tws_use_time_to_continuously_strengthen_instruction.pdf

7/30/2019 TWS_Use_Time_to_Continuously_Strengthen_Instruction.pdf

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Successful, Expanded-Time Schools

7 Use Time to ContinuouslyStrengthen Instruction

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Research demonstrates that teacher qualityis the most signicant school-relatedfactor inuencing student achievementand that the time schools invest in

building teacher skills, when used well, canmeaningfully improve student outcomes.8 Infact, building teacher skills takes time: The hardwork of rening lesson plans, analyzing studentdata to identify areas for improvement, andsharing instructional strategies requires that

teachers and administrators have sufcient timeto meet and work together. An expanded schoolschedule affords the time needed for this type ofcollaboration.

The high-performing, expanded-timeschools examined as part of this study devotesignicantly more time to teacher developmentthan do conventional schools. More thanone-third of the schools in this study reportedscheduling fteen or more days of professionaldevelopment and planningdays when teachersare in school but students are not. While thenumber of such teacher days varies from

district to district, the total rarely exceeds veor six in districts with conventional schedules.Along with the additional teacher days, manyschools in this study arrange schedules and

stafng when school is in session in orderto ensure regular opportunities for teachersto meet with one another and with coachesand administrators as well. While the schoolday at North Star Academy in Newark, NewJersey, is eight hours long, teachers only teachfour one-hour classes each day, allowing time

for meetings with peers and coaches as wellas in-depth lesson planning. (See sidebar:

Instructional Leadership at North Star Academy)Brooklyn Generation School, a district highschool in New York, provides two hours ofcollaboration daily for its teachers by formingtwo different sets of teaching staff. The rstgroup, called foundations teachers, lead theschools foundation courses, which include a90-minute humanities class and a 90-minutemath class. The second group, studio teachers,lead the schools studio classes, which are

essentially elective classes that include science,visual and performing arts, physical educationamong others. Each group of teachers is able tomeet while the other group is teaching.

Another strategy expanded-time schools use tond time for teacher development is to scheduleweekly or bi-weekly early-release days, whenstudents are dismissed early and teachershave the opportunity to work together on

instructional strategies. Because students are inschool more hours during the week, schedulingan early-release day can provide time forteachers to meet without cutting into importantinstructional time for students. In fact, 23 ofthe 30 schools included in this study schedule aweekly early-release day for teachers to receiveprofessional development and collaborate withtheir colleagues. One school in New OrleansRecovery School District, Arthur Ashe CharterSchool, offers two hours of weekly professionaldevelopment time, focused on strengtheninginstructional practices or building schoolculture, after student dismissal every Friday.

Teacher surveys conducted at Arthur Ashe showa high level of satisfaction with these teacherdevelopment opportunities. On Wednesdays, atWilliamsburg Collegiate in Brooklyn, New York,students are released early and teachers spendfour hours in professional development sessionsand grade and content level team meetings.

Some schools also devote several weeks ofthe summer to professional development andplanning. At Rocketship Mateo Sheedy, in SanJose, California, teachers return to school threeweeks before students. During this period,teachers engage in discussions and training on

school culture, classroom management, generalschool protocols and procedures, along withspecic school-wide instructional practicessuch as guided reading. In Newark, New Jersey,at North Star Academy, teachers also return toschool three weeks early and new teachers arriveeven earlier. Summer professional developmenttime is focused on rening the implementationof common instructional approaches,including the schools structured approachto lesson-planning.

However, while the amount of time investedin teacher development across these high-

performing schools is noteworthy, the schoolsemphasize that the real key to their success ishow they use this time. Without a coherentplan for effectively using time allotted forprofessional development, grade/departmentmeetings, and classroom observations, theseactivities can fall short of their intendedpurposes. In the absence of a plan, professionaldevelopment courses can lack relevance andpracticality, teacher meetings can lose focusand become diverted by issues of behavior orlogistics, and observations can be too infrequentor disjointed to provide the important feedback

Our stafng strategy isnt necessarilyto bring in the best of the best. Ourstrategy is to bring in teachers whowant to become better and train them

to become the best of the best.

