected their classes wouldn't be able to cover the curriculum, and that and their extracurricular activities from any students would make scores go down. I may not have been able other than the cream of the crop. In both of these cases, to prove causality, but I have disproved that hypothesis. the accountability system was contradicted by the ob- jectives and strategies. Principle #4: Respect for Diversity "All children can learn" does not mean "all children are Principle #2: Specificity the same." Furthermore, diversity is not merely about If I go to one more conference where we hold hands external characteristics. If we're really going to take this and chant, "All children can learn," I'm not going to be seriously, that means we start looking at diversity on the able to take it anymore. I believe that all children can inside as well as diversity on the outside. Making this learn, but I have never achieved anything with a mantra. principle both a moral and an intellectual part of the Accountability is not about chanting mantras; it's not curriculum will require taking different approaches in about generalities. different schools. That is, it will require a diversity of We've got to know specifically what works. We've approaches, diversity of techniques, and diversity of

continued on page 7 Harvard Education LetterMarch/April 2002 18 SE**RI AS -. May/June 2002 Volume 18, Number 3

A A wa II A INSIDE

new and noteworthy Professional Development That Counts; No Child Left Behind "Lite" insights 3 Lesson Study: Can Preparing for the Coming Avalanche Japanese Methods Trans- late to U.S. Schools? ofAccountabilityTests Asian practice shows We can't get rid of high-stakes testsbut we can replace harmful ones promise hereand high- with those that support both accountability and instruction lights cultural differences. By W James Popham 4 for discussion American educators will soon find themselves Even now, as state educational leaders are await- inundated by a profusion of state-level ing federal guidance regarding how to implement Building a "Storehouse achievement tests soon to be spawned by No Child Left Behind, preliminary decisions are apt of Memories" with the recently enacted No Child Left Behind Act. to be made regarding what sorts of achievement Lesson Study Signed into law by President Bush in January, this tests should be adopted. Those early decisions will Manabu Sato of the Univer- significant new federal statute calls for a dramatic have a powerful influence on the kinds of statewide sity of Tokyotalks with the expansion of state-level achievement testing in math achievement tests ultimately employed. Harvard Education Letter and reading in grades 3-8. Such increased assess- It is absolutely urgent, therefore, that all relevant about the role of lesson ments, if appropriate, could help stakeholders immediately let study in Japanese education. our nation's children learn what their state's educational leaders they ought to be learning. It is know that the new achievement 8 more likely, however, that this en- Will state policymakers tests should be designed so they largement of statewide achieve- have a positive impact on school- ment testing will only heighten opt for the"same-old, ing. Federal regulations and the harmful effects that most of same-old" achievement guidelines for the new law are today's state-level achievement scheduled to be released later this Please visit our website tests are having on children. tests, or will tests be yearin late summer or early www.edletter.org fall. But because the new tests C Crucial Months Ahead chosen that truly must be up and running by the for stories and transcripts from our archives, as well as Whether the new, federally man- support instruction? 2005-06 school year, state edu- dated achievement tests turn out cation officials must soon get information about how to to have a positive or negative im- cracking on what sorts of assess- order books, back issues, pact on students will depend al- ments they should adopt to sat- and titles in our popular most totally on the types of tests isfy the new law's requirements. Focus Series, including "Minority Achievement," that educational decisionmakers choose to install. The next few months are critical. Will state policy- "Violence Prevention If traditionally constructed achievement tests are makers opt for the "same-old, same-old" achieve- and Conflict Resolution:' usedtests akin to those now widely employed ment tests, or will tests be chosen that truly support "Inclusion and Special then we will surely witness a continued test- instruction? Education:' and more. triggered erosion of educational quality. In contrast, if more suitable state-level achievement tests are Harmful Tests installed, then their impact on instruction could be Currently, statewide achievement tests are adminis- quite positive. tered annually in almost every state, typically at 19 several grade levels. Students' per- "eternity-on-task"! And that's what nearly identical (or, in some cases, formances on these tests often play a many students feel they've been put are identical) to the actual items on prominent role in evaluating the through after enduring seemingly end- the test. Then, later, when students effectiveness of educators at both the less hours of test-preparation drills. take the actual test and encounter district and school levels. Newspaper Such drilling can stamp out the joy such already practiced items, they Harvard rankings of school-by-school scores that students ought to be deriving realize that they have been made Education Letter on these achievement tests, for exam- from learning. Education can be, and unwilling conspirators in a teacher- PUBLISHER ple, are used by citizens to determine often should be, genuinely exciting. contrived fraud. After such an experi- Douglas Clayton which schools are wonderful and But the only excitement in a drill- ence, how will students regard their EDITOR David T. Gordon which are woeful. dominated classroom takes place teachers in the future? Dishonesty

PRODUCTION EDITOR Moreover, in many states student when the end-of-period buzzer breeds dishonesty, on either side of Dody Riggs test performance can also have serious goes off. the teacher's desk. ASSISTANT EDITOR Michael Sadowski consequences for individual students Finally, a third harmful impact of In sum, statewide accountability

MARKETING (such as the denial of a high school today's statewide accountability tests tests, although often installed with the Karen Walsh diploma or grade-to-grade retention). is that they often lead to two forms of best of intentions, are having at least FACULTY EDITOR Richard F. Elmore It should be apparent, then, that state- the three negative consequences iden-

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD wide achievement tests are important tified here, namely, curricular reduc- Katherine C. Boles, Lecturer, assessment instruments. Is it any won- tionism, excessive test-focused HGSE; Laura A. Cooper,Asst. Superintendent, Evanston Township der that such assessments are often The only way to turn drilling, and the modeling of dishon- (IL) High School; Linda Darling- referred to as "high-stakes tests"? esty. Clearly, such tests are harming, Hammond, Professor, Stanford University; Sally Dias, Superinten- Yet, these high-stakes assessment in- around the widespread not helping, education. dent,Watertown (MA) Public , struments are typically having a deci- Schools; Harold Howe II, Lecturer erosion of public Emeritus, HGSE; Susan Moore sively negative impact on the quality Permanent Tests Johnson, Professor, HGSE; Robert Kegan, Professor, HGSE; Peggy of schooling provided to a state's confidence in schools is But statewide accountability tests are Kemp, Office of School Partner- ships, HGSE; Marya Levenson, students. not going to go away. Indeed, even if DirectotTeacher Education, Bran- First, there is rampant curricular with evidencelots of it the No Child Left Behind Act had deis University; Deborah Meier, Principal, Mission Hill School, reductionism wherein teachers tend to never made it to the president's desk, Boston, Mk, John Merrow, Presi- that schools are truly dent,The Merrow Report Jerome reduce the instructional attention they there would still be accountability T. Murphy, Professor, HGSE; Milli give to any skills or knowledge not tests almost everywhere in the U.S. Pierce, Director, Principals' Center, worth the tax dollars we HGSE;Arthur J. Rosenthal, Publish- assessed on a statewide achievement And that's because our nation's citi- ing Consultant Catherine Snow, pour into them. Professor, HGSE; Jay Sugarman, test. Curricular content not addressed zens, and the policymakers who repre- Teacher, Runkle School, Brookline, on a statewide test is apt to get short sent them, have lost confidence in our MAAriadneValsamis, Director of Etillkf9P14M74 Program and Resource Develop- shrift in classrooms. public schools. The only way this ment, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. Because of pressure to boost their widespread erosion in public confi-

Harvard Education Letter (15514 students' scores on high-stakes tests, outright dishonesty on the part of dence in schools can be turned around 8755.3716) is published bimonthly many teachers steer clear of any con- teachers who are pressured by is with evidencelots of itthat U.S. by the Harvard Graduate School of Education,8 Story Street 5th tent that's not likely to boost scores. accountability measures. Some schools are truly worth the tax dollars floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. Second-class postage paid at Yet, a student who gets shortchanged teachersthankfully not all that we pour into them. Boston, MA. and additional mailing on content is a miseducated student. many yetseriously bend test-admin- We do not have statewide account- offices. Postmaster: Send address change(s) to Harvard Education Today's state-level achievement tests istration rules so that their students ability tests because educators Letter, 8 Story Street, 5th floor, are triggering the kind of curricular will score better. Some give students yearned for them. On the contrary, Cambridge, MA 02138.3752.

Signed articles in the Harvard construction that miseducates massive more time to complete the test than they were installed by skeptical poli- Education Letter represent the numbers of our nation's children. they're supposed to. Others roam the cymakers who, often over heated views of the authors. A second harmful consequence classroom giving students on-the-spot protests from the education profes- ©2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. of today's statewide accountability suggestions to "rethink" incorrect sion, wanted proof that our public Published as a non-profit service. All rights reserved. Special permis- tests is that they foster excessive test- answers. Even more blatantly, some schools were working. Today, there- sion is required to reproduce in focused drilling. Many teachers these teachers have actually been appre- fore, no amount of rhetoric from any manner, in whole or in part, the material herein contained. days are being pushed so hard to raise hended giving students a list of cor- educators, however persuasive, will

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE their students' scores that their class- rect answers before administering a satisfy the demand for test-based evi- Send $34 for individuals, $44 for institutions ($46 for Canada/Mex- rooms have been transformed into high-stakes test. If we truly want our dence that our schools are successful. ico, $56 other foreign, in U.S. funds drill-dominated, test-preparation teachers to function in loco parentis, All this would be true even without a only) to Harvard Education Letter. Subscription prices subject to factories. how can we permit these proxy new federal law calling for the marked change without notice. Single Most teachers, of course, are famil- parents to model dishonesty for our expansion of statewide achievement copies, $7.00. Back issues and bulk subscriptions available at special iar with the research evidence show- children? testing. reduced rates. ing that, if teachers provide their stu- Equally serious is the sort of un- Anyone arguing for the abolition Address all correspondence to Harvard Education Letter, dents with ample "time-on-task" ethical test preparation that some of high-stakes accountability tests 8 Story Street, 5th floor, practice (on tasks similar to those teachers provide to their students might as well be whistling into a Cambridge, MA 02138-3752; phone 617-495-3432 in Massa- found on a test), students' scores will before the administration of a state- hurricane. Statewide accountability chusetts, 800-513-0763 outside Massachusetts; fax 617-496-3584; rise. There is, however, no evidence to wide achievement test. Students are testsin ever greater numbersare email: editor©edletterorg, support the instructional payoff of provided with practice items that are here to stay. web: www.edletter.org.

Harvard Education LetterMay/June 2002 What's to Be Done? directly to students' socioeconomic Commission on Instructionally Sup- That sounds like a pretty gloomy status or to inherited academic apti- portive Assessment. The reports make For Further prophecy. But there's a solution strat- tudes. These items do a good job in clear that state-level, high-stakes Information egy that we can employ. We simply spreading out students' scores, but achievement tests can be constructed need to use more appropriate state- they also assess what students bring to so that they provide solid accountabil- level achievement tests. The reason school, not what they learn there. ity evidence, yet are also instruction- that we see today's state-level tests Traditional achievement tests do ally supportive. "Building Tests to Support having such an adverse impact on have an important function; namely, to In the coming months, when state- Instruction and Accountability: American education is that those tests allow both teachers and parents to see level decisionmakers are determining A Guide for Policymakers by the are not suitable for the evaluation of how a student's performance com- how to best satisfy the brand new fed- Commission on Instructionally Supportive Assessment" is educational quality. And yet, of pares to that of other students in a eral assessment requirements, we have available online at course, the evaluation of educational normative group. That's useful infor- a marvelous opportunity to modify vnyw.aasaorglissues_and_insights quality is the cornerstone of any state- mation. But such comparative infor- outmoded measurement approaches iassessmentiBuilding_Tests.pdf level accountability system. mation is not suitable for the evalua- and to turn instead to the creation of W.J. Popham. Classroom Assess- ment WhatTeachers Need to Know Today's achievement tests have tion of schools. statewide achievement tests that can (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon, been constructed according to a tradi- Statewide achievement tests need benefit our students. 2002. tional measurement model that's not be built according to a traditional, If it turns out that tomorrow's ava- W.J. Popham. ModemEducational focused on providing comparative comparison-focused measurement lanche of statewide achievement tests Measurement Practical Guidelines interpretations of examinees' test model. It is possible to create instruc- are the same as today's, then we will for Educational Leaders(3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. performance. In order to yield mean- tionally supportive accountability tests surely have muffed it. W.J. Popham.Testing! Testing! What ingful comparisons of student test per- that not only supply accurate, credible W. James Popham is professor emeritus at Every Parent Should Know About formanceto show, for example, that evidence regarding the educational the UCLA Graduate School of Education School Tests. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. Student A scored in the 60th percen- effectiveness of our schools, but also and Information Studies. He has spent the tile, Student B in the 65tha tradi- help teachers do a better job of in- bulk of his career as a teacher, first in an W.J. Popham. The Truth About tional test's items need to do a super structing their students. Oregon high school and later at UCLA, Testing: An Educator's Call to Action. Arlington,VAASCD, 2000. job of spreading out students' scores. The nature of such dual-purpose whereUCLAToday recognized him as one Many of the items on today's state- tests is described in a pair of reports of the university's top 20 professors of the level achievement tests are linked recently issued by the independent 20th century.

new and noteworthy

Professional Development That Counts opment in the service of student learning" becomes a cor- How can we hold educators accountable for improved per- nerstone of school life rather than a clumsy add-on. For a formance if we do not provide both the means and the copy of the report, contact the Albert Shanker Institute, opportunity for such improvement? That question lies at 555 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001; 202- the heart of "Bridging the Gap Between Standards and Ac- 879 -4401. www.shankerinstitute.org countability: The Imperative for Professional Development in Education," a new report by Richard F. Elmore, Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at the Harvard Gradu- No Child Left Behind "Lite" ate School of Education and a senior research fellow at the No time to wade through the 670-page No Child Left Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). Behind Act? Try the lean 96-page version, courtesy of the By comparing "the ideal" and "the real" that is, what U.S. Department of Education, available in an Adobe we know constitutes effective professional development Acrobat PDF file or Microsoft Word (www.ed.gov/pubs/ versus what actually goes on in schools and school sys- stratplan2002-07/index.html). The condensed version temsElmore poses a challenge. If the public and policy- clearly lays out the legislation's strategic goals and in- makers want improvement, then they must invest in the cludes charts showing annual goals for state and federal knowledge and skill of teachers and administrators. And if accountability, performance targets for NAEP, and other teachers want to earn the respect and compensation of pro- measures for 2002-2007. The DOE has also established a fessionals, they must learn to do their work differently and No Child Left Behind website (www.nclb.gov). It in- accept accountability for student performance. cludes a "Parents' Toolbox" with brochures on reading, Such changes require that we rethink the fundamental homework, and other topics, as well as a glossary of edu- structure of schools, he writes, so that "professional devel- cation research and policy terms.

21 Harvard Education LetterMay/June 2002 Lesson Study: Can Japanese Methods Translate to U.S. Schools? Asian practice shows promise hereand highlights cultural differences By Karen Kelly

/t 's 10 a.m. on a Wednesday at son study as an effective method for A Multi-Step Process Paterson (NJ) School Number 2, systematically improving classroom The specifics of lesson study can vary and seven teachers are crowded instruction by replacing teachers' in- from school to school, but the method around a circle of student desks, de- grained assumptions and solo prac- in its purest form generally consists of bating how to introduce the concept oftices with collaborative brainstorming, eight steps, which are outlined in geometric shapes to a special educa- planning, observation, and evaluation. Stigler and Hiebert's book. The first tion class. Brightly colored foam While there are no firm numbers and perhaps most important step in- shapes are piled on one desk, while on how many U.S. schools are using volves defining the learning problem rectangular perfume boxes and cylin- lesson study, the Lesson Study Re- the teaching team is going to try to drical tennis ball containers clutter search Group of Teachers College at solve. As the authors explain, this another. Columbia University has identified 17 problem can be general (such as "We can start the lesson by asking school districts and more than 80 improving students' engagement in them to group similar objects to- mathematics) or specific (teaching a gether," suggests 5th-grade teacher particular mathematical concept). It Beatrice Parga. can be derived from teachers' own "I'm concerned these kids will Whether it's a classroom experiences or from man- characterize the shapes by color in- cornerstone of one's dated curriculum policies at the ad- stead," says 8th-grade teacher Bobbie ministration or even national level. Wolff, "or maybe group all the pointy practice or just another Second, teachers meet in teams things togetherlike cones and trian- from across grades and across disci- gles." professional tool, lesson plines to develop lessons together in "Maybe it would be good if they study has the potential to an attempt to solve the learning prob- group them in a way we don't want lem identified. The group takes about them to," says Bill Jackson, the freshen stale thinking. five weeks to develop a detailed les- school's math coordinator. "They may son plan. "Although one teacher ulti- learn that three out of the four shapes mately teaches the lesson as part of have parallel, congruent faces." the process, the lesson itself is seen by The teachers trade and debate schools in 22 states that are trying it. all involved as a group product," ideas as they try to anticipate how stu- Assistant professor Clea Fernandez, Stigler and Hiebert note. dents will respond to the lesson and the group's director, is certain there In the teaching and observation what teachers can do to turn those re- are many more and notes that she gets phase, one of the team members sponses into learning opportunities. more than two dozen inquiries per teaches the lesson while her or his They are engaged in lesson study, a week about the practice. colleagues leave their own classes to professional development process de- A survey of 31 lesson study partic- take notes on student engagement and veloped in Japan. ipants in the San Mateo (CA) school responses, the flow of the lesson, and The practice is getting more notice district revealed that 86 percent re- how successfully it addressed the in the United States, thanks in large ported the collaboration with col- learning issues identified. Teams may part to the positive reviews it received leagues to be extremely useful, assign specific research tasks to ob- in The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from according to the survey's author, servers, such as watching a particular the World's Teachers for Improving Catherine Lewis, a senior research student or counting the number of Education in the Classroom, the 1999 scientist in the education department minutes it takes students to complete book by UCLA's James W. Stigler and at Mills College in Oakland, CA. a task. the University of Delaware's James Teachers said that lesson study helps In the evaluation and reflection Hiebert. The book, which compared them better identify instructional phase, the group reviews its notes and the classroom methods of U.S., Japan- goals, assess student understanding, discusses what worked and what ese, and German teachers, touted les- and learn new teaching strategies. didn't. Unlike classroom observation

Harvard Education LetterMay/June 2002 22 as it is traditionally practiced in the "Because Japan is a country with haps the best example of the imple- U.S., the focus is primarily on the les- national education goals and curricu- mentation of Japanese lesson study in son itself, not the teacher and her or lar guidelines, what this group of the United States. Five mathematics his technique. The lesson is then re- teachers has learned will have imme- lesson study groups have been created vised, taught, and observed again. Af- diate relevance for other Japanese there, most with teachers from adja- ter a second round of evaluation, the teachers trying to teach the same con- cent grades. Each group meets for 80 group writes a report, detailing what it cepts at the same grade level," Stigler to 100 minutes a week while their stu- has learned and sharing these results and Hiebert write. dents take "specials" such as gym and not just with teachers in their own art or receive instruction from a part- school, but often with a wider audi- East Meets West ner teacher. ence through published papers. Paterson's School Number 2 is per- Lesson study advocates say the

Teachers Become Students

On a recent afternoon at Robert F. Wagner of them ended up copying off the one kid with the Middle School on the Upper East Side of answer," he says. Manhattan, a team of five middle school math Susan Picker, coordinator for middle and high teachers prepared for the culmination of the lesson school mathematics in Manhattan's Community Dis- study process: the research lesson. All are lead teach- trict 2, spent the entire lesson watching a group of four ers in the district and had spent four weeks preparing a students in the back of the room. She mainly recorded lesson on tangent ratios, in which students would learn their conversation and her own observations about how to derive the ratios from right triangles. Eighth- their understanding of a tangent ratio chart the teacher grade teacher Jason Appel would present the team's posted on the blackboard. "A number of students lesson to his class of 32 students while 30 adult ob- weren't clear on how to use the chart to solve the next servers looked on. two problems," she says. "They were frustrated." The adults arrived first for a prelesson briefing from In contrast, Charlene Marchese, a mathematics the team, who passed out an outline of the goals of staff developer who often works with the lesson study their lesson, explaining how it fits within the larger teams, watched a number of groups but took few unit of trigonometric ratios, as well as the plan itself. notes. "I have a hard time being an observer," she says. Explaining how a lesson builds a bridge between prior "I find if I write notes I lose track of what the kids are learning and future lessons is an important considera- saying. I try to get the overall feeling of it instead." tion in lesson study. Eighth-grade teacher Peter Dubno also found the Next, the team members gave out evaluation forms role challenging. He felt compelled to help a strug- that encouraged the observers to "record any com- gling student, despite strict orders to watch but not ments made among the students during this activity speak. "I'm a teacher, I'm not an observer," he says that revealed they were engaged in critical thinking." with a laugh. "If I had my druthers, I'd be teaching the They also provided copies of the detailed lesson plan, lesson with Jason!" which was several pages long, as well as a protocol In the discussion following the lesson, observers sheet instructing them not to "interfere with the natural had a chance to share their thoughts with all five team process of the lesson by helping students." members. While a few observers critiqued Appel's When the students started arriving, the adults teaching, they were encouraged to focus on the lesson crowded around the edges of the classroom. The les- itself and the students' understanding of it. "Our dis- son began when Appel placed a word problem on the trict's lesson study theme is to promote students' criti- overhead projector and asked the students to work cal thinking, and we wanted to know what kinds of together to find the answer. As soon as their pencils questions kids were asking that show us they're think- hit the page, the adult observers began looking over ing critically about a problem," says Appel. students' shoulders, making notes on their problem- The feedback was helpful, he says: "If you had told solving methods and listening to conversations. me ahead of time that my students were going to have As the lesson proceeded, it became clear that the trouble expressing ratios, I wouldn't have believed teachers had different interpretations of their roles. A you. I don't always get that feedback when I'm teach- few took detailed notes, including Bill Jackson from ing a lesson by myself." That isolationof doing the Paterson (NJ) School Number 2, who had been invited work all by oneselfis just what lesson study prom- to serve as an outside commentator. "I was trying to ises to overcome. see if they really understood the mathematics, and a lot Karen Kelly

23 Harvard Education LetterMay/June 2002 process has the potential to transform agrees. As a 7th- and 8th-grade math City, she decided to do so without the everyday teaching by turning teachers teacher just finishing his fourth year, help of Japanese educators. "I realized into researchers who seek fresh ap- he has spent most of his teaching ca- Paterson was a boutique-like project proaches, ideas, and knowledge. Pa- reer so far taking part in the lesson that would be difficult to replicate terson 5th-grade teacher Pam Di Prima study process. The improvement of elsewhere," she says. "So I've taken is optimistic that the practice will help his content knowledge has been one everything I learned from watching her freshen stale thinking. "I'm not of the program's biggest benefits, he the Japanese teachers coach the Pater- that familiar with what happens in a says. "A lot of us weren't math ma- son staff and I've tried to bring that to special education classroom," she jors, and some of the topics in 8th American teachers." says, "but I have mainstreamed stu- grade can get pretty complex. In District 2 was a natural choice for dents in my own class, and I'm hop- lesson study, you have to understand lesson study, she says, because its ing I can learn some techniques." the mathematics in depth. I've learned teachers are accustomed to collabora- Lesson study also trains teachers to a lot." tion and a learner-centered instruc- ask for help when they need itan Of course, teachers in Paterson tional approach, which blends well antidote to the isolation teachers in have had the advantage of learning di- with lesson study's emphasis on antic- U.S. classrooms often experience as rectly from Japanese mentors. Every ipating student questions and measur- they toil in a solo practice. When Monday for a year, teachers from the ing student learning as the lesson is Makoto Yoshida, a lesson study and Greenwich (CT) Japanese School being taught. mathematics education consultant, In the absence of Japanese men- visited Paterson, one teacher didn't tors, the District 2 teachers have hesitate to pull him into her classroom learned the process from videotapes to watch a lesson that wasn't working. There is concern that and from Fernandez herself. They rely Other teachers have emailed well- on their own ideas and those of dis- known scholars and asked them to the casual way many U.S. trict math coordinators in developing weigh in on debates, consulting those teachers approach lesson lesson ideas, in contrast with Paterson, whom Japanese teachers refer to as where there's a strong emphasis on "knowledgeable others." study may undermine its Japanese-style math lessons. "You want to look far and wide There is a concern that the casual for ideas about what might improve effectiveness, especially way many U.S. teachers approach les- instruction," says UCLA's Stigler. if they see it as just son study may undermine its effec- "[Lesson study involves] seeking out tiveness, Fernandez says. For exam- and evaluating ideas, integrating them, another fad. ple, it's not unusual to see Japanese seeing what happens, and then de- teachers taking detailed notes during briefing." lessons while their U.S. counterparts Classroom observation provides an appear less diligent in their observa- opportunity for teachers to step out of spent two hours in Paterson coaching tion. Fernandez is concerned that their instructional roles and become teachers. The two groups were intro- Americans may take the process less researchers, documenting the student duced through Columbia's Lesson seriously, especially if they see it as experience that teachers at the front of Study Research Group, which used just another fad. But she remains the room often miss. "The observers grant funding to pay the Japanese committed to creating U.S. lesson provide extra pairs of eyes," says teachers to participate. study groups that can function well Lewis, who also points out that Japan- Not only did teachers at Paterson without Japanese coaches and can be ese teacher-observers take copious adopt the lesson study framework, adapted to a variety of teaching styles. notes during lessons. they also have used Asian math text- "We have wonderful teachers here we The collaborative and deliberative books that emphasize a mastery of can learn from, and I think we're ca- process of lesson study may also im- fundamental skills through in-depth pable of generating great ideas that prove teachers' content knowledge, lessons on fewer topics, a systematic might be even more amenable to the Lewis says: "In Japan, teachers often movement from basic to advanced needs we have," she says. invite experts in math or science to concepts, a lot of student discussion, Interestingly, there is a difference watch the lesson and then the teachers and creative problem-solving. between the way Paterson and the ask them questions. It's a way to ad- New York City teams describe lesson dress the gaps in their own under- Trying It on Their Own study. In Paterson, where participation standing." Many of the teachers Of course, not every school that tries in lesson study is voluntary and where Lewis surveyed in San Mateo, who lesson study will be able to arrange the teachers have Japanese mentors, were in their second year of lesson weekly, in-person mentoring from teachers tend to view it as a corner- study, believed the process helped Japanese lesson study veterans as Pa- stone of their practice. In District 2, them learn more about the subject terson did. When Teachers College's where lesson study is mandatory but matter they were teaching. Fernandez introduced lesson study to there are no Japanese mentors, teach- Back in Paterson, Nick Timpone Community District 2 in New York ers describe it as just another tool in

Harvard Education LetterMay/June 2002 24 their professional development kit. teacher, believes the "time problem" Singapore Math, when the district in- UCLA's James Stigler accepts will make it difficult to expand the troduces a new book for grades 6 For Further Onformation those differences as part of the learn- program beyond the district's teacher- through 8 next year. They say the text ing process. "What's happening at leaders, as Fernandez hopes to do next offers a strong conceptual foundation District 2 probably isn't like lesson year. "It would be hard to do this be- that complements their lesson study study in Japan, but that doesn't mean cause teachers don't have lots of time practice. But the district has a differ- -47 it's not a worthwhile thing to do," says [together] during the school day," he ent priority. "We need a districtwide Stigler. "If you keep your eyes on the says. But Fernandez says the school textbook adoption policy because we C. Fernandez and S. Chokshi. "Translating Lesson Study for a goalto solve [teaching] problems district is supportive of the program's have a transient population," says U.S. Context Practical Informa- and improve student learningit will expansion, and she hopes lesson study spokeswoman Pat Chalmers. "We tion and Advice for Teachers become more focused and more effec- meetings will be built into teachers' need that consistency, but we defi- Interested in Conducting Lesson Study." Unpublished paper tive over time." schedules. nitely don't discourage the use of sup- available on the Lesson Study That same level of district support plemental lesson study materials." Research Group website (see Can Lesson Study is not felt by participants at Paterson In the end, whether lesson study below). Work Here? School 2. "They are really doing this survives at Paterson School 2 will not Lesson Study Research Group, Teachers College, Columbia Introducing lesson study into U.S. on their own as far as their district is only depend on who is in charge but University, Box 118,525 W. 120th schools is complicated by the fact that concerned," says Fernandez. Princi- on test results, says Principal Liptak. St, New York, NY 10027; 212- pal Lynn Liptak sees this isolation as She says that, if her students don't 678- 3292; fax:212-678-3837; it requires a lot of time. Japanese email: [email protected]. teachers are paid to stay at school un- a legitimate concern, but she also ac- perform well on the state assessments, www.tc.edu/cente rs/ til 5 p.m., two hours after their stu- knowledges that it's difficult for an "we are going to be shot down." For lessonstudy/ dents are sent home, and they spend administrator in a large urban district schools trying to implement long-term Lesson Study in Japan.A website much of that time on lesson study ac- to fully understand a program in improvement in a quick-fix educa- by Mills College researchers with articles, videos, and interviews tivities. In District 2, teacher-leaders which "you have to experience the tional culture, there's nothing new with lesson study experts. meet every Friday afternoon and can whole process" to appreciate it. about that lesson at all. 0 www.lessonresearch.ned index.html use just some of that time to plan their Paterson teachers are concerned Karen Kelly is an education writer based in lessons. Jason Appel, a District 2 that they may lose their textbook, Ottawa, Ontario. C. Lewis. Lesson Study:A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Im- provement Philadelphia: Research for Better Schools, in press.

C. Lewis."Lesson Studr.The Core of Japanese Professional Develop- ment" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New from the Harvard Education Publishing Group New Orleans, April 2000.

C. Lewis. Educating Hearts and ofCulture Minds: Reflections on Japanese e DifferDifference Preschool and Elementary Powr',WigAge The across The Power of Culture Education. NewYorIc Cambridge ,reaching University Press, 1995. Teaching across Language Difference C. Lewis and I.Tsuchida."A Lesson Is Like a Swiftly Flowing Edited by Zeynep F. Beykont River." American Educator,Winter (1998): 14-17, 50-52.

Mainstream teachers increasingly face the complex task Research for Better Schools, Mid- Atlantic Eisenhower Consortium of providing language minority students with a quality for Mathematics and Science Education, 444 N.Third St., education. This timely collection of essays and class- Philadelphia, PA 19123; 215 -574- 9300, ext. 280; fax: 215-574-0133; room studies examines three key elementshigh- email: [email protected]. stakes assessment, effective pedagogy, and teacher vprnv.rbs.orgllesson_studyl readings_and_resources.shtrn1

preparationas they relate to teaching a diverse J .VV. Stigler and J. Hiebe rt. The student body to high academic standards. Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving Education in the Gassroom. New York Free Press, 1999. $24.95 paperback, 250 pp., 2002 ISBN 1-891792-03-2

For more information or to order this title, visit http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hepg/pc/ or call 1-800-513-0763.

Harvard Education LetterMay/June 2002 Building a "Storehouse of Memories" with Lesson Study

For more than 100 years, lesson study has been a key Teachers get little preservice training in Japan part of teacher education in Japan, says Manabu Sato, three weeks to teach high school, five weeks for professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate elementary school. That makes lesson study a key School of Education. Sato is the author of numerous part of on-the-job teacher education. We Welcome books and articles on school reform and issues facing Yes, and I think that's how it should be. Teachers Your Comments teachers. He spoke recently with the Harvard Educa- really learn best at school sites, and their learning must tion Letter. Here are some excerpts: be lifelong learning. (Co-teaching is another very im- portant way of training new teachers.) Lesson study Write or emailus at What role does lesson study play in Japanese helps teachers learn to become researchers. It is interest- Harvard Education Letter education? ing to note that in Japan, most books written about edu- 8 Story Street, 5th Floor Education in Japan is still very traditional. Classes cation are written by classroom teachers, not professors Cambridge, MA 02138 are largenearly 40 students on average. There's a of education. A school community should be a place [email protected] heavy emphasis on content. Teachers often don't have where not only children learn together but also teachers. the supplies or equipment they need. The only formal professional development provided by the school What role do parents play? boards is in the form of lectures. Parents in Japan usually visit schools three times a In this context, Japanese lesson study is critical. year to observe their children's classrooms. This has a Most lesson study groups are local and informal, that long tradition. However, I encourage principals and Coming is to say, unofficial. Teachers and teachers to invite parents to school principals organize the groups. more often and to include them in the soon:.. A survey of 3,000 teachers some teaching of kids. In one pilot school What Can We years ago showed that more than near Tokyo, 80 percent of parents are half had attended these informal "I've observed nearly Learn fromYears taking the opportunity to participate lesson study groups every week, in the education of their kids. In this of Reform and 10,000 classes in the last usually on Saturdays when they environment, parents and teachers Research in are not paid to work. 20 years, andeach lesson and principals can create an intimate Chicago? zone of collaboration in schools, is singular, each class is What are some of the building relationships that are crucial Helping advantages? singular, each teaching to making schools work. Immigrant This schoolhouse workshop, as Students we call it, enables teachers to dis- strategy is singular in How would you define Succeed cuss concrete problems of practice. that context." professionalism in teaching? Teachers learn to describe their Autonomy is important for any The Importance classrooms in great detail. They professional. Teachers need a say in of Heroes don't use a lot of theoretical words how they do their work. However, or spend time discussing abstrac- autonomy also requires that teachers tions. They use practical words, and they look for demonstrate professional responsibility. And the core of practical wisdom in the details. professional responsibility is listening to students' Abstractions and generalizations can get in the way voices and responding to those voiceswhat I like to of professional growth, so professional wisdom should call a listening pedagogy. It also requires listening to always be grounded in concrete examples. Of course, other teachers and to parents. this requires that teachers conduct many lesson stud- So this is more than just an accountability that says, ies. I've observed nearly 10,000 classes in the last 20 "I have accomplished this and that." That's only part of years, and each lesson is singular, each class is singu- professionalism. The other part is listening to others and lar, each teaching strategy is singular in that context. being willing to learn from them. Teachers don't need So to improve practice, teachers need to build a vast to express their own views and ideas as much as they store of memories. need to listen to other views and ideas, including those of students.