Michael Mann, Head of School,North Star Academy


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teachers need to grow. The high-performing,expanded-time schools examined in this studyattribute their success to a laser-like focuson continuously strengthening instruction.Regardless of how they organize the time,three specic keys to success emerge fromobserving these schools: 1) Teachers are observedfrequently and receive frequent feedback; 2)Time for teacher collaboration and professionaldevelopment is thoughtfully planned and

designed around a small set of clear goals forinstructional improvement; and 3) Teachers havethe expectation they will receive feedback andare committed to continuous improvement intheir teaching.

Provide teachers with frequentfeedback and coaching

Principals and other administrators at high-performing, expanded-time schools committo delivering clear and focused instructionalleadership through frequent observations andfeedback. At North Star Academy, each teacher ispaired with an instructional coachtypically a

master teacher, administrator, or other veteranteacherwho observes and meets with thepartnered teacher once each week. New teachersand struggling teachers are observed and meetwith coaches more frequently. Similarly, teachersat Amistad Academy in New Haven, Connecticut,meet with their instructional coach twice eachweeka classroom observation followed bya meeting to debrief. (See sidebar: Essentialsof Effective Instruction at Amistad AcademyMiddle School) At these two schools, additionaltime allows for both observations and meetingsto take place without sacricing the amountof instruction students receive. Jacob HiattMagnet School in Worcester, Massachusettshas congured schedules to allow for a uniquepeer observation protocol to share effectiveinstructional practices, modeled after medicalrounds. (See sidebar: Collaborating to ImproveInstruction at Jacob Hiatt Magnet School)

Focus on a small set of improvement goals

At each of these schools, teachers andadministrators emphasize that the time for

coaching, observation, and feedback is effectivebecause it focuses on a limited number of cleargoals and on improving just a few specicinstructional practices. At North Star Academy,each teacher develops a small set of goals, whichare clearly identied at the top of a lesson plan,in collaboration with his/her instructionalleader. For example, a teacher may be workingon better engaging students in discussions oron better pacing of lessons. At Hiatt, the faculty

and school leadership focus on three specicinstructional practices in their meetings withone another and in their peer observations.Teacher development at Amistad Academy isaligned to ten Essentials of Effective Instruction,developed by the greater Achievement Firstnetwork. Twice each year, all Amistad teachersattend professional development trainingsdelivered by Achievement First teachers andstaff, each intended to strengthen one of theten essentials. Additionally, Amistad educatorschoose one of the essentials as their school-widegoal each year. Finally, instructional coaches usea rubric organized around the ten essentials toprovide feedback to teachers after observations.

Create a culture that values feedbackand continuous improvement

Constructive feedback is not easy to give, noris it always easy to receive. In schools, just likein many work environments, administratorsand instructional leaders will hesitate to offerdetailed comments on how professional practicecan be improved. Educators working at the high-performing, expanded-time schools in this studyrecognize that teaching excellence depends oncreating a culture where feedback is expectedand where the focus is always on how to improve.

Even the best teachers are observed and getfeedback, because everyone can get better. We arenever satised here, explains Eric Widmeyer, aneighth-grade history teacher at Amistad Academy.

We are always looking for some way to improveour teaching. Thats what makes teaching hereexciting. Its hard, but I know I am improving.

Provideteacherswithfrequent feedbackandcoaching

Focusonasmallsetofimprovementgoals

Createaculturethatvaluesfeedback andcontinuousimprovement

KeystoSuccess

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While manyschoolsscheduletime for

teachers to collaborate,Jacob Hiatt MagnetSchool, in Worcester,Massachusetts, stands outfor its efforts to organizeall collaboration andprofessional developmenttime around its school-wide instructional focus,which concentrates on

improving studentscritical reading skills. Afterestablishing this focus,Hiatts expanded schoolschedule was structuredto allow more time forwriting and literacy.Meanwhile, the schoolinvested signicant time

in their teachers, acknowledging that forinstruction to improve, teachers need moretime to collaborate, look at student work, andanalyze data, as well as continue to rene theirinstructional practice. (Also see earlier sidebar:

School-wide Instructional Focus at Jacob HiattMagnet School)

In the process of determining a school-wideinstructional focus, Hiatts faculty andleadership identied three School-Wide BestPractices that all teachers would implement

Collaborating to Improve Instruction atJacob Hiatt Magnet School / Worcester, MA

every day in every classroom and they developeda unique peer observation system so teacherscould share effective instructional practicescontinually with one another.