26

Harvard Education Letter May/June 2002 VE**RI A ' July/August 2002 Volume 18, Number 4

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INSIDE

"Wide Open and Welcoming" How trust helped transform a small Chicago school Fuel for Reform: The Importance of 4 for discussion Trust in Changing Schools Learning to Ride Are good social relationships key to school improvement? Rough Waves A principal reflects on a decade By David T Gordon at an improving school 5 At a recent conference on accountability and student achievement. Their conclusion? That "a assessment at Harvard's Kennedy School of broad base of trust across a school community lubri- new and noteworthy Government, dozens of education policy- cates much of a school's day-to-day functioning and New Reports Examine makers and scholars gathered to consider the impli- is a critical resource as local leaders embark on am- Roots of School Violence cations of the No Child Left Behind Act. During bitious improvement plans." hours of discussion about the value of standardized To make their argument, Bryk and Schneider 7 test data, "coercive" accountability, and stakes high build on a body of literature about social trust, in- and low, a pesky question kept surfacing about the cluding the work of Robert Putnam (Harvard) and insights wildcard in all of this: the people who actually go to Francis Fukuyama (Johns Hopkins) on the founda- Making the Case school every day to work and learn. Can excellent tions of effective democratic institutions and econ- for Heroes work be coerced from principals, omies. Putnam has shown that Exploring a word that has teachers, and students simply by when citizens trust each other taken on new significance withholding diplomas, slashing less and become less engaged in funds, and publishing embarrass- Schools with a high society, a country loses an asset 8 ing statistics in the newspaper? social capitalthat is essential As states and school districts degree of"relational trust"to collective problem-solving. (A work at structuring new accounta- are more likely to make 1997 study by Harvard School of bility mechanisms and mandating Public Health researchers even Please visit our website changes in instruction, they will changes that help raise found evidence that breakdowns www.edlettenorg do well to remember that school in social trust lead to health prob- people and their relationships to student achievement. lems and shortened lives.) for stories and transcripts one another will make or break re- Bryk and Schneider contend from our archives, as well as form. How do teachers relate to that schools with a high degree of information about how to each other? How do school pro- "relational trust," as they call it, order books, back issues, fessionals interact with parents and community? are far more likely to make the kinds of changes that and titles in our popular What are principal-teacher relations like? The an- help raise student achievement than those where re- Focus Series, including "Minority Achievement," swers to such questions are central to determining lations are poor. Improvements in such areas as "Violence Prevention whether schools can improve. classroom instruction, curriculum, teacher prepara- and Conflict Resolution," That's one lesson learned from Chicago's decade tion, and professional development have little "Inclusion and Special of school reforms, according to a new book by An- chance of succeeding without improvements in a Education," and more. thony S. Bryk and Barbara Schneider. In Trust in school's social climate. Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement, the Uni- Of course, the essential value of good relation- versity of Chicago researchers examine the role of ships to improving schools is not a new theme. social relationships in schools and their impact on School leaders such as Theodore Sizer and Deborah 27 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Meier have written eloquently about Actions are important, but so are in a firm but fair way are unlikely to the power of high-quality personal re- intentions. On a daily basis, trust is keep a faculty's support. Incompetent lationships in schools. However, Bryk raised or diminished depending on teachers impede the progress of stu- and Schneider take the bold step of whether the way we actand why dents and other teachers, who depend seeking empirical evidence that links is consistent with the expectations we on their colleagues to be professional. Harvard trust and academic achievement. In have agreed to, the authors write. For their part, principals trust Education Letter doing so, they draw on ten years of They contend that "the fulfillment of teachers who make efforts to improve PUBLISHER work in Chicago schools during a obligations entails not only 'doing the their practice, demonstrate a willing- Douglas Clayton period of sweeping reform, using right thing,' but also doing it in a re- ness to try out new ideas and take EDITOR David T. Gordon quantitative and qualitative research, spectful way, and for what are per- risks, and show a "can-do" attitude.

PRODUCTION EDITOR longitudinal case studies of elemen- ceived to be the right reasons." Trust is also better in schools where Dody Riggs tary schools, and in-school observa- In their research, Bryk and Schnei- principals have hiring authority be- ASSISTANT EDITOR Michael Sadowski tion and interviews. der looked at trust through three cause it enables both the principal and

MARKETING lensesthe principal-teacher relation- the new teacher to decide whether the Karen Walsh DefiningTrust ship, teacher-teacher trust, and ties hire is a "good fit" for the school. FACULTY EDITOR What is relational trust? Bryk and Richard F. Elmore Trust among Teachers EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Schneider readily admit it is "an Katherine C. Boles, lecturer, engaging but also somewhat elusive Teachers' relationships with each HGSE; Laura A Cooper,Asst Superintendent, Evanston Township idea" as a foundation for school im- "These data provide our other can often be more challenging (IL) High School; Linda Darling- Hammond, Professor, Stanford provement. But after thousands of than those between teachers and their University Sally Dias, Superinten- hours spent observing schools first evidence directly bosses, the authors found. Teachers dent,Watertown (MA) Public Schools; Harold Howe II, Lecturer before, during, and after the school lean on each other in a number of Emeritus, HGSE; Susan Moore linking the development of Johnson, Professor, HGSE; Robert daythey suggest four vital signs for ways in well-functioning schools. Kegan, Professor, HGSE; Peggy identifying and assessing trust in relational trust in a school They have confidence that their col- Kemp, Office of School Partner- ships, HGSE; Marya Levenson, schools: leagues in earlier grades have pre- Director,Teacher Education, Bran- Respect. Do we acknowledge community and long-term deis University; Deborah Meier, pared students for subsequent work. Principal, Mission Hill School, one another's dignity and ideas? Do Trust in colleagues' judgment, com- Boston, MA; John Merrow, Presi- improvements in academic dent,The Merrow Report: Jerome we interact in a courteous way? Do petence, and integrity helps teachers T. Murphy, Professor, HGSE: Milli we genuinely talk and listen to each meet shared goals, standards, and ex- Pierce, Director, Principals' Center, productivity." HGSE;Arthur J. Rosenthal, Publish- other? Respect is the fundamental in- pectations. Everyday activities such as ing Consultant Catherine Snow, Professor, HGSE; Jay Sugarman, gredient of trust, Bryk and Schneider planning instruction, setting discipline Teacher, Runkle School, Brookline, write. policies, and playground or lunch- MA:Ariadne Valsamis, Director of Program and Resource Develop. Competence. Do we believe in between school professionals and par- room monitoring also depend on good meat, John F. Kennedy library Foundation. each other's ability and willingness to ents, who represent both themselves will and mutual confidence.

Harvard Education Letter (ISSN fulfill our responsibilities effectively? and their children in this study. In Unfortunately, many schools are 8755.3716) is published bimonthly The authors point out that incompe- doing so, the researchers identified a organized in ways that discourage by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 8 Story Street, 5th tence left unaddressed can corrode number of defining characteristics of trust building. Teachers are isolated floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. Second-class postage paid at schoolwide trust at a devastating rate. such relationships. from each other and have little time to Boston, MA, and additional mailing Personal regard. Do we care discuss common or different views. offices. Postmaster: Send address Principals and Teachers change(s) to Harvard Education about each other both professionally This solo approach to teachingthe Letter, 8 Story Street, 5th floor, and personally? Are we willing to go Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. According to Bryk and Schneider, culture of "connoisseurship," as Har-

Signed articles in the Harvard beyond our formal roles and responsi- teachers seek a principal who commu- vard's Richard F. Elmore puts it Education Letter represent the bilities if neededto go the extra nicates a strong vision for the school sparks competition rather than collab- views of the authors. mile? and clearly defines expectations. They oration. ©2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Integrity. Can we trust each other also look for a principal who allocates Bryk and Schneider also identify Published as a non-profit service. All rights reserved. Special permis- to put the interests of children first, resources and makes assignments in procedural roadblocks in districts sion is required to reproduce in especially when tough decisions have fair and consistent ways. Teachers where teaching jobs get filled based any manner, in whole or in part, the material herein contained, to be made? Do we keep our word? want a principal to take an interest in on seniority and credentials rather HOW TO SUBSCRIBE Trust is the "connective tissue" that both their professional and personal than professionalism, or where incom- Send $34 for individuals, $44 for institutions ($46 for Canada/Mex- holds improving schools together, well-being. Does the principal encour- petent teachers are protected by such ico, $56 other foreign, in U.S. funds write Bryk and Schneider. School ad- age them to speak up without fear of rules. only) to Harvard Education Letter. Subscription prices subject to ministrators, teachers, parents, and retribution? Is the principal respected change without notice. Single Ties to Parents copies, $7.00. Back issues and bulk students all have certain expectations both as an educator and as an admin- subscriptions available at special of each other and their own obliga- istrator? Does the school function In general, research has demonstrated reduced rates. tions. Although power in schools, as smoothly? Does the principal put the the importance of parents giving their Address all correspondence to Harvard Education Letter, in most institutions, is not distributed interests of children ahead of personal support to schools. Such support can 8 Story Street, 5th floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752; evenlyprincipals have more than and political interests? take many forms. Do parents help or- phone 617-495-3432 in Massa- teachers, teachers more than parents Principals who are wishy-washy ganize extracurricular events or raise chusetts, 800-513-0763 outside Massachusetts; fax 617-496-3584; all parties are ultimately dependent on who try to placate everyonewind up funds? Do they support school disci- email: [email protected]; each other to succeed, and therefore web: www.edletter.org. losing everyone's trust. And those plinary policies? Do they understand everyone is to some extent vulnerable. who don't deal with problem teachers and help implement instructional

2 Harvard Education LetterJuly/August 2002 strategies by making sure students do visit classrooms. (See "Wide Open fellow teachers, and nearly all re- their homework and come to school and Welcoming," p. 4.) ported such relations with their prin- For Further prepared? Do they ensure that their For their part, parents need to cipals. In addition, 57 percent had Information kids get to school on time? demonstrate respect for teachers' pro- strong or very strong trust in parents. In Chicago, parental and commu- fessional judgment, particularly with By contrast, at schools in the bottom nity involvement in schools has been regard to instruction and content, ac- quartile, a majority of teachers re- achieved partly through legislation. cording to Bryk and Schneider. Input ported having little or no trust in their Under the 1988 reform act, each into what happens in the classroom is colleagues, two-thirds said the same A.S. Bryk and B. Schneider. Trust inSchools: A Core Resourcefor school has a Local School Council fine; involvement in a teacher's class- about their principals, and fewer than improvement New York: Russell (LSC) composed of a principal, teach- room work is not. Too often parents, 40 percent reported positive, trusting Sage, 2002. ers, community leaders, and parents. especially those who are well edu- relations with parents. P.Wasley et atSmallSchools, Great Among the legally established duties cated, think they know better. Further- Of course, those statistics alone Strides. NewYoric Bank Street College of Education, 2000. of LSCs are to review and approve more, those who regard themselves as don't demonstrate a cause-and-effect budgets, hire and fire principals, and school customersas in "the cus- link between trust and achievement, oversee the development of "school tomer is always right"and not as and the authors are careful not to improvement plans." So far, research partners in the education of their chil- make such a connection. After all, by the Consortium on Chicago School dren can be especially disruptive. If good relationships undoubtedly grow Research has found more than half of schooling is to be a successful social more easily in schools that are effec- LSCs to be highly effective gover- enterprise, respect must go both ways. tive and are much harder to cultivate nance organizations; about 30 percent under failing conditions. But the au- perform well but need improvement; What the Evidence Says thors do establish that schools with and 10 to 15 percent have significant The evidence from Chicago suggests high levels of trust were far more problems, such as inactivity or sus- that while not all schools with high likely to make improvements over tained conflict with school leaders. levels of trust improvethat is, trust time than those with low levels. In most effective Chicago schools, alone won't solve instructional or In a separate analysis, the re- good parent-school relations extend structural problemsschools with searchers looked at 100 schools that well beyond the formal duties of the little or no relational trust have prac- made the greatest improvements on LSC. Bryk and Schneider note that tically no chance of improving. Trust standardized tests in math and reading enlisting and cultivating parent sup- is a strong predictor of success. between 1991 and 1996 (before high- port for schools may require bridging Using data from the 1997 school stakes measures were introduced in gaps in class, language, race, or eth- year, Bryk and Schneider looked at Chicago), and they examined 100 nicity. Some ways of demonstrating levels of trust in schools in the top and schools that made little or no im- regard for parents and families might bottom quartiles in terms of academic provement. be to create parent centers, offer pro- performance. In top-quartile schools, Matching those trends against grams for parents and students to take three-quarters of teachers reported teacher survey data, Bryk and Schnei- part in together, and invite parents to strong or very strong relations with der found that schools with strong lev- els of trust at the outset of reforms had a I in 2 chance of making significant improvements in math and reading, Editor's Note while those with weak relationships Back in 1987, then U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett fingered had a 1 in 7 chance of making gains. Chicago public schools as the worst in the nation. Chicagoans may have And of the latter, the only schools that been tempted to brush off the secretary's observation as heavy-handed made any gains were those that Washington bluster. But Bennett was only repeating what civic leaders, strengthened trust over the course of educators, parents, and students there already knew: their schools were several years; schools whose poor re- failing and desperately needed fresh resources, organization, ideas, and lationships did not improve had no purpose. chance of making academic improve- Since that time, teachers, school leaders, politicians, researchers, ments. philanthropies, businesses, community organizations, and families have "These data provide our first evi- joined in dynamic ways to reform the city's school system. Through the dence directly linking the develop- 1990s, Chicago was willing to try just about anythingand didto im- ment of relational trust in a school prove its schools; each step was closely monitored by education re- community and long-term improve- searchers. ments in academic productivity," the What can we learn from that research? What lessons can be learned in authors write. Even after controlling Chicago's many successes and mistakes over the past dozen years? In this for factors such as high poverty rates, and upcoming issues, the Harvard Education Letter will examine the the statistical link between trust and Chicago experience and identify lessons that you can use to improve school improvement is striking. schools in your own community. We do so with the generous support of Certain organizational conditions the Joyce Foundation. D.T.G. make more fertile ground for trust to grow, according to Bryk and Schnei- der. Reducing student mobility aids

29 Harvard Education LetterJuly/August 2002 efforts to build good relationships be- ments of 350 or feweralso tend to portant one. Good relationships and tween school professionals and par- have more trusting environments, trust won't compensate for bad in- ents. Developing a sense of shared Bryk and Schneider found. Those struction, poorly trained teachers, or expectations and obligations is easier findings match the conclusions of unworkable school structures, as Bryk in schools where incompetent or un- other well-publicized studies, includ- and Schneider are careful to note. But cooperative teachers can be removed. ing one by the Bank Street College of by the same token, reform efforts are Voluntary association is also a factor. Education in 2000, which found that bound to fail if they ignore the impor- Administrators, teachers, parents, and teachers in small Chicago schools tance of how teachers, principals, par- students who get to choose their were more likely to have a strong ents, and students interacthow the school are more likely to have a sense of community and trust and be people behind the headlines work to- positive, trusting attitude about the more open to change. gether. Like a shiny automobile with school community. As we move into an era of national new parts and an empty gas tank, Small schoolsthose with enroll- reform, the Chicago lesson is an im- they're heading nowhere.

"Wide Open and Welcoming" How trust helped transform a small Chicago school By David T Gordon

Wen Nancy Laho became With an academic plan focused on their parents indicating that the work principal of Burley Ele- literacy and a flourishing bilingual has been done. Parents attend monthly mentary School a decade program, teachers are working dili- school assemblies where they read ago, a number of obstacles hampered gently at improving their practice, cul- with their children and listen to stu- the small school in Chicago's Lake- tivating ties with parents, and support- dents read favorite poems or passages view neighborhood. As in most failing ing their principal. Much of the credit from books. A local Starbucks pro- urban schools, the curriculum lacked for that success is no doubt due to the vides free beverages for the event. focus, teachers worked in isolation, sort of trust Laho inspired by remov- The Burley staff worked together and parents offered little support. to stop grade inflation and tighten Money for books, supplies, and build- standards by writing their own grade- ing improvements was scarce. On by-grade frameworks. Special educa- standardized tests in math and read- "I wanted the office to be tion teacher Nessy Moos, one of ing, Burley's scores sagged at around Laho's first hires back in 1993, says the 25th percentile. wide open and welcoming, Laho has found just the right mix of Laho's first act as principal demon- being a strong leader without being strated the kind of school she intended so people could walk in autocratic. "We really have one view," to run. She removed a large counter unimpeded." she says. "There's no question Nancy from the center of the main office to is our leader, but she's also very sup- make herself more accessible to teach- portive of us." The positive, trusting ers and parents. Then she spread the relationship between staff and prin- word that no one needed an appoint- cipal has created good will among ment to see her. "I wanted the office ing the big office counter. That practi- teachers, too. "Our relations are good, to be wide open and welcoming, so cal and hugely symbolic decision though sometimes controversial," says people could walk in unimpeded," opened up lines of communication Moos. "Nancy hired people with she says. with staff and parents that enabled the strong personalities, people who are A decade later, Burley Elementary school community to develop and leaders. So we all have strong opin- is a bright spot in Chicago's partly agree on a direction in which to take ions about how things should be done. sunny/partly cloudy reform. In the school. But there's no question everyone is 2002-03, students performed in the Laho and her staff created a read- committed. And we know ultimately 74th percentile in both reading and ing curriculum that requires all stu- that Nancy is our leader." math in state rankingsthis in a dents to read independently in class That confidence informs the pro- school where 85 percent of students each day and to hear teachers read fessional development program that are poor and where many of the 350 aloud. Students must take books teachers themselves direct. Since they students speak English as a second home, keep weekly reading journals, have helped develop the curriculum, language (about 65% are Hispanic). and have those journals signed by each teacher knows what others in the 30 Harvard Education LetterJuly/August 2002 Learning to Ride Rough Waves