The particularly effective system we haveused to strengthen instruction in these threepractice areas is the professional developmentpractice called rounds. It is modeled afterthe practice used in the medical profession toimprove patient care, Assistant Principal MaryLabuski describes. At Hiatt, a round engagessmall groups of teachers in understanding theteaching-learning process at work within aparticular classroom. The round is pre-arranged,and teachers are identied to participateeither as an observer or as a host teacher.Each observing group receives an orientationregarding the classroom activity from the hostteacher, observes and/or participates in somewell-dened way, and reects and discusses thelesson afterward. Questions are developed toguide the post-round reection. Class coveragearranged by the principal enables Hiatt teachersto participate in rounds periodically throughoutthe school year.

When we started using T-charts as graphicorganizers to teach writing we needed to help

teachers learn to integrate them into theirlessons. We did a lot of rounds with 2-3 teacherswho were skilled at using these organizers andthat really helped us improve our practice. Someteachers said Oh now I get it. It was sort of an

aha moment for them, Labuski recounts.

Jacob Hiatt Magnet SchoolPrincipal: Patricia E. Gaudette

School schedule: 7:50am3:35pm

Additional time compared tosurrounding district: 80 min/day

Student PopulationGrades served: PK6Number of students: 456Qualify for free/reduced lunch: 71%

Students Scoring At or Above Profcienton the Massachusetts ComprehensiveAssessment System Test in 2010(difference compared to surroundingdistrict)

ELA: 59% (+14%)

Math: 59% (+17%)

Jacob Hiatt School-wide Best Practices

Core instructional time will be dedicated to work onreading and responding to a variety of texts in everyclassroom, every day.

4 This instruction will include the use of T-charts9as school-wide graphic organizers.

4 This instruction will include the use of theU-N-P-A-C-K the question strategy.

4 This instruction will include modeled writing byevery teacher...in every classroom...every day.

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Essentials of Effective Instruction atAmistad Academy Middle School /New Haven, CT

Amistad AcademyMiddle School,founded in1999, serves

students from some ofNew Havens poorestneighborhoods, whofrequently enter theschool achieving wellbelow grade level. Yeteach year, Amistadstudents consistentlyoutperform students fromboth the surrounding

district schools and thestate on the ConnecticutMastery Test in Englishlanguage arts and math.Based on Amistadssuccess, school leaderscreated AchievementFirst (AF), a network of19 charter schools inConnecticut and New York

that have replicated the Amistad model.

Early in the schools development, leaders atAmistad Academy realized that building a cadreof excellent teachers was paramount to meetingtheir goals of closing the achievement gapand preparing the schools mostly low-incomestudent body for success in college and beyond.To this end, leaders honed in on the instructionalpractices they believed were essentialcomponents of effective instruction. This list of

key practices has been expanded and renedand is now referred to across the AF networkas the Essentials of Effective Instruction. TheEssentials encompass 24 elements, organizedinto 10 categories, and dene what high-qualityinstruction should look like at AF schools.

Along with the Essentials, a system ofinstructional coaching was created to supportteacher development. Each teacher is assigned aninstructional coach. The coaching team is madeup of the schools academic deans, the principal,and a few master teachers, all of whom teachat least one class. One of Achievement Firstsvalues is that everyone, including the principal,has a foot in the classroom, says Matt Taylor, theschool leader at Amistad Academy. Each teacheris observed by their coach every week, usingthe Essentials to guide the observation. Thecoach then meets with the teacher during his/her planning period to exchange feedback, andthe pair work collaboratively to determine whatelement of the Essentials needs improvementand the specic strategies that will be used tostrengthen instruction in this area. Once a planhas been created, the coach observes the teacherin the classroom and the coach and teachermeet again to debrief and assess the teachersmastery of the strategies. As the teacher makesprogress the plan is further modied to focuson a different element of the 10 Essentials.

The coaching program that we have makespeople feel extremely satised with their work,explains School Leader Taylor. They feel liketheyre growing because of the level of coachingtheyre getting.

To ensure coaching is highly effective it issupported at both the network and school level.Achievement First provides two to three daysof training for coaches each year. During thetraining coaches learn how to use the Essentialsto guide their observations and provide feedback.