Nancy Laho, principal of Burley Elementary School in not really up for discussion. I ask for their support and al- Chicago, tells what a decade at the helm of an improving ways try to give a little perkmaybe it's extra money in school has taught her. their budget for instructional materials or supplies, which is so valued by teachersas a reward for cooperation. On communicating with parents: Part of integrity is being predictable. People should I tell parents they can say whatever they need to. It doesn't have a basic idea how you will act or react. If they're in the have to be good news. I want them to be honest. Some- guessing game, they can't trust you. You don't always have times what they say and how they say it is upsetting, but I to agree but you have to communicate. If people are wor- try hard not to let that show because the important thing is ried or grumbling, it will get back to you. There aren't that they be heard. Sometimes that's all they want. many secrets in small schools. That has to be nipped in the I'll admit I'm better at reacting to parent input than I am bud. Get people together. Let them know we are all respon- at seeking it out.I have a lot of conflict over this. I know sible for the climate we work in. That's a big part of com- intellectually that parent input is important. On the other munity and trust building. hand, I base my decisions on a lot of experience, so I'm Solving problems is often a matter of clarifying per- not always sure how much input I want. How will I use spective, of helping people see that they have to consider that information? How can I make it constructive? the needs of the whole school, that a particular program For example, one issue on the table for two years now may need more resources at this time, and while that may is the desire of a large group of parents to have foreign- not look fair or equal in the short range, it is ultimately language study in school. That would not be one of my pri- right for the whole school. When 1 was a classroom teacher oritiesI don't know how to fit it into the school day with- [for 17 years], I thought I had a schoolwide perspective. out losing something valuablebut I'm discussing it with But when I became a principal, I realized that teachers very parents because their voice is strong. And they're helping much live inside the four walls of their class. They have to me think of ways to make it work, perhaps in an after- advocate for their students, and there's something wrong if school setting, even if it's for a fee. We haven't made a de- they don't. But principals have to advocate for all the stu- S cision yet, but they know I take them seriously and that my dents, for the whole school. goal is to figure out how to do it in a reasonable way. Good communication is not always enough to come to agreement, but hopefully there's enough respect so that On communicating with teachers: teachers can live with a tough decision. Also important: With staff it's the same thing: I hear them out and I share as a principal I realize that sometimes I'm the one that has my thinking with them. For example, I know already that to be dissatisfied. Sometimes I have to realize that this is we are going to have to reorganize next year and make not the most important issue in the world and let someone changes [in assignments]. I could just make those changes. have their way. Give and take is important. But it's a very That's my right as principal. I could put a notice in every- natural and proper struggle. Fortunately, there's enough one's mailbox and that would be that. But what would that trust and collegiality here [at Burley] that we ride those gain me? So I explain why I'm doing something even if it's waves well.

building are teaching, and how. They lieve in the school's mission, espe- around of a school requires the sup- present case studies, discuss books cially its reading program, to work port and input of parents, the staff has about teaching, and consider questions elsewhere. "When you counsel out worked hard to develop better ties to about learning and instruction. "We staff, you have to do it in a way that parents. Before Laho took over, Bur- own the practice," says teacher Rusty shows respect," she says. "If you ley parents were fractured along Burnette. don't, teachers will rally and unite racial, ethnic, and class lines, says Respect for Laho's leadership and behind that person, even if they don't Steve Renfro, a bilingual lead teacher integrity has helped the Burley staff support their practice. Things like that with 13 years' experience at Burley. weather a significant amount of can tear your staff to shreds if you're Today the school has an active, di- 0 turnover. By her second year, she had not careful." verse Parent Teacher Association that replaced six of the 15 teachers on provides much-needed support for ac- staff, and she makes no apology for Parents and Community ademic and extracurricular efforts. "encouraging" those who don't be- Knowing that any successful turn- Laho sets the tone with her open,

31 Harvard Education Letter July/August 2002 hardworking style. "The principal "Homeroom Moms" to help teachers some cultural inhibitions about getting here is very accessible," says parent with time-consuming work, such as involved," says Renfro. "For example, Tanya Suawicz. "She is easy to reach recruiting other parents to take part in some parents who have come from and responds quickly, so you know if school events. "So far it's worked re- other countries are used to very au- there's a problem, it will get ad- ally well," says Elsie Rosa, the PTA thoritarian schools, schools where, if New! dressed. You know what she's going vice president. "We don't think teach- parents confronted the principal, the to do and why. She always tells us her Focus Series ers should have to get bogged down kids would pay. So some are reluctant reasons." PTA president Faith Spencerwith all those details. They should fo- to talk to [Principal Laho] if some- No. 7 adds: "[Laho] doesn't always agree cus on teaching kids." PTA members thing's wrong. I end up hearing their Minority with parents but she always gives a offer to serve as translators at school concerns and relaying them to her Achievement fair hearing. We respect that." meetings in order to encourage Latino anonymously." Teachers get thumbs up, too. parents to take part. The outreach is paying off. But as A collection of "You don't feel like you're bothering For her part, 2nd-grade teacher teacher Rusty Burnette points out, the HEL articleson such teachers when you visit a class," says Kary Eichstaedt invites parents "to true measure of a school's success topics as the achieve- Awilda Salzedo, treasurer of the PTA, hang out in class and check out the will always come back to instruction. ment gap, high-stakes who was impressed enough with room," and she distributes a weekly "The biggest influence on parent in- testing, and more. Burley to transfer her children there newsletter informing them of upcom- volvement comes from students them- 32 pp. $14.95. from a parochial school. "They're ing curriculum units to encourage selves. If they're happy and they're To order: welcoming." them to do "prelessons" at home. learning, the parents have a reason to call 800-513-0763; The PTA shows its appreciation for Meanwhile, Renfro and the school's get excited," he says. Indeed, the en- email: orders@ teachers by making them dinner, giv- Bilingual Advisory Council host thusiasm and teamwork among teach- edletter.org; web: ing them flowers, or giving them gift workshops and classes on such topics ers, parents, students, and administra- www.gse.harvard. certificates to buy school supplies as computer skills, alcohol and drug tors that pervade the old building on edu/hepg/ma money that would normally come out prevention, and "How to Talk to Your West Barry Avenue are every bit as of a teacher's pocket. And this year it Maturing Teen." remarkable as Burley's rising test organized a volunteer group of "The challenge is to break down scores.

The Case for Heroes role in the English curriculum, partic- optimism be as worthy a goal as criti- continued from page 8 ularly in realistic juvenile novels. By cal inquiry? questioning convention and exposing In a bureaucratic age, we should We can make the case for all kinds hypocrisy, antiheroes can be appealing celebrate individual achievement; in of heroes and show how the study of and even useful. They test our ideals an egalitarian age, praise genius; when their lives can lift and improve our to make sure they are not shallow. everyone is a victim, stress personal own. History classes could include Falstaff's mockery of military honor responsibility; in addition to popular more biographies and encourage stu- leads us to a more realistic definition culture, value high culture. In a dents to question the past without di- of courage. Albert Camus' The celebrity age, caution young people minishing their patriotism. We can ad- Stranger helps us understand the al- about worshiping fame and beauty; in mit the mistakes the United States has lure of Mersault's detached nihilism a society mesmerized by athletes, re- made while acknowledging that our and the need human beings have for call the moral language of sport. country learns from those mistakes. connection and purpose. Antiheroes Heroes are a response to a deep From Wounded Knee we learned. permit us to explore our dark side and powerful impulse, the need to em- From the Homestead Strike and the safely. But antiheroes can be danger- ulate and idealize. We need to teach Triangle Shirtwaist Fire we learned. ous when, instead of seeing them as students that character is as important From Versailles and Vietnam. characters to be wary of, we are se- as intellect, that idealism is superior to After reading George Eliot's novel duced into antisocial behavior. cynicism, that wisdom should come Adam Bede, British philosopher Her- Critical inquiry, the reigning goal before information. We need to teach bert Spencer commented, "I feel of contemporary education, is only them to be realistic and affirming, to greatly the better for having read it." one goal, and for much of U.S. his- see life not only as it is but also as it Might this not be a reasonable test for tory, encouraging virtue was consid- ought to be. at least some of the books on our Eng- ered a more important one. Horace lish reading lists? Why not replace Mann, today remembered as the father Peter H. Gibbon is a research associate at Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also of public education, exhorted teachers the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Rises and its cynical expatriates with to make their students good as well as His book,A Call to Heroism: Renewing For Whom the Bell Tolls, about a smart. Should Socratic dialogue mean America's Vision of Greatness,will be pub- brave soldier fighting fascism in the that there is no truth and that adults lished in July by Atlantic Monthly Press. He Spanish Civil War? never have answers? Can the promo- can be reached via email at gibbonpe@ Antiheroes currently have too big a tion of idealism and the cultivation of gse.harvard.edu

Harvard Education LetterJuly/August 2002 32 new and noteworthy

New Reports Examine Roots vations, the committee found "it was almost always about shielding themselves from physical victimization, includ- of School Violence ing bullying or other personal humiliation." Accompanying For Further this humiliation, the researchers say, was the attackers' Information "Prior to the day of the shooting incident, T.J. Solomon "almost universal belief that they had nowhere to turn." . .. had never hurt anyone. Other than a few oblique re- Disturbingly, the researchers also report a widespread -47 marks to peers in the weeks prior to the shooting, he had lack of adult awareness about exclusive groups, gangs, and National Research Council and never threatened or bullied anyone. ... He was well- other social factors that may have led to feelings of isola- Institute of Medicine. Deadly mannered, neat, and respectful of adults." Yet exactly one tion among these youth: "Parents and most teachers had a Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence. Washington, DC: month after the Columbine High School massacre in poor understanding of the children's exposure to changing National Academy Press, 2002; Littleton, CO, Solomon perpetrated a "copycat" shooting community conditions, their experiences in social situa- 800-624-6242; available online at www.nap.edu at Heritage High School in Rockdale County, GA. Using a tions including at school, and their interpretations of those .22 caliber rifle and a .357 magnum handgun, he injured experiences." U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education." The six of his classmates, one of them seriously. This lack of awareness was also reflected in school Final Report and Findings of the The Heritage High School incident is among the seven officials' responses after incidents of violence. In most Safe School Initiative: Implications cases, responses focused on issues of physical safety but for the Prevention of School profiled in "Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Attacks in the United States." Violence," one of two new government-commissioned re- did little or nothing to address the underlying youth cul- Available online at ports prompted by the epidemic of such attacks during the ture or other social factors, the researchers say. "[School wynte.ed.goviofficesIOESE/ SDFSlpublications.html 1990s. Published by the National Research Council officials tended] to explain the incidents as the act of a (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine, "Deadly Lessons" troubled youth rather than resulting from community-level also includes in-depth case studies of school shootings in or social factors that needed attention," they note. Edinboro, PA, Paducah, KY, Jonesboro, Many of the findings of the NRC AR, Chicago, and New York City. report are echoed in another study, One of the reasons NRC researchers recently released by the Safe School chose to focus on both urban and non- In most cases, responses Initiative (SSI), a collaborative effort urban schools was to investigate whether did little or nothing to of the U.S. Department of Education the antecedents to violence varied in and the U.S. Secret Service. Following these different contexts. Although the address the underlying the Columbine shootings in 1999, this small number of shootings investigated group formed to examine past inci- makes it difficult to draw definitive con- youth culture. dents of school violence going back to clusions, the committee found distinct 1974 and to develop strategies for patterns in the urban and non-urban set- schools to use a Secret Service inves- tings. "While the inner-city epidemic of tigative technique called "threat assess- violence was fueled by well-understood causespoverty, ment." According to the SSI report, the technique, as it is racial segregation, and the dynamics of the illicit drug applied in schools, is "a fact-based investigative and ana- tradethe violence in the suburban and rural schools lytical approach that focuses on what a particular student more closely resembles 'rampage' shootings that occur in is doing and saying, and not on whether the student 'looks places other than schools, such as workplaces, or in other like' those who have attacked schools in the past." public spaces," they note. While acknowledging that individual incidents of vio- One aspect of the study involved creating a collective lence are difficult to predict, the SSI researchers suggest portrait of the perpetrators. Predictably, the eight shooters that "pre-attack behaviors and communications may be were all male and had easy access to guns. In addition, detectable and 'knowable.'" Like the other research five had recently spent time with "delinquent" or "more group, the SSI reports that two common traits among the troubled" friends, five had experienced a recent drop in perpetrators they studied were easy access to guns and ex- their grades, and all eight had committed "serious" or periences of being bullied. Other key findings include: "minor" delinquent acts in the recent past, according to Incidents of violence were usually premeditated, rather the report. than sudden and impulsive. Less predictably, the researchers also found aspects of Peers often knew in advance about attack plans. the perpetrators' lives that might traditionally be seen as In many cases, assailants' behavior prior to the violent "protective" against violent or antisocial behavior. Four incidents demonstrated a need for help. came from "intact and stable two-parent families," and five Suicide attempts and/or recent personal losses were had been good students throughout most of their schooling. common among the perpetrators. Only one of the eight shooters was classified as a loner by "Taken together, the findings from the Safe School Ini- the researchers, and just two were gang members. tiative suggest that some future attacks may be preventa- While the researchers say it is impossible to predict ble," say the report's authors. "Most incidents of targeted which youth will become violent, they note two common school violence were thought out and planned in advance. factors as having accompanied most of the incidents: bully- . And most attackers were not 'invisible,' but already ing and social isolation. In studying the perpetrators' moti- were of concern to people in their lives."

3`l Harvard Education LetterJuly/August 2002 Making the Case for Heroes Educators can help their students explore the complexities of a word that has taken on new significance

By Peter H. Gibbon

made Abraham Lincoln rise from povertyjust selfish?" "Can a celebrity be a hero?" "How can Whatand obscurity to become a wise, cunning, anyone from the past serve as a model?" "Why do we and compassionate president? How did he tear people down?" "Why do we need heroes?" carry on during the Civil War when his son died and his Back when the ideology of heroism was influential We Welcome generals failed? After southerners offered $40,000 for in American culture, schools automatically offered Your Comments Harriet Tubman's capture, why did she repeatedly re- young people heroes. Students read Plutarch's Lives and turn to Maryland to rescue slaves she did not know? learned the triumphs of Washington, Jefferson, and Lin- Why did the villagers of Le Chambon risk their lives to coln. The tradition of education by exemplary lives has Write or email us at hide Jews from the Germans? What made Sir Thomas ended. In its place we offer lives that are seriously Harvard Education Letter More defy his friend Henry VIII and die for the flawed, juvenile novels that emphasize mundane reality, 8 Story Street, 5th Floor Catholic Church? and a history that is uncertain and blemished. Cambridge, MA 02138 These are some of the questions I pose as I travel What can educators do to make heroes relevant to [email protected] around the country talking to high school students about skeptical, unsentimental, information-age students? My heroes. I argue that heroes are fascinating to study and message is not to turn back the clock and embrace the that we should be interested in the heroes of the 19th century, heroes mystery of goodness and greatness. who tended to be white, male, and The trick, I tell them, is to be amused privileged. My hope is that students by popular culture but not seduced, We can make the case learn to detect greatness in the midst Coming to look for some grandeur or lofti- of all their choices and information. for all kinds of heroes and soon... ness when they search for models As educators, we can offer today's of excellence. show how the study of students a more realistic definition of Teacher Before September 11, students hero, a more subtle and complex Education were less familiar with the word their lives can lift and presentation of heroism, one that in- in 2002 hero, more inclined to dismiss it as cludes a recognition of weaknesses too grandiose, doubtful as to whether improve our own. and reversals, along with an appreci- The Grade any one person could hold up under ation of virtues and triumphs. Retention the burden of such a word. After However extraordinary, heroes are Debate September 11, that word, which had not perfect. They are familiar with been out of fashion in America since the late 1960s, doubt and depression. They suffer, they fail. Ulysses S. Helping became omnipresent. Students now connect "hero" to Grant started his magisterial memoir when he discov- Immigrant bravery and self-sacrifice. ered he was dying from throat cancer. Jane Addams suf- Students But they are quick to point out that, while it is easy fered a nervous breakdown before she founded Hull Succeed to respect rescuers, it is hard to identify with them, and House. Heroes instruct us by transcending suffering and that a brave deed does not necessarily equal a heroic triumphing over weakness. life. As America begins to appropriate the word hero to We can look into the obscure corners of history for sell products, some students are already being made new heroes, such as Martha Ballard, who is celebrated cynical by its overuse. Moving away from September in Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's book A Midwife's Tale. 11, we understand that our society has been modified, Ballard trudged through blizzards to deliver thousands not revolutionized. Celebrities are still with us, politi- of babies with a higher success rate than that of male cians are back to squabbling, and disdain for our history doctors in the 18th century. persists. We can look at old heroes in new ways. We could The role of heroes in educating the young interested see Thomas Jefferson, for example, as guilty and con- Plato and Aristotle and will continue to intrigue Ameri- flicted, a selfish slaveowner who did not completely cans in a diverse, information-rich, ever more egalitar- transcend his time. But we could also see a diplomat, ian society.Contemporary students ask many of the architect, scientist, and idealist who believed in reli- same questions about heroes that thoughtful people gious freedom and educational opportunity and who have long considered. "What role does chance play in wrote imperishable words that have become the basis creating heroes?" "Do we need to know the whole truth for a movement toward democracy that is sweeping about our heroes?" "At bottom, aren't all human beings the world. continued on page 6 34

Harvard Education LetterJuly/August 2002 VE' RI I

** September/October 2002 Volume 18,Number 5

A A if11 I

How Schools Can Help Refugee Students Many schoolsare waking up to the impact post-traumatic stress has on students from insights war- and famine-wracked lands. 3 Why Save Public Education? Moving Instruction to September II reminds us that schools are where we learn the value of Center Stage democracy, community, and strong relationships across generations After years of school reform focused on organization and By Deborah Meier governance, Chicago discov- ers that improving schools must focus first on better n the wake of September 11, some graduates of strong relationships across generations has the instruction. the Central Park East Secondary School organ- power to influence lives for a very long time. ized a reunion last fall. The graduates, now in But the event also pointed to something else. At a 5 their late twenties, invited their former classmates moment of national dislocation, when all of us were and teachers to a ballroom in central Harlem. It was reeling from September 11th, urgently searching for for discussion my first trip to New York since the World Trade a sense of community and identity amid tragedy and Center attacks. I arrived with a heavy heart; I left danger, these young people consciously turned, Arming New Teachers with fresh hope. remarkably, to their high school community. (How with Survival Skills At a time when everyone, for the best and worst many of us did that?) By their comments that night, A conversation with reasons, is demanding rigorous academic focus, few one sensed that they knew that we, their former Katherine K. Merseth about training the next generation fl of those at the reunion referred to teachers, would be proud of their of teachers. _ f traditional "academics" as they achievements, above all perhaps reflected on what the schoola those achievements that served 8 small public school in East Har- In schools we need their community or the larger lem that colleagues and I founded world well. They bragged about in 1985had meant to them and to learn to handle acts of caring and commitment. told each other what was most authority in all its They joined the staff in cheers salient about their lives today. for the many who had become Please visit our website They did vividly recall, however, formsboth legitimate teachers. They reunited a beloved the work they did at schoolthe community and celebrated the www.edletter.org and illegitimate. in-class production of Shake- connections between school and for stories and transcripts speare, the lunchtime chorus, the the larger world. from our archives,as well as fruit fly experiments, the short When people ask "Why save information about how to novels they produced, the chairs public education?" the most order books, back issues, they designed and built for graduation, the archives important answer I can givesupported by that and titles in our popular of their work, the endless field trips to museums, reunion eveningis this: It is in schools that we Focus Series, including the parks, architectural offices, and community agen- learn the art of living together as citizens, and it is in new "Teaching as a Profes- ciesall of which happened during the 9-to-3 part public schools that we are obliged to defend the idea sion," "Minority Achieve- of the day and which happened in the company of of a public, not only a private, interest. Debates, for ment," "Violence Prevention adults they trusted and respected. Contrast that with instance, over what constitutes appropriate or inap- and Conflict Resolution," what a lot of high school graduates remember propriate play-yard behavior and how best to punish and more. mostthe sporting events, proms, afterschool clubs. wrongdoers are mirrors of our larger social struggles The evening reminded me that a school built around over what being a good citizen is and over what jus- a strong sense of purpose and the cultivation of tice should look like. Schools are where we learn 35 about the possible meanings of patri- such communities for granted. They all, in the absence of adults whom otismwhat it means to own one's were an inevitable byproduct of being children imagined becoming, orand community and have a stake in its human beings. What got me nervous here was the keywhom children reputation. was the erosion of such naturally even knew well enough to imagine It is within our schools, and in the forming communitiesor at least trusting. I also noticed that this isola- Harvard governance of them, that we need to their formation in ways quite different tion was happening at an earlier and Education Letter learn how to resist institutional peer from what we as humans have ever earlier age. But the closer kids came PUBLISHER pressures, as well as respect the insti- known before. It's not always easy to to being adults, the fewer adults they Douglas Clayton tutions we live with and the peers who know when something new is merely encountered. EDITOR David T. Gordon are our fellow citizens. It's in such a new wrinkle or a dangerous break- Never has it been more important

PRODUCTION EDITOR institutions that we need to learn to down of civilization. Crisis talk that we learn how to relate to people Dody Riggs handle authority in all its many always worries me, so I say this with we don't automatically trust, who ASSISTANT EDITOR Michael Sadowski formsboth legitimate and illegiti- trepidation. aren't kin or otherwise obvious allies,

MARKETING mateand how to take on authority but strangers we must deal with "as Karen Walsh effectively. It is within such schools if' we trusted each other, as if being FACULTY EDITOR Richard P Elmore that we need to learn to resist what we human itself was grounds for respect.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD see as improper encroachments on our The learning of democratic Because while probably all human Katherine C. Boles, Lecturer, rights, and to organize and expand civilizations require some such mutu- HGSE; Laura A. Cooper,Asst. habits of mind happens Superintendent, Evanston Township what we believe to be our entitle- ality, democracy lives off of that "as (IL) High School; Linda Darling- ments. All the habits of mind and if'the quality of trust is central to Hammond, Professor, Stanford only when children are in University; Sally Dias, Superinten- work that go into democratic institu- democracy. This is also why, until dent,Watertown (MA) Public Schools; Harold Howe II, Lecturer tional life must be practiced in our the real company of adults very modern times, few societies Emeritus, HOSE; Susan Moore schools until they truly become opted for democracy without first Johnson, Professor, HGSE; Robert they trust and when adults Kegan, Professor, HGSE; Peggy habitsso deeply a part of us that in enormously limiting who was in- Kemp, Office of School Partner- times of stress we fall back on them ships, HGSE; Marya Levenson, have sufficient powers cludedpeople "like us." A demo- Director,Teacher Education, Bran- rather than abandon them in search of cratic society's need for both skepti- deis University, Deborah Meier, Principal, Mission Hill School, a great leader, or retreat into the pri- and the leisureto be cism regarding others and empathy for Boston, MA; John Merrow, Presi- dent,The Merrow Report Jerome vate isolation of our private interests, them is surely easier to meet when T. Murphy, Professor, HGSE; Milli the unfettered marketplace where one good company. one's fellow citizens are not too dif- Pierce, Director, Principals' Center, HGSE;Arthur J. Rosenthal, Publish.. need not worry about the repercus- ferent from oneself. ing Consultant; Catherine Snow, Professor, HGSE; jay Sugarman, sions of one's individual decisions. But modern democratic and plural- Teacher, Runkle School, Brookline, Like the learning of all important istic societies require trust even when MA;AriadneValsamis, Director of Program and Resource Develop- things, the learning of these demo- It was in becoming a high school their members are, in fact, very differ- ment, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. cratic habits of mind happens only principal that I first noticed what was ent from each other. We need to be

Harvard Education Letter (ISSN when children are in the real company unusual: the absence of interest on the able to count on each other most of 8755.3716) is published bimonthly of adults they trust and when adults part of so many adolescents in the the time to act "as if' we were trust- by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 8 Story Street, 5th have sufficient powersand the world of adults; the isolation of ado- worthy, even as we know that we will floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. Second-class postage paid at leisureto be good company. On the lescents from relationships with any- often enough have our trust betrayed. Boston, MA, and additional mailing largest political scale, this is why I one much differentabove all in age We are shocked (naively?) by politi- offices. Postmaster: Send address change(s) to Harvard Education worry so much aboutand work so and experiencefrom themselves; the cians' machinations to undermine the Letter, 8 Story Street, 5th floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. hard to changethe way children are lack of a sense of membership in any

Signed articles in the Harvard growing up without adult company, a larger society that could be appealed Education Letter represent the community of elders. The mass media to. At first I just thought of this phe- views of the authors. provides a highly compelling world nomenon as it related to my unusual This article is excerpted and ©2002 by the President and adapted from the just-published Fellows of Harvard College. for the young, who spend consider- attachment for the adult world as a Published as a non-profit service. ably more time watching the screen youngstermy hurry to grow up and In Schools We Trust: Creating All rights reserved. Special permis- Communities of Learning in an sion is required to reproduce in than talking to any adults. And, of join the big world. I also knew that any manner, in whole or in part, Era of Testing and Standardiza- the material herein contained. course, they sneak off together in grown-ups have a habit of seeing each tion by Deborah Meier (© 2002 HOW TO SUBSCRIBE packs to browse around their favorite generation through jaundiced eyes, Send $34 for individuals, $44 for meeting places, shopping malls, and I hardly wanted to sign on to that by Deborah Meier) and from institutions ($46 for Canada/Mex- the preface to the new edition ico, $56 other foreign, in U.S. funds where they are, once again, consumers sorry habit. only) to Harvard Education Letter. of The Power of Their Ideas: Subscription prices subject to amid strangers whom surely they But it struck mein a way, very change without notice. Single would be wise not to trust. suddenlythat the vast majority of Lessons for America from a copies, $7.00. Back issues and bulk Small School in Harlem by subscriptions available at special Democracy assumes the prior exis- kids were spending a critical period of reduced rates. tence of communities of people with their lives, forming their relationship Deborah Meier (© 2002, 1995 Address all correspondence to by Deborah Meier), both pub- Harvard Education Letter, shared loyalties, confidences, and with the world, in the most bizarre 8 Story Street, 5th floor, understandings. It doesn't create them way; never in the history of the lished by Beacon Press. This Cambridge, MA 02138-3752; article is printed by permission phone 617-495-3432 in Massa- they are far older and more persist- species did one think of raising the chusetts, 800.513 -0763 outside of Beacon Press. Massachusetts; fax 617-496-3584; ent than modern (or even ancient) young to become adults in the absence email: editor@edlettepor& democracies. We have always taken of the company of adults. And, above web: www.edletter.org. 36 Harvard Education LetterSeptember/October 2002 democratic process. But much as we from time to time." dence that schools can indeed play must learn from such betrayals, we Modern life requires an apprecia- this role. need to learn to cope with them in tion for the complexity and intercon- Deborah Meier is founder and head of the ways that neither abandon the idea of nectedness of people if we are to have Mission Hill School, a Boston public pilot democracy nor undermine our sense any hope of maintaining our demo- school, and the author of three books, of community. I fall back on Winston cratic institutions. And since those are includingIn Schools We Trust: Creating Churchill's pithy reminder that my hopes, I'm counting a lot on our Communities of Learning in an Era of Test- democracy may well be "the worst ability to build a system of schooling ing and Standardization(Beacon Press, form of government except for all the that helps reforge such connections. 2002). She is a member of theHarvard Edu- The Harvard other forms which have been tried Our reunion gives me fresh confi- cation Letter'sEditorial Advisory Board. Education Publishing Group will cosponsor a one-day conference, How Schools Can Help Refugee Students From Rhetoric to Reality: Many schools are waking up to the impact post-traumatic stress disorder Education has on refugee students from war- and famine-wracked lands Reform and Language By Shaun Sutner Minority Students, Johnny Brewch, a stocky 15-year- from places like Afghanistan and therefore more traumatized by the out- on how recent old with a quick smile and tangle Somalia having lost one or both par- break of violence; and that particular policy changes of silver chains around his neck, ents, and they frequently have prob- war sparked daily fear of sexual may affect these tries to concentrate as his teacher lems at home, including physical assault. students in writes President Franklin D. Roose- abuse. School administrators are learning mainstream velt's name on the blackboard. Most Since the September 11, 2001, ter- that effectively teaching refugee stu- classrooms. of the students in Johnny's social rorist attacks and the numerous deadly dents usually entails more than simply studies class at the Nathan Bishop school shootings of the 1990s, many placing them in bilingual education Date: Oct. 5, 2002 Middle School in Providence, RI, jot schools are waking up to PTSD's programs. In working-class Chelsea, Place: Harvard the words in their notebooks. But the impact on students, and that aware- MA, many students come from places Graduate School 8th grader fidgets, impulsively hop- ness has expanded to include refu- of war or famine. (About 20 percent of Education. ping in and out of his chair. gees, experts say. But because teach- of the district's 5,600-plus students Preregister After fleeing a brutal civil war in ers are not typically trained to recog- are Limited English Proficient.) In by Sept. 20. his native Liberia, Johnny now strug- nize such symptoms and funding for recent years, the district has added Cost: $65 gles in a school system that is under- intervention is scarce, many children Somali and Bosnian social workers, equipped to deal with him and the with PTSD may not get the attention and begun providing grant-funded For more infor- thousands of refugees who have set- or treatments they need, such as psy- intensive English literacy and math mation, email tled here in recent years. In addition chotherapy and anti-depressant drugs. instruction for refugee students before berta_berriz@ to newcomers' typical challenges "Children who come here who are transferring them to bilingual classes. gse.harvard.edu grasping a strange language, fitting displaced already faced stressful prob- After years of welcoming students or visit into new social circles, and learning a lems in their own countries, and the from 50 different countries into her www.gse. different culture's customsrefugee displacement adds significant stress," classroom, Linda Quinn, the high harvard.edu/ children often contend with a host of says Syed Arshad Husain, professor ofschool's lead bilingual teacher, knows hepg psychological problems. child psychiatry at the University of how to spot traumatized refugees. Johnny still remembers seeing MissouriColumbia. "Psychological "Some are very silent. They can be people killed in the street. "Some- treatment is [what's] least available very angry. They'll sit in back and not times when I sit and think, it bothers but most needed." mix with other kids in the cafeteria," me," he says in his thickly accented Husain's study of Bosnian adoles- she says. English. "I dream about how they cents who survived the siege of Sara- In struggling urban school systems killed. I dream how they cut people's jevo in 1994 showed that experiencing like Chelsea or Providence, crowded hands off." warfare and the death of loved ones classes and high student mobility make Because they have usually wit- was likely to produce PTSD in chil- it hard for teachers to give enough nessed terrible violence, many suffer dren. Bosnian girls were more likely attention to individual children. from post-traumatic stress disorder to develop symptoms than boys, says Refugee agencies in Providence focus (PTSD), a condition that can produce Husain. He suggests three possible mainly on resettling new arrivals, with flashbacks, sleep disorders, depres- reasons why: the girls tended to inter- little time or money to attend to educa- sion, and emotional numbing. They nalize their feelings more than boys tional issues. "It's been a nightmare to also are more likely to join gangs and did; they were more socially sheltered get any special help for these kids," abuse drugs and alcohol. Many arrive in a macho culture before the war and said Betty Simons, director of refugee

37 Harvard Education Letter September/October 2002 services for the International Institute know more about how to teach the munity projects such as gardening or of Providence. "The schools just are newcomers who end up in their class- taking care of animals, he says: "Par- For Further not prepared and don't have the rooms. With some 75,000 refugees ticularly with chronic stress, it's not Information resources. It's an ongoing struggle." arriving in the United States each enough to treat them clinically. Some- Sharon O'Neill, who teaches English year, school systems are starting to times you have to restore their faith in as a Second Language, concurs: routinely prepare teachers to handle the future." "They arrive here and they're dumped refugees from the new conflict zones Many children thrust into U.S. in a class with 28 kids." in Africa, Central America, Europe, schools after surviving mayhem and J. Garbarino, K. Kostelny, and N. To aid schools, the federal govern- and the former Soviet Union. Dubrow. No Place to Be a Child: privation arrive with the added burden Growing Up in a War Zone. San ment has begun providing funds to In the Miami-Dade County public of a fragmented or foreshortened for- Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998. address the issue of students with schools, the newly minted Project mal education. While refugee experi- S.J. Grosse."Children and Post- PTSD. The National Child Traumatic Flourish is using a $600,000 federal ences vary, it is common for displaced Traumatic Stress Disorder:What Stress Initiative, launched last year by grant for training to help youths who Classroom Teachers Should childrenparticularly Africansto Know:' Washington, DC: ERIC the U.S. Department of Health and were caught up in the murderous miss out on school or receive a sub- Clearinghouse on Teaching and Human Services, is distributing $30 guerilla war in Colombia and others standard education. In Guinea's Forest Teacher Education, 2001 (ERIC million over three years to research Document Reproduction who left poverty and civil strife in Region, where more than 200,000 Service No. 2001-01).To order, and clinical treatment centers across Haiti. Weekend training conferences Liberians fled in the 1990s, refugees all 800-822-9229 or visit the country. Boston Medical Center have proved popular, with 100 teach- www.ericsp.org/pages/digests/ were placed in camps far from the PTSD.html and Boston University School of ers showing up for recent sessions, capital and reached only by rutted dirt Medicine recently were awarded $1.8 and a three-day institute this past C.D. Johnson and S.K. Johnson. roads. The few schools were poorly Building Stronger School Counseling million under the initiative to research summer filled quickly. equipped, and the language of instruc- Programs: Bringing Futuristic and treat post-traumatic stress in Teachers are shown how students' tion was generally French, while Approaches into the Present Greensboro, NC: ERIC Coun- refugee children and assist schools in ability to learn is often inextricably Liberians are primarily English speak- seling and Student Services dealing with the problem. linked to what they went though in ing. In similar camps throughout the Clearinghouse, 2002. To order, The Boston partnership team is all 800-414-9769 or visit their flight from their home country. world, families are sometimes charged httpd/ericcass.uncg.edul made up of ten psychiatrists, psychol- fees for their children's school, forc- ericinfonethtm ogists, and social workers who offer ing penniless refugees to somehow The National Child Traumatic therapy and home visits to the fami- come up with money for uniforms, Stress Initiative of the U.S. lies of refugee children. The children "Sometimes when I sit and shoes, and school supplies. Department of Health and they see often "have experienced Human Services offers advice think, it bothers me," says The educational quality and cus- for talking to students about unbelievable trauma, some of the toms in refugee camps in developing disasters, as well as program and worst we've seentorture, physical grant application information. Johnny."I dream how they countries are often much different Available at abuse, rapes," says Glen Saxe, chair- from those in industrialized countries. www.mentalhealth.orglcmhs/ man of child and adolescent psychia- cut people's hands off." emergencyservices/ In some cultures, schoolchildren are childstress.asp try at Boston Medical Center. "[These not allowed to speak in class, or must children] may show aggressive behav- Northwest Regional Education look down and answer quietly out of Laboratory. Improving Education ior and [have] a great deal of difficulty respect for the adult teacher. "It's one for Immigrant Students:A Resource focusing in school because they're "They need to understand where the of the big challenges for kids when Guide for K1 2 Educators in the Northwest and Alaska. Portland, processing very frightening memories, kids come from and what kind of his- they come here. Not only are they fac- OR:Author, 1998. Available at and teachers may not recognize that." tory they have. Why are they here?" ing a new language, new environment, vAvw.nwrel.orgIcnorse/booldets1 Team members instruct teachers to immigration/ says Mercy Suarez, the project's man- and new culture, they are facing a new find out more about students' back- ager. She says teachers should invite educational culture," says Hiram A. The United Nations High grounds, and how certain classroom Commissioner for Refugees students to tell their stories: Who did Ruiz, spokesman for the Washington, offers resources for teaching factors can trigger traumatic memo- they leave behind? What has the jour- DCbased Immigration and Refugee about refugees at ries. Interpreters from the hospital ney been like? "People think that if www.unhcr.ch Services of America. staff provide critical help in this work. you don't talk about it, they'll forget," Of course, the range of experiences The University of Oxford's For example, roughhousing in the says Suarez. "But when you have a Refugee Studies Centre offers among refugees is wide. Experts note a number of resources for classroom or schoolyard can be upset- trauma, you need to talk about it." that the most extreme casesthe stu- teachers of refugees at ting to children who have experienced Educators should know that dis- dents who tune out completely or turn www.forcedmigration.orgl rfgexp intense violence, Saxe says. "Teachers placed trauma can be long lasting, to violence or serious drug abuseare may not know that speaking in a cer- says James Garbarino, a Cornell Uni- just that: extreme and still somewhat tain tone of voice that is highly remi- versity researcher who studies the rare. Although refugees' passage from niscent of what they've gone though impact of violence on kids. In a study one world to another is frequently ardu- can trigger bad memories," he says. of Cambodian and Khmer children, ous and painful, the transition is often "Some have witnessed assault by Garbarino found that half his sample ultimately successfuland a relief. someone in the military, and they may group showed signs of post-traumatic For example, Aladin Milutinovic be mistrustful of anyone in authority." stress even after ten years in the escaped Bosnia with his Muslim Indeed, many teachers have real- United States. One way to treat the mother and Eastern Orthodox Christ- ized on their own that they need to disorder is to involve youths in corn- ian father when he was ten years old. 38 Harvard Education LetterSeptember/October 2002 His father is now Chelsea High chaotic civil war among rival warlord principal Harold B. Elder Jr. Some School's soccer coach. Having grown gangs. During her five years in a have advantages: they come from up amid civil war, Aladin remembers refugee camp in Kenya she never middle-class, cosmopolitan back- hearing the gunfire and bombing. "Myattended school. Though she speaks grounds and arrive with both parents. family came here because of the trou- English fluently, she reads and writes Many Bosnian and Croatian refugees bles," says Aladin, now 18 and one of with difficulty, and her goal of gradu- who experienced the war got good the top students in his graduating ating this year and attending college schooling in Germany's refugee class. "I don't dwell on them. I am may be unattainable. "If I had been camps, says Elder. "They realize the looking forward to a better future." more in school, I would be in college value of an education because of Madina Mohamed, a 19-year-old by now," she says. "I had to catch up." what's happened to them." senior at Chelsea High School, is Despite Madina's struggles, she Shaun Sutner covers politics and education another good example. She left Soma- and many of her peers remain highly for theWorcester (MA) Telegram & lia as a young child, leaving behind a motivated, says Chelsea High School Gazette.