At the school level, the principal acts as thecoach of coaches. The principal participates inco-observations with coaches and meets withthem regularly to discuss the progress teachersare making and how their coaching can beimproved. According to Taylor, the principal ofAmistad Academy, This rigorous system and theclear expectations we have regarding the practiceswe want to see in each classroom has reallycontributed to our students academic success.

Amistad Academy Middle SchoolPrincipal: Matt Taylor


Early release: 7:30am1:00pm (Fri.)

Additional time compared tosurrounding district: 180 min/day

Student PopulationGrades served: 58Number of students: 295Qualify for free/reduced lunch: 77%

Students Scoring At or Above Profcienton the Connecticut Mastery Test in 2010(difference compared to surroundingdistrict)

ELA: 78% (+14%)

Math: 93% (+22%)

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Achievement First:Essentials of Effective Instruction

1. GreatAIMS

2. ExitTicket/AssessmentofStudentMasteryoftheAIMS3. MostEffectiveandEfcientStrategiestoTeachtheAIMS

4. Modeling/GuidedPractice(I/WeorWe)

5. Sustained,Successful,IndependentPractice(You)

6. ClassroomCulture

7. StudentEngagement

8. AcademicRigor

9. CumulativeReview

10. Differentiation


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Instructional Leadership atNorth Star Academy / Newark, NJ

Students at NorthStar Academyroutinely achieveprociency rates

of 100 percent on theNew Jersey Assessmentof Skills and Knowledge.The schools uncom-promising emphasis onstrengthening the skillsof its teachers is one partialreason for the studentssuccess. Its system ofinstructional leadership

and coaching is one of thedistinguishing featuresof the school. We havevery high standardsfor our teachers but wedont just try to go out andhire superstars. We workreally hard with everyteacher to turn them intoexcellent teachers, assertsMichael Mann, NorthStars head of school.

To build teacher skills, school administratorsappoint eight instructional leaders fromtheir staff. The instructional leaders includethe six department chairs and two additionalteachers who have demonstrated excellencein the classroom. Each teacher in the buildingis assigned an instructional leader who ischarged with supporting the assigned teachersdevelopment. Instructional leaders, who alsocarry a teaching load, provide assigned teacherswith a minimum of three hours of supervision

and support each week. Support includes a one-hour observation at the beginning of the week,a one-hour meeting later in the week to providefeedback on the observation, and co-planningfor the next weeks lessons. New teachers orstruggling teachers may receive up to six hoursof observation and coaching per week. We dontcharacterize this relationship as collaboration.It is leadership. When leaders give instructionsthey are not just providing collegial advice, theyare directing the growth of teachers skills,explains Mann.

Every teacher in the schooleven veteran andmaster teacherswork with their instructionalleader to identify areas for improvement. Thearea I really needed to work on was pacing. Iwas taking too long on certain activities in mylesson, and I wasnt getting to some of the partsI had planned for the end. My instructionalleader helped me to time stamp my lessons sothat I was clear where I wanted to be at eachpoint, says Steve Chiger, a journalism andEnglish teacher at North Star. When a teacheris struggling in a specic area, he/she may beasked to observe another teachers lesson, orthe instructional leader may model a teachingstrategy by co-teaching a lesson or stepping in toteach a component of a larger lesson.

What is most distinctive about North StarAcademys approach is the intentionalityand forethought that have gone into thecreation of the instructional leadership system.Instructional leaders receive coaching on how tosupport teachers, and they are required to applya number of school-wide templates to guide theirwork. The school provides training and protocolson how to conduct an observation, how tostructure teacher meetings, how to give feedbackon an observation, and how to set specicdevelopment goals. Videotapes of effectivemeetings between instructional leaders and

teachers are shown to model desired approachesand behaviors.

To allow time for these vital meetings, teachersat North Star Academy typically teach onlyfour out of seven class periods per day. Thesemeetings take time, explains Juliann Harris,ninth and tenth grade academy leader, and theyare an important part of our work to make sureour students receive an excellent education.

North Star AcademyPrincipal: Michael Mann


Early release: 7:45am2:15pm (Thurs.)

Additional time compared tosurrounding district: 70 min/dayand 11 days/year

Student PopulationGrades served: 912Number of students: 204Qualify for free/reduced lunch: 76%

Students Scoring At or Above Procienton the New Jersey Assessmentof Skills and Knowledge in 2010(difference compared to surroundingdistrict)

ELA: 92% (+33%)

Math: 100% (+52%)

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