Moving Instruction to Center Stage After years of school reform focused on organization and governance, is Chicago finally ready to make teaching and learning a priority? By David T Gordon

/t 's about instruction, stupid." That systemhas conducted a number of cases saw their scores drop. 2001 headline, which appeared in studies in an effort to identify why Coherence shouldn't be confused Catalyst, the magazine of record some Chicago schools are improving with programming, the researchers about Chicago school reform, says a while most are not. Much of that work note. Some schools try a number of lot about what has happenedand has focused on instruction. A survey initiativesall of which may have what hasn'tin the first decade of of Consortium reports reveals some of merit and meet real student needs reforms. Despite some notable suc- the earmarks of improving schools: and still be plagued by low student cesses at individual schools, there is achievement. Why? In many cases this striking fact: one-third of schools I. Improving schools have a because, as the report says, the princi- have improved, one-third are treading coherent instructional program. pal and the teachers "find themselves water, and another third appear dead This requires a common framework faced with a large and fragmented in the water. Why such disparities? for learningliteracy is one possibil- array of school improvement grants, Books couldand willbe written itythat gives shape to curriculum, programs, and partnerships that rarely dissecting that question. But one instruction, and assessment. It also afford them the time or support to answer heard more often than not requires that principals organize per- adopt and master practices that may these days is "instruction." sonnel and resources only in ways that improve student learning." In success- In the last issue of the Harvard support and advance those core goals. ful schools, focus takes precedence Education Letter; we highlighted In short, the school day revolves over flair. research showing the importance around instruction. The report also notes that coher- of strong, trusting relationships in Researchers measured the coher- ence doesn't imply heavy-handed schoolsthe power of social trust as ence of school programs based on leadership or inflexibility. In fact, it is an agent of school reform. In success- these characteristics through a variety more likely to result from a mix of ful schools, the development of trust of data, including surveys of more top-down and bottom-up strategies between administrators and teachers than 1,000 teachers throughout the strong leadership working in tandem and among teachers themselves system and field studies from 11 high- with teachers who have a stake in the depends in large part on the amount poverty elementary schools with a work of the whole school and some of respect they have in each others' variety of instructional approaches decisionmaking role. For instructional instructional abilities. Trust begins (see the report entitled "School coherence to work, a school needs its first and foremost with the question, Instructional Program Coherence: teachers to be invested in making the Is this person committed to and capa- Benefits and Challenges"). From strategy work. ble of high-quality teaching? 1993 to 1997, schools with coherent The Consortium on Chicago instruction had a 12 percent increase 2. Improving schools offer School Researcha group of in scores on the Iowa Test of Basic challenging instruction. researchers from local universities, Skills; schools without a coherent plan In studying the impact of the $150 community groups, and the school showed no improvement and in some million Chicago Annenberg Chal-

3g Harvard Education Letter September/October 2002 lenge, the Consortium has produced a found that students in the 3rd, 6th, and exercises year after year. Students in series of reports examining the intel- 8th grades who received such assign- both the 2nd and 10th grades were lectual demands of classroom assign- ments scored higher on the Iowa Test asked to identify a book's setting, ments. The researchers favor the of Basic Skills than those who didn't. events, and main characters. In con- framework of high quality or "authen- For example, in classrooms with high- trast, in classrooms where study was tic intellectual work," which they quality assignments, scores topped the paced to grade level, those same 2nd define as involving the "construction national average by about 1.2 percent. graders would be asked in the 5th of knowledge" through "the use of In contrast, students in classes with grade to identify idioms and guess disciplined inquiry" that leads to "dis- low-quality assignments fell below the their meanings; in the 8th grade they course, products, or performances that national average by 0.6 to 0.8 percent. might have to cite examples of hyper- have value beyond school." Similar results were reported on the bole and explain its usefulness as a Using work samples and assign- Illinois Goals Assessment Program writing device; by the 10th grade, they ments from the 3rd, 6th, and 8th (IGAP). would be expected to engage in de- grades, the initial report ("The Quality The high achievers include those tailed analysis of plot, including the of Intellectual Work in Chicago living in the most disadvantaged uses of foreshadowing, flashback, and Schools: A Baseline Report"), pub- socioeconomic conditionsa rebuttal, irony. In each of these classes, assign- lished in 1998, showed that most say the authors, to those who say that ments built on prior learning. Chicago students got assignments that a back-to-basics approach is the best A number of factors may slow the emphasized rote learning, work that way to get students in such circum- introduction of new material, accord- can be valuable for developing a base stances to achieve at higher levels. ing to the report. Teachers may rely of knowledge but does not necessarily In fact, say the authors, embedding too heavily on review and repetition, give students the opportunity to basic skills in challenging, "authentic" particularly in the weeks leading up develop and demonstrate interpretive assignments can accomplish a number to preparation for state-mandated abilities, organizational skills, a of instructional goals at once. achievement tests. The tests them- deeper understanding of concepts and selves and the stakes they carry may how they connect, or other "higher 3. Improving schools keep undermine teachers' belief that it is thinking" skillsthat is, the kind of pace in instruction. crucial to go beyond "teaching to the intellectual work that may become Consortium research has shown that test." Weak homework assignments essential as the so-called knowledge many Chicago schools do not offer (or none at all), poor classroom man- economy grows. The study found that grade-level instruction to their stu- agement, and low expectations can when high-quality assignments were dents (see the report "Setting the also slow the pace. givenwhich was seldomthe qual- Pace: Opportunities to Learn in Chi- ity of student work was also higher. cago's Elementary Schools"). For 4. Improving schools bolster The researchers note that this is not to example, researchers discovered that instruction with social support. say that students who receive low- in different schools introductory les- While students in such schools are quality assignments couldn't do better, sons on the parallelogram were being challenged to achieve at high levels, but rather that the opportunity to show taught in the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 10th they also benefit from such supports what they know is limited by the gradesessentially offering 2nd- as tutoring and good relationships assignments. grade lessons to students in all the with teachers. Social support and A subsequent report ("Authentic classes. challenging instruction must go hand Intellectual Work and Standardized In slow-paced classes on literature, in hand, says the Consortium report Tests: Conflict or Coexistence?") students repeated the same kinds of "Social Support, Academic Press, and Student Achievement: A View from the Middle Grades in Chicago." The Editor's Note phrase "know every child" has become a familiar mantra in discus- We are pleased to continue our series on Lessons from Chicago School sions of school improvement and, Reform. Special thanks to the Joyce Foundation for its generous support indeed, personal relationships have of the series. proven to be a key part of better learn- Also, many thanks to a key person in the series' development: ing. But it's not enough. Those rela- Katherine P. Knowles, a recent graduate of Dartmouth College who will tionships must also be geared toward enter the teaching profession this fall. A Chicago-area native, Kate was a instructional improvement. "Teachers Harvard Education Letter intern in 2001 and excelled as a researcher, who are friendly toward their students writer, and colleague. but do not demand serious academic And congratulations to assistant editor Michael Sadowski, winner of a effort are not helping students reach 2002 National Press Club Award for his Harvard Education Letter article their full potential," the researchers entitled "Sexual Minority Students Benefit from School-Based Support write. Likewise, assigning challenging Where it Exists." This is the second straight year Michael's work for work without giving students the the Harvard Education Letter has won recognition from the NPC. necessary support will be counter- productive. 40 Harvard Education LetterSeptember/October 2002 5. Improving schools emphasize 6. Improving schools use above demonstrated that teachers were "interactive" instruction. effective professional more likely to teach at grade level in In a high-stakes testing environment, development to upgrade schools with strong professional com- For Further should teachers use so-called didactic instruction. munities where they had had common Information methodsthat is, lectures, drill and To teach their children well, schools goals and frequent communication practice, and worksheets that encour- must teach their teachers well. It is about instruction. Similar findings age students to memorize facts and what ties together these other charac- were reported in the study on interac- proceduresor an "interactive" teristics of improving schools. Instruc- tive and didactic instruction. The reports cited are all approach that emphasizes inquiry- tional focus, appropriate pacing, effec- published by the Consortium on based, hands-on activities; knowl- tive teaching practice, challenging A New Era in Chicago Chicago School Research, 1313 E edge-building discussions; and proj- assignments, and supportive relation- Of course, these are not the only 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637; 773- 702-3364; fax: 773-702-2010. ects that connect students to their ships are greatly enhanced by high- factors leading to improved schools, www.consortium-chicago.org larger world? quality professional development, nor are they the only ones Chicago They can be downloaded at no charge from the website (Adobe Of course, it's not an either/or according to the Consortium report reformers have tried. Acrobat format) or obtained by question. Nearly all teachers use a "Teacher Professional Development Chicago's first decade of reform contacting the Consortium. mix of styles. But the Consortium in Chicago: Supporting Effective focused largely on issues of school A.S. Bryk, J.K. Nagaoka, and F.M. report "Instruction and Achievement Practice." organization and governance. In the Newmann."Chicago Classroom in Chicago Elementary Schools" What is effective professional first phase of reform from 1990 to Demands for Authentic Intellec- tual Work:Trends from shows that in a single school year, development? According to a growing 1995, decentralization was the focus. 1997-1999:' 2000. consensus among education profes- Each school was given control of its Chicago elementary school students in V.E. Lee, J.B. Smith,T.E. Perry, and classes with high levels of interactive curriculum and budget through an MA Smylie."Social Support, instruction scored higher on year-end elected Local School Council made Academic Press, and Student Achievement AView from the tests than the city average-5.1 per- up of the principal, teachers, parents, Middle Grades in Chicago:' 1999. cent higher in math, 5.2 percent in and community leaders. In phase two, Much of the Consortium's F.M. Newmann,A.S. Bryk, J.K. reading. Students in mostly didactic beginning in 1995, the central admin- Nagaoka."Authentic Intellectual classrooms scored below the city aver- research suggests that istration under Mayor Richard M. Work and Standardized Tests: Conflict or Coexistence?" 2001. age in both-3.9 percent lower in professional development Daley and the chief executive officer math, 3.4 percent in reading. The of schools, Paul Vallas, imposed some F.M. Newmann, G. Lopez, and AS. Bryk."The Quality of Intellectual researchers suggest that students who will make or break reform. necessary fiscal and administrative Work in Chicago Schools: A learn in interactive classrooms discipline on the system and oversaw Baseline Report." 1998. through the eight-year course of ele- the introduction of a high-stakes F.M. Newmann, B. Smith, E. mentary school may end up a year accountability system centered around Allensworth, and A.S. Bryk. "School Instructional Program ahead academically of those who sionals cited by the Consortium standardized tests. Test scores rose Coherence: Benefits and Chal- receive didactic instruction. reports, such development gets teach- and reached a plateau in 1999. Yet the lenges." 2001.

Whether teachers use didactic or ers to reflect in an organized way on city still had no systematic, coherent J.B. Smith,V.E. Lee, and F.M. interactive means, all of them face the their practice, assess student work instructional strategy. Newmann."Instruction and issue of howand how muchto together, share resources and strate- That may be changing in phase Achievement in Chicago Elemen- tary Schools:' 2001. review previous lessons before mov- gies, and build a sense of collective three under CEO of schools Arne Duncan, who took over in 2001. J.B. Smith, B. Smith, and A.S. Bryk ing forward in the curriculum. The responsibility for improvement of the "Setting the Pace:Opportunities Consortium study found that students whole school. Such development Duncan's first major effort has been to Learn in Chicago's Elementary scored better on year-end tests when emphasizes ongoing learning in terms to improve reading in K-8 schools. Schools:' 2001. instructional review was limited-4.2 of both subject matter and teaching (A high school program is expected MA Smylie, E.Allensworth, R.C. percent better than the city average in practices. It is frequent, intensive, and soon.) Schools are required to set Greenberg, R. Harris, and S. Luppescu."Teacher Professional math, and 4.1 percent better in read- includes follow-up exercises; centers aside two hours of instructional time Development in Chicago: Sup- ing. "Although reviewing familiar around a school's instructional goals; each day to teach reading, divvying porting Effective Practice' 2001. content may help build a solid knowl- and includes perspectives from that time up into the framework's edge base for new learning, this could beyond the school's wallswork with four areas: word knowledge, compre- also diminish learning by taking away outside coaches, perhaps, or with edu- hension, writing, and fluency. They from teaching new material," the cation researchersthat can freshen are also mandated to use strategies authors write. the pool of ideas. supported by research. Reading spe- Didactic instruction and review get To achieve this requires certain cialists have been assigned to 114 used most after 5th grade; where organizational supports: strong schoolsthe city's bottom 25 per- behavioral problems and irregular instructional leadership from princi- cent in reading. All schools have attendance are usual; where students pals, sufficient time, and a school cul- received money to create classroom are low achievers; in large schools; ture that encourages innovation and libraries and funds for teacher and and in schools with a predominately open discussion about what's working principal training in promoting liter- African American and/or low-income and what's not. acy. After years of wrangling over student bodyall of which may sug- Much of the Consortium's research governance and organization, is gest that those who might benefit most suggests that professional develop- classroom instruction finally moving from interactive instruction aren't get- ment will make or break reform. For front and center in Chicago's reform ting it, according to the report. example, the study on pacing cited efforts?

41Harvard Education LetterSeptember/October 2002 Arming NewTeachers with Survival Skills A conversation with Katherine K. Merseth about teacher education

Last year, Katherine K. Merseth returned to directing draw on the content knowledge itself. But simply hav- the Teacher Education Program at the Harvard Gradu- ing the content background will not make you an effec- ate School of Education, a program she founded in tive teacher. To be an effective teacher, you must under- 1983. Her charge: to redesign the curriculum to train stand your audience. teachers to work in urban schools in an era of stan- dards-based reform and tougher accountability for How can preservice learning facilitate this? We Welcome teachers. She spoke with the Harvard Education Letter I am a huge proponent of practice-based learning Your Comments about training a new generation of teachers. from the first day. To stand in front of a classroom of kids focuses and grounds your experience. Then every- How can teacher ed programs make the profession Write or email us at thing you try to do serves the question of how this plays more appealing? in the real world, rather than what contribution this Harvard Education Letter We need to find more ways to emphasize leadership makes to the literature. 8 Story Street, 5th Floor and arm new teachers with the skills to become change Cambridge, MA 02138 agents. Simply putting well-trained, competent teachers What does reflective practice entail? [email protected] in dysfunctional schools is a recipe for disaster. Fifty Having the time, the opportunity, and the skills to percent leave in five years, and everybody scratches really ask hard questions about your classroom, your their heads and wonders why. Money is important, but instruction, and your kidsto document what you it's not the reason that people leave. know and don't know, what you want They come into the profession believ- to know, and how you might find it ing that they can make a real differ- out. [Also,] what do you believe to be ence, but the bureaucratic obstacles Simply putting well- the purpose of education? What do New! they face seem insurmountable. trained, competent you believe is your mission? One rea- Focus Series son schools have such a hard time What are some survival skills new teachers in dysfunctional with reform is that people do not No. 8 teachers need? articulate what they believe. They end schools is a recipe Teaching as a Teachers must reflect on their up working at cross purposes because Profession practice and make that a habit. for disaster. they have fundamentally different Teacher research is important if they views about why we educate children. A collection of are to really understand the situations HEL articles on such they're in. Also, they need to under- What should an administrator look topics as National stand school reform strategieswhat's been tried, for in a job candidate who's new to teaching? Board Certification, what's worked, what hasn't, and what could work in the The first thing is whether they have the content and teacher leaders, future. By doing so, they will begin to understand why pedagogical knowledge they need. I would take a topic collaborative assess- they're making progress on a problemor not. And, of in their field and ask them to explain it to me, keeping ment, and more. course, teachers have to become effective pedagogues an eye out for how they communicate and connect. Sec- 30 pp. $14.95. with a whole repertoire of skills. ond, can they collaborate with others? We all know of To order: superstars who don't do much for the rest of the build- call 800-513-0763; Some critics of ed schools say that teacher training ing. Third, are they people who have the ability to email: orders@ should focus less on pedagogy and more on content. reflect on what they are doingto think about and edletter.org; web: How would you respond? change their practice with a can-do attitude? www.edletter.org Teachers do need that fundamental content knowl- edge. But they also need to be able to understand how What can an administrator do to keep and support children learn, the different points of view, perceptions, them? conceptions, and understandings that they bring to Before they make any decision, they should answer learning. It's important to have techniques in your the question, "What does this have to do with teaching repertoire for understanding the way kids make sense ofand learning?" The core enterprise of this business is things. Can you explain to me why one-half divided by teaching and learning. It's not child care. It's not trans- two-thirds is three-fourths? Don't tell me how to do it, portation. It's not food services. It's teaching and learn- because that's what many people will do. Give me an ing. Administrators who make that commitment first will example. Tell me a story that represents that equation. go a long way toward retaining the best teachers. We all know you invert and multiply. But why? Or as a An expanded version of this interview appears inTeaching as a kid once said, "If x equals five, why did you call it x? Profession,a new volume in our Focus Series of previously pub- Why didn't you just call it five?" You need to be able to lished articles from theHarvard Education Letter.

Harvard Education LetterSeptember/October 2002 42 E I

** November/December 2002 'III Volume 18, Number 6

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INSIDE

Canadian Second- Language Immersion What it doesand doesn'tsuggest for Beefing Up Professional Development ESL students in the Chicago's latest efforts aim to make learning opportunities for teachers United States. more relevant to their classroom work 4 By Alexander Russo new and noteworthy hicago Public Schools professional devel- increased professional development offerings, the Alternative opment czar Al Bertani likens himself to placement of school-based reading specialists, Assessments for Tom Ridge, President Bush's new Home- and a shift in budget priorities. Bilingual Students land Security chief. Like Ridge, Bertani has been However, as highlighted by a just-completed given the enormous responsibility of overseeing inventory of professional development spending 6 what has recently become a top-priority initiative: at the district and school levels, a series of organi- Chicago's effort to help classroom teachers and zational, cultural, and financial changes lie ahead. insights principals become more effective. Like Ridge, This early in the process, it is still unclear Afterschool Education: Bertani's portfolio has been whether Chicago's "turn- A New Ally for expanded across several dis- around" on professional devel- Education Reform parate offices. And yet, like opment will be sustained or Evidence connects Ridge, Bertani doesn't have School reform is successful. participation to a wide control over many parts of the range of benefits. $123 millionplus bureaucracy bound to stall without A Fragmented History that he is supposed to direct. significant investment Like many other large urban 8 Even with these challenges, school systems, Chicago's pre- the last 18 months have made in the development vious efforts at professional it clear that attitudes toward of teachers and development have often been professional development are characterized as fragmented, Please visit our website changing in Chicago. After school leaders. incoherent, inconsistent, and nearly 15 years of focusing on ineffective. "In the past, there www.edletter.org governance and accountability was no accountability for pro- for stories and transcripts strategies, the current adminis- fessional development," says from our archives, as well as tration in Chicago seems to have woken up to the Chicago Public Education Fund president Janet information about how to idea that school reform is eventually bound to Knupp, whose organization helped produce the order books, back issues, stall without significant investment in the devel- 2002 inventory of professional development and titles in our popular opment of its teachers and school leaders. The spending in Chicago. Citing lack of standards for Focus Series, including the new approach, which some insiders have already instruction and training, as well as poor coordina- new "Teaching as a Profes- named the "third wave" of school reform in tion among various parts of the district bureau- sion," "Minority Achieve- Chicago, seeks to balance previous efforts empha-cracy, Knupp says, "The strategy was to have no ment," "Violence Prevention and Conflict Resolution:' sizing such things as decentralization and testing strategy." and more. with a more instructional, human resources per- According to Knupp and many others, staff spective. So far, this effort includes staff changes, development at the district level had beenas it

43 is in many large urban districts them is used as Teacher Apprecia- says Liz Duffrin, a senior editor at inconsistent and ineffective. There tion Day." Catalyst, an independent education had been no clear focus on any par- That's an expensive form of magazine published in Chicago. ticular academic area, instructional teacher appreciation, and not the "He had a different attitude toward Harvard model, or grade level. Most support kind of apreciation overworked and teachers, and Chicago was in a dif- Education Letter programs had provided no more underpaid teachers want. However, ferent place when he first arrived [in PUBUSHER Douglas Clayton than a day per week of on-site assis- lacking any coherent direction or 1995]. He came in to crack the whip

EDITOR tance. Professional development support from the district, principals on accountability and sort out the David T. Gordon functions had been scattered and classroom teachers in Chicago district's finances, and for a long PRODUCTION EDITOR Dody Riggs throughout the bureaucracy, hidden were largely left on their own to find time they were getting results with

ASSISTANT EDITOR in various line items. and develop professional develop- the things they were doing." Duffrin Michael Sadowski In fact, a series of earlier reports ment programs. Individual schools also points out that professional MARKETING Karen Walsh had long suggested problems with were not always able to make effec- development was much less popular FACULTY EDITOR professional development. Though tive decisions about professional as a reform issue seven years ago Richard F. Elmore never widely released, a 1997 study development, coordinate multiple than it is today. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Katherine C. Boles, Lecturer, by the consulting firm KPMG Peat efforts, or even make use of the HGSE; Laura A. Cooper,Asst The Beginnings of Change Superintendent, Evanston Township Marwick LLP found that "a sus- money budgeted for that purpose. (IL) High School; Linda Darling- tained, comprehensive, system-wide One Chicago expert claimed that 35 Only when annual reading scores Hammond, Professor, Stanford University; Sally Dias, Superinten- devotion to provide teacher develop- percent of school-based professional flattened out and Vallas left did dent, Watertown (MA) Public Schools; Harold Howe II, Lecturer ment and support does not exist." development funds went unspent things really start to change in Emeritus, HGSE; Susan Moore Also, according to a survey of each year. Chicago, in terms of staffing and Johnson, Professor, HGSE; Robert Kegan, Professor, HGSE; Peggy teachers published last year by the External efforts to support priorities. Many observers cite the Kemp, Office of School Partner- ships, HGSE; Marya Levenson, Consortium on Chicago School teachers have been similarly flawed. hiring of strong education leaders in Director,Teacher Education, Bran- deis University; Deborah Meier, Research, professional development The city's $5 million "external- prominent positions as the most Principal, Mission Hill School, there has been "largely a fragmentedpartner" program gives individual obvious signals. New schools chief Boston, MA; John Merrow, Presi- dent,The Merrow Report; Jerome and individualistic activity." schools a choice to work with one Arne Duncan brought in a strong T. Murphy, Professor, HGSE; Milli Pierce, Director, Principals' Center, Surveyed in 1997 and 1999, of several universities and outside educational leader in Barbara HGSE;Arthur J. Rosenthal, Publish- teachers reported experiencing some organizations, but is limited to a ing Consultant Catherine Snow, Eason-Watkins, a former elementary Professor, HGSE; Jay Sugarman, form of professional development small set of roughly 100 schools school principal, and gave her wide Teacher, Runkle School, Brookline, MA;Ariadne Valsamis, Director of two to three times a month, usually that are on academic probation, out authority. In turn, Eason-Watkins Program and Resource Develop- ment, John E Kennedy Library within their schools. The 2001 of nearly 600 schools in the district. appointed Al Bertani, who had run Foundation. report noted that fewer teachers Such partnerships can often revital- an admired principal training pro- Harvard Education Letter (ISSN reported being "left on their own" ize professional development efforts gram for the Chicago Principals 8755.3716) is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School to seek out opportunities, but by offering fresh thinking and "out- Association, and hired Tim Shana- of Education, 8 Story Street, 5th floor, Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. researchers still found significant sider" perspectives. But Chicago's han, a nationally prominent reading Second-class postage paid at Boston, MA, and additional mailing variations in the amount and quality external partner program doesn't expert, to design and head a new offices. Postmaster:Send address of professional development among provide the intense, ongoing support reading initiative. change(s) to Harvard Education Letter, 8 Story Street, 5th floor, different types of schoolsand even for classroom teachers that most Begun last fall, the reading initia- Cambridge, MA 02138-3752. among different types of teachers experts now recommend. For tive gave 114 of the lowest-perform- Signed articles in the Harvard Education Letter represent the within the same school. $50,000 to $100,000 per school, ing elementary schools full-time views of the authors. most external partners have had staffreading specialists as coaches for ©2002 by the President and A Lack of Relevance Fellows of Harvard College. on site for only one day a week. The classroom teachers, a $12 million Published as a non-profit service. Perhaps most obvious of all, Chi- quality of the assistance has varied All rights reserved. Special permis- program paid for by the district. sion is required to reproduce in cago's districtwide professional tremendously, by most accounts. Summer programs were also any manner, in whole or in part, the material herein contained. development and institute days have "The problem with external partners expanded. This past summer, HOW TO SUBSCRIBE provided no coherent focus to teach- is that they have external agendas," roughly 1,200 teachers, representing Send $38 for individuals, $49 for institutions ($52 for Canada/Mex- ers, and have often not been closely says Dave Peterson of the Chicago more than 300 schools, received 60 ico, $63 other foreign, in U.S. funds relevant to their work. Last year, the Principals and Administrators Asso- only) to Harvard Education Letter. hours of training. The district also Subscription prices subject to district spent $56 million on eight ciation, "not the least of which is provided eight half-days of staff change without notice. Single copies, $7.00. Back issues and bulk such inservice daysroughly $7 getting additional schools to hire development to teams from 67 of 77 subscriptions available at special reduced rates. million per day. "Basically, half of them as consultants." high schools over the summer, with

Address all correspondence to the money spent on professional By many accounts, lack of lead- plans for eight additional sessions Harvard Education Letter, development at the district level is ership from the top was a key part 8 Story Street, 5th floor, during the school year. Plans for this Cambridge, MA 02138-3752; used for these days," says Knupp, of the problem. "[Paul Vallas, the year also include increasing the phone 617. 495-3432 in Massa- chusetts, 800-513-0763 outside one of many critics of how the days schools' former CEO,] didn't under- number of site-based reading spe- Massachusetts; fax 617.496 -3584; email: [email protected] have been used in the past. "One of stand professional development," cialists to nearly 200 and hiring 21 web: www.edletter.org. 44 Harvard Education LetterNovember/December 2002 reading coaches to support school- supposed to do." While his program ment in the CPS bureaucracy. "I based activities. does require some specific practices have pass-through authority," says There are other small, but such as a certain amount of phonics Bertani of his current portfolio. "But nonetheless important, signs of instruction, Shanahan believes in I'm essentially coordinating among change in Chicago. Historically giving educators a fair amount of multiple agencies." For example, the For Further thought of as hostile to outside freedom. "A lot of things work," he system of external partnerscon- Information reform efforts, the district became says. "You don't mandate something sidered by many to be ineffective one of the first sites in the nation to just for the sake of control." continues to be outside Bertani's participate in New Leaders for New purview and thus remains largely Schools, an innovative principal Challenges Remain unchanged. training program modeled after Despite the early progress, signifi- Most important, the extent to Catalyst featured Chicago's new Teach For America. The Chicago cant challenges remain. For starters, which there have been actual professional development efforts in its June 2002 issue. Teachers Union, also under new CPS has delayed revamping the use changes in professional develop- Available online at leadership, started a new school for of professional development days to ment at the school level remains wvAv.catalyst-chicago.org/ 06-0210602toc.htm the development of teacher leader- make them part of upcoming union unclear. Besides expanded summer negotiations. As a result, it remains offerings, few if any concrete reallo- Also see Catalyst's October ship, the Urban School Leadership 2001 issue on National Board Academy, and celebrated its 10th to be seen how and when the current cations have been made thus far to Certification. year running the Quest Center, a the $28 million spent on individual wvAv.catalyst-chicago.org/ 10-01/100 I toc.htm much-heralded professional devel- professional development for teach- Chicago Teacher's Union Quest opment initiative. ers and principals or the $39 million Center, 222 Merchandise Mart Looking back, observers con- spent on school-focused efforts. Plaza, Suite 400, Chicago, IL Chicago's districtwide 60654-1016;312-329-9100:fax: sider Chicago's first 18 months While the new CPS 57-page educa- 312-329-6205. under these initiatives a qualified professional development tion plan includes explicit frame- wvAcctunet.cornIquest/ success. Reading scores were works for high-quality teaching and and institute days have M.A. Smylie, E.Allensworth, among the highest ever last spring. professional development, no one R.C. Greenberg, R. Harris, and S. Luppescu. Teacher Professional Retention rates for school-based provided no coherent knows how extensively it will be Development in Chicago: Supporting reading specialists have been high, used in the field. The system is still Effective Practice. Chicago: focus to teachers and have Consortium on Chicago School which has been a problem in other a long way from being able to Research, 2001. Available online at places, like San Diego. Just as often not been closely demonstrate any impact on achieve- wmv.consortium-chicago. important, opposition from teachers ment from its efforts. org/publications/p0d0l.html and principals has been minimal relevant to their work. As in other cities, revamping thus far. To some extent, changes of professional development in leadership at CPS and the teachers Chicago is proving to be complex, union have helped to ease the way. delicate, and not particularly glam- An influx of $47 million in addi- allotment of eight professional orous work. So far, things seem to tional federal funds from last year's development days will change. have gone better in Chicago than in This series on the appropriations softened the blow of Salary increments for college cred- some other places, such as San lessons of Chicago state budget cuts and is paying for its, advanced degrees, and national Diego, where professional develop- school reform is much of the expansion this year. In certification are another issue that ment has been extremely con- made possible by addition, Duncan and his team have has not been addressed, even though tentious. But the easiest steps the support of the taken a much less critical attitude such pay raises cost CPS an esti- studying the problem, reorganizing, Joyce Foundation. toward schools and teachers, many mated $47 million per year. and hiring good central office peo- of whom felt that Vallas unfairly In addition, not everyone has plecan only get you so far. The blamed them for everything. been satisfied with the changes that most important parts, including the Flexibility has also been key, have taken place in the name of pro- work of the 200 reading specialists according to reading program fessional development. Unhappy and substantive changes to how designer Shanahan, who contrasts with the reassignment of his office schools schedule and provide pro- Chicago's approach with more pre- under the aegis of the professional fessional development, will come scriptive efforts in Los Angeles and development unit (it was previously much more slowly. a bigger emphasis on monitoring a separate content area department), Alexander Russo is a contributing editor teachers in San Diego. "In Los Shanahan returned to the University for Catalyst magazine in Chicago and Angeles, everyone has to use Open of Illinois-Chicago before the start The Title I Report in Washington, DC. His Court [a phonics-based reading pro- of school after just one year on the article, "When School Choice Isn't," was gram]," says Shanahan. "In San job. And Bertani still lacks direct published in the September issue of The Washington Monthly. He can be reached Diego, the coach is really there to control over 23 of the 40-odd offices at [email protected]. make sure that you do what you're that provide professional develop-

45 Harvard Education Letter November/December 2002 Canadian Second-Language Immersion What It Doesand Doesn'tSuggest for American ESL Students

By Karen Kelly

The fierce debate in the United federal government's Official of the normal school curriculum. States over bilingual educa- Languages Act, which helps the McGill University psychology pro- tion is seen as something of a provinces pay for French language fessor Fred Genesee says the idea curiosity north of the border, where education across the country. The was that learning French would bilingualism is an integral part of government recently pledged to come naturally. "The language Canada's national identity and edu- double the number of bilingual high learning was very incidental," says cation system. The so-called Cana- school graduates in Canada over the Genesee, who has studied language dian model of language learning, next decade. "It's really a civil rights immersion programs for more than which immerses children in a sec- issue," says Robin Wilson, director 30 years. "They used it as normally ond language for the first few years of the Ottawa-based Canadian Par- as possible and expected the kids to of their schooling, was first created ents for French. "Our government just learn whatever they needed as by a group of English-speaking par- has set forth that every Canadian has the curriculum progressed. The ents in Quebec and has since spread the right to learn both official lan- result was a very high level of func- around the world. In the United guages, English and French." tional proficiency." States, there are about 240 such The Canadian model of language Now known as "early French immersion programs in schools in learning was created by a group of immersion," the modern version of 28 states and the District of Colum- English-speaking parents of students the St. Lambert program begins in bia. The model has also inspired attending a St. Lambert, Quebec, kindergarten, with the teacher deliv- English immersion programs in ering all instruction in French. The Japan, China, and a number of English-speaking students are taught European countries. "By far, immer- to read and write in French first, sion is the best program model Canadian educators with an English class introduced we've ever seen for children to gain continue to tinker with the some time between second and proficiency in a language," says fourth grade. By the end of elemen- Nancy Rhodes, director of the immersion idea, introducing tary school, the curriculum is usu- Washington, DCbased Center for ally delivered about equally in both Applied Linguistics. different amounts of English languages. Genesee says the teach- But Rhodes adds a caveat that is in different grades and even ers rely on so-called sheltered critical for considering the implica- instruction, which includes simple tions of these programs in the creating spinoffs. concepts that can be demonstrated United States: the success of this physically: "There's a lot of repeti- kind of language instruction is con- tion, along the lines of 'Show me tingent on factors that do not exist in the boots. Who has the boots? Look many American classroom contexts. kindergarten in 1965. While they at the nice yellow boots.' The teach- Put simply, Rhodes says, "It's a verywere motivated by a desire to ers just work and work and work at complicated problem." improve the French language the language all of the time." instruction typically provided in In a 1st -grade classroom at Mary The Canadian Model schools, they were also reacting to a Honeywell Elementary School in In contrast to the conflicting atti- larger phenomenonthe stirrings ofOttawa, the students stare at teacher tudes about bilingualism that are an independence movement within Violette Morrison as she makes often expressed in the United States, Quebec and a concern for their broad gestures, describing their next most communities in Canada take national unity. lesson. They are still allowed to the idea of children speaking two Almost 40 years later, Canadian respond to the teacher in English, languages for granted. According to immersion classes still bear a sur- but the practice is gradually discour- the Canadian Parents for French prisingly close resemblance to the aged. "Montre a la classe l'ordina- 2001 annual report, 318,000 stu- original experiment in St. Lambert. teur," Morrison says, as she directs a dents are enrolled in French immer- The program was based on the student to show the class the com- sion, representing more than 10 per- assumption that younger children puter. After a few tries, the boy cent of English-speaking students in have a natural affinity for learning finally moves hesitantly toward a Canada. The importance of these language and that a second language computer in the back of the room. programs is also recognized by the should be taught within the context "It's a real song and dance to get

Harvard Education Letter November/December 2002 46 them to understand," she acknowl- Lambert and Tucker's study French usage within the context of edges. found that students enrolled in the every school subject. Down the hall, in Monique Gau- French immersion program thier's 4th-grade classroom, the stu- achieved much higher levels of French Immersion in the U.S. dents are much more animated. French literacy when compared to One of the oldest immersion pro- They converse about a math lesson the control students, who studied 40 grams in the United States is the one in fluent French as Gauthier records minutes of French a day. Perhaps at Sligo Creek Elementary School in For Further their problem-solving on the board. even more important, the Silver Springs, M.D. For more than Information After observing the class, Principal researchers discovered that the 30 years, Sligo Creek has immersed Shirley Brackenberry, a former immersion students performed just about half of its student body in immersion teacher herself, says as well in other academic subjects French up until the 4th grade. there's often an "incubation period," as control students with similar abil- Teachers then introduce only 45 and then the new language suddenly ity levels. "This was really revolu- minutes of English, twice a week. Canadian Parents for French (CPF), 176 Gloucester St., Suite starts to flow: "You have to allow tionary," says Genesee. "Up until Donna Gouin, Sligo Creek's French 310, Ottawa, ON K2POA6; students the time to absorb the lan- then, there was very little scientific Immersion Program coordinator, 613-235-1481. www.cpf.ca guage. But by January or February, evidence about the effectiveness of says the parents have demanded a the changes are phenomenal." [this kind of] language education." rigorous approach. Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), 4646 40th St. NW, Canadian educators continually Test results suggest the program Washington, DC 20016-1859; tinker with the immersion idea, has been effective. Gouin says the 202-362-0700. www.cal.org introducing different amounts of students score at a comparable level "They want their children F. Genesee."Second/Foreign English in different grades and even with Canadian immersion students Language Immersion and At-Risk creating spinoffs. Now there's a to be challenged, and they on French comprehension and they English-Speaking Children." perform better, on average, on the Foreign Language Annals 25, middle immersion program that no. 3 (May 1992): 199-213. begins in 4th grade, while late believe this will help them verbal SAT in high school than their F. Genesee."What Do We Know immersion starts in 7th. Both are counterparts in the district's tradi- gain higher-order thinking about Bilingual Education for favored by immigrant families and tional classrooms. Majority Language Students?" In T. Bahtia, ed., The Handbook other parents who want their chil- skills. Plus, they think it will But there are distinct challenges of Bilingualism. London: Blackwell, dren to have a solid grounding in to introducing an immersion program in press. help their kids succeed in English before they immerse them- in an American setting. While Cana- W.E. Lambert and G.R.Tucker. selves in French. dian school districts face a teacher The Bilingual Education of Children: the workplace." The St Lambert Experiment. One reason Canadians have the shortage, the problem is even more Rowley, MA: Newbury House luxury to try these new approaches acute in the U.S. 'There is a big Publishers, 1972. is that there's a firm foundation of shortage of qualified teachers," says M.B.Wesche."Early French research behind them. According to In subsequent years, most Rhodes. "They have to be elementary Immersion: How Has the Original Canadian Model Stood McGill's Fred Genesee, Canada has immersion research has built upon certified and have near-native profi- the Test of Time?" In R Burmeis- the most extensive body of research Lambert and Tucker's work, and ciency. That's hard to find." ter,T. Piske, and A. Rohde, eds., An Integrated View of Language on immersion programs in the some researchers have found draw- Sligo Creek relies mostly on Development Trier, Germany: world, beginning with Wally Lam- backs to the immersion method. qualified teachers who contact them. Wissenschafdicher Verlag Trier, 2002. Available from author by bert and G. Richard Tucker's land- While French immersion graduates The school's recruitment efforts are email: mwesche @uottawa.ca mark 1972 book, The Bilingual are technically considered fluent, complicated by the fact that the dis- Education of Children: The St. Lam- they're generally not as fluent as trict won't obtain work visas for bert Experiment, which chronicled native French speakers. According interested teachers from other coun- the first five years of the program. to researcher Marjorie Bingham tries. Sligo Creek teachers also Both researchers at McGill, LambertWesche of the University of struggle with a dearth of good mate- and Tucker were invited by the par- Ottawa's Second Language Institute,rials. "I spend most of my time ents to help design and evaluate this an "immersion dialect" has devel- searching through Canadian and new approach. They chose a random oped, "characterized by a more French materials trying to find activ- sample of children for the first restricted vocabulary, largely limited ities that will fit our curriculum," French immersion pilot class, while to domains experienced in school, says Gouin. "But when it comes to the remaining students made up the the overuse of high frequency verbs, things like the history of Maryland, control group. The researchers then and a [tendency] to show English we have no choice but to translate it tested both groups at the beginning influences in grammar." As a result, ourselves." of kindergarten and at the end of there's been an increased focus on every academic year until they grad- French language development Beware of False Analogies uated from high school. They within the immersion curriculum, While the Canadian model provides repeated the experiment with the with teachers correcting students strong evidence that this kind of lan- next class. and instructing them in proper guage immersion works well in cer-

4 Harvard Education Letter November/December 2002 taro contexts, it would be erroneous bilingualism can help address those are met in the United States, educa- to conclude that it strengthens the problems." tors still encounter opposition from argument for any particular In addition, Wesche's findings those who discount the importance approach to working with American suggest that the social inequality of students' knowing and learning in ESL students, says Rhodes. "For a between two languages can be a more than one language. This Spanish-speaking child [in the stumbling block to an immersion monolingual attitude can be espe- U.S.], this would be an odd model program, especially one intended cially baffling for Canadians, who because they are in an English- for language-minority students. have watched generations of stu- speaking country," she notes. These programs have their greatest dents successfully emerge from If anything, Rhodes believes that success, she notes, when students: immersion schooling. "It's not a these programs demonstrate the 1) are majority-language speakers; problem for a child to learn through value of children learning in more 2) have little knowledge of the two languages," says McGill's than one language. "When we point instructional language; 3) choose to Genesee. "The research has shown to Canada as a model, the response participate in the program; 4) are that there's no need to be afraid of [from some bilingual education taught by teachers with native flu- bilingualism." opponents] has been, 'But they have ency; and, 5) have access to strong Karen Kelly is an education journalist and political problems because of this,'" curricular materials. frequent contributor to the Harvard Educa- she says. "People don't realize that But even where those conditions tion Letter.

Do Alternative Assessments Give a Clearer Picture of Bilingual Students' Reading Comprehension?

In the West San Francisco Bay district, as in other Cali- in English about texts that they comprehend. fornia districts, bilingual education students typically The transitional assessment produced "a great deal of study major subjects in their home language for the first useful information," write researchers Carol Beaumont four years of school while receiving daily English as a of Palo Alto Unified School District, Julia Scherba de Second Language instruction. In the 4th grade they Valenzuela of the University of New Mexico, and Elise begin taking math and science in English, and they learn Trumbull of WestEd Educational Laboratory, whose English language arts beginning in the 5th grade. When study, "Alternative Assessment for Transitional Read- the district implemented a performance-based assess- ers," appeared recently in the Bilingual Research Jour- ment in reading during 5th gradethe transition year nal. For one thing, it provided teachers with a more out of the bilingual programstudents from the pro- accurate picture of what students actually compre- gram lagged far behind native English speakers. hended about the texts and therefore gave them a better Bilingual education teachers, concerned that the test idea of how to improve their own instruction of such did not adequately assess students' abilities or produce students. The researchers also learned that by using dis- useful data for intervention purposes, developed an alter-trict bilingual teachers to develop and score the assess- native, one that paralleled the standard assessment but ment the cost of implementing the new test was mini- with modifications to factor out certain variables. The mal. Furthermore, the program had the added benefit of transitional assessment featured shorter readings that providing the bilingual teachers with a rich professional- contained fewer unfamiliar idioms and vocabulary; holis-development exercise and the opportunity to demon- tic scoring strategies that considered not only specifics strate "expertise [that] had previously been under- such as vocabulary, syntax, and spelling but took into utilized." Meanwhile, students were able to break a account students' ability to engage larger ideas. Scoring cycle of certain failure and give a more honest account- was done by bilingual teachers since they could more ing of what they were capable of doing. accurately interpret students' responses using their spe- C. Beaumont, J. Scherba de Valenzuela, E. Trumbull. "Alternative cific knowledge of how such students learn English Assessment for Transitional Readers," Bilingual Research Journal and the special difficulties they might have in writing 26, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 241-268.

Harvard Education Letter November/December 2002 48 Afterschool Education continued from page 8 Better Learning Out of School hours, but also where practices, peo- The U.S. Congress has increased support for 21st Century Community Learn- ple, and organizations that had been ing Centers (CLCs) to $1 billion, up from $846 million in 2001, while shifting confined to afterschool were enter- more control and oversight of the program tostates under the NoChild Left For Further ing the school day. Behind Act. There are about 6,800 CLCs in 1,420 communities nationwide. Information This development is encourag- They provide out-of-school academic tutoring and a variety of counseling serv- ing. It is indeed a creative and pro- ices to students attending low-performing schools. A recent program evalua- ductive moment in afterschool, as tion showed some positive effects on students' school performance. many institutions, collaboratives, and individuals are coming together Percentage of Students Showing Improvements, Fall 2000 to Spring 2001, Afterschool Alliance."Afterschool to shape the afterschool movement. by School Type and Subject Area, as Reported by Teachers Alert Poll Report, July/August Not surprisingly, the most interest- 2001:' Available online at Homework/ www.afterschoolalliance.org ing efforts occur when schools, Math English Goss Participation Behavior Program in Afterschool Education community-based organizations, Elementary 43 46 74 73 and Research (PAER), 8 Story St., 3rd Fl., Cambridge, MA 02138; museums, universities, or clinics Middle/High 37 39 71 75 617-496-0656; fax: 617-384-8152; join forces to create a system of Overall 40 43 73 74 email: [email protected]. www.PAERweb.org afterschool care and education. Source: 21st Century Community Learning Centers Annual Report, U.S. Department Innovative networks are reported of Education, 2001. For an overview of citywide from many cities, as well as from approaches to afterschool education see Gil G. Noam and suburban and rural school districts. Beth M. Miller, eds., Youth Develop- One example is the movement in ment andAfter- School Time:A Tale of Many Cities (Series: New Direc- Boston to bridge communities and aim to create continuity across More and more, afterschool pro- tions forYouth Development institutions to support educational learning opportunities, achieve inte- grams are being constructed as Theory, Practice, and Research, no. 94). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, creativity and excellence in after- gration of different learning goals, informal learning environments, 2002. school. The Afterschool Bridging and deepen children's exploration using those three hours each day to J.Wilgoren,"The Bell Rings and Initiative, led by the Harvard After- and skill acquisition, all the while create meaningful and rich spaces to the Students Stay" NewYork Times, School Initiative (HASI), a $5 mil- respecting the fact that there exist engage and teach children. January 24, 2000.Available online at www.nytimes.comllibraryl lion grant-making and technical many types of learning that should Gil G. Noam is director of the Program in national/0 I 2400after.school- assistance program, connects be protected across a diversity of Afterschool Education and Research (PAER) edu.html schools and families with after- learning environments. Increasingly, and an associate professor at the Harvard school programs. HASI is also part programs divide the time into non- Graduate School of Education. He is co- of Boston's Afterschool for All Part- academic learning and recreational author, with Gina Biancarosa and Nadine Dechausay, of Afterschool Education: nership of 13 organizations that are activities, such as sports or arts and Approaches to an Emerging Field (Harvard trying to expand the quantity and crafts; academic activities such as Education Press). quality of afterschool programming. structured curricula or enrichment in This partnership aims to increase thelanguage arts, science, and math; quality of learning opportunities and and homework support. has commissioned reports from A recent conference at Harvard, Now Available! research partners on the most impor- "Learning with Excitement," Afterschool Education: tant aspects of learning in after- brought together a national working school settings, from tutoring and group to explore afterschool educa- Approaches to an technology to project-based learning tion and develop some common Emerging Field and bridging with schools and fami- principles for the field. Our findings by Gil G. Noam, Gina Biancarosa, lies. Such innovation is found in and their practical applications will and Nadine Dechausay other cities, including San Francisco be released this month in the book 20% discount for (with the Beacon Initiative), Los Afterschool Education: Approaches Angeles (with L.A.'s BEST), to an Emerging Field (Harvard Edu- HEL subscribers. Chicago, San Diego, New York, cation Press). Despite significant Regularly $21.95 Kansas City, Denver, and many philosophical, training, and fiscal You pay just $17.50! more. All are exemplary in their differences of the various entities approaches. involved in afterschool, we have To order, call 800-513-0763 Bridging school and afterschool found a decreasing focus on diver- and mention the subscriber does not mean that all programs gence and an increasing focus on discount. must become school-based or that joint programming and problem they should become school-like. solving. Whatever the mix, the time Harvard Education Press. 140 pages. What is important is that programs of glorified babysitting is over.

49 Harvard Education Letter November/December 2002 Afterschool Education: A NewAlly for Education Reform By Gil G. Noam

6 6 he revolution begins at 3:00 p.m.," Jodi suggest that attendance at afterschool is associated Wilgoren wrote in the New York Times. "The with better grades, peer relations, emotional adjust- explosion of after-school programs...repre- ment, and conflict resolution skills. Children who sents nothing less than the reimagining of the school attend programs also spend more time on learning We Welcome day for the first time in generations." Indeed, few opportunities and academic and enrichment activities Your Comments current issues in child and youth development than their peers. Combine this evidence with the sta- receive as much attention today as organized out- tistics we know all too wellthat unsupervised time Write or emailus at of-school time. One key factor to its significance is after school is associated with involvement in vio- Harvard Education Letter its sheer quantitychildren spend about 80 percent lence, substance abuse, and other risk-taking behav- of their waking hours outside of school. In addition, iorsand the necessity for high-quality afterschool 8 Story Street, 5th Floor education reform, changes in welfare laws, and the programs becomes even clearer. Cambridge, MA 02138 growth of prevention services for youth have all With the availability of funding and the social [email protected] played a role in bringing after- need for organizing the risky time school to the fore. when children are out of school and At our organization, the Program parents are still at work, more and in Afterschool Education and Attendante at more superintendents, principals, Research (PAER), established in and teachers are supporting after- afterschoo 1999 at the Harvard Graduate I programs school efforts. According to a sur- New! School of Education, we have is associatedwith better vey released in September 2001 Focus Series found significant growth in schol- by the National Association of arly, popular, and political support grades, peer relations, Elementary School Principals, 67 No. 8 for afterschool programs each year and emotional percent of principals now offer Teaching as a since our inception. The rationale optional afterschool programs. This Profession behind this support is clearmany adjustment. is a good trend. However, few of studies suggest that organized after- these school leaders have received A collection of school activities promote positive HEL articles on such any training in how to organize topics as National outcomes for children and youth. afterschool time in their buildings Board Certification, A 2001 survey showed that 94 percent of U.S. and districts. And despite the importance of after- teacher leaders, voters believe that children and teens should have school programming and full-service and community collaborative assess- organized activities or places to go after school every schools initiatives, few colleges and universities train ment, and more. day that provide opportunities to learn. Financial the new generation of educators in how to manage 30 pp. $14.95. support is growing as well. Many philanthropies havethe new reality they will encounter in their buildings. To order: decided to invest in afterschool education as a way to What is interesting is that school leaders are 800-513-0763 support communities, schools, and families. The fed- changing as they encounter afterschool programs [email protected] eral government has increased its funding through and staff. In one collaboration between PAER and a http://gseweb. the 21st Century Community Learning Centers from large, urban intermediary charged with coordinating harvard.edufhepg $1 million in fiscal year 1997 to $1 billion in 2002, afterschool citywide (The After-School Corporation), with the possibility of $1.5 billion in funding in the we provided training for principals over a three-year coming year. This infusion of funding and the joiningperiod. In the first year, the concern of many of the of many creative minds are helping to move the field principals was control, and they worried about what from low status and weak infrastructure to a more happened in the building under their watch. In the established domain where afterschool education is a second year, as collaborations matured, principals significant player in education reform and commu- spoke about the exciting possibilities of collaboration nity development. with church-based organizations and the institutional There is also growing evidence that good after- "marriages" that had formed. In the third year the school programming makes a difference in kids' principals talked increasingly about a seamless day, lives. Studies in child development and education one where the school influenced the afterschool continued on page 7 ir 0

Harvard Education Letter November/December 2002 U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) ERTC National Library of Education (NLE) EdicatIonalResounes Ilermallon Centel Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

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