Ric Hovda Joe Johnson College of Education San Diego State University

*most promising strategies *key attributes *critical ingredients to expand

 Summit (hear from the field, review the issues)  College Acknowledgement and Commitment  NCUST (participation)  CTQ Data and Improvement Plan  MOUs with Districts/Block Program Model  CCAG participation  PACT/eSupervision

CSU Center to Close the Achievement Gap

Cristina Alfaro, Ph.D. Associate Professor, San Diego State University and Jim Lanich, Ph.D. Director, CSU Center to Close the Achievement Gap California State University Center to Close the Achievement Gap Transformative Change in the Preparation of Teachers February 14, 2011

Center Work Plan Overview Business community Districts/ schools CSU Campuses CSU Center to Close the Achievement Gap created to fill the gaps by acting as – ▪ ‘Lighthouse’ to fundamentally change the outlook towards leveraging research for improving teaching practices ▪ Catalyst for an evolving system that will tilt the balance from mechanistic approaches to teaching and helping teachers become proficient in the art of teaching Provide faculty and pre-service candidates ▪ Best practice investigation and dissemination ▪ Curriculum updates ▪ Host investigation visits ▪ Share best practices ▪ Participate in grant funding opportunities ▪ Inform expected outcomes from education system ▪ Support in infrastructure development Current gaps ▪ Data collection and management ▪ Support educator preparation ▪ Support in sharing best practices ▪ Inform curriculum and pre-service candidate placements

CSU Center to Close the Achievement Gap CSU Campuses Business Community Achievement Data Honor Roll Schools

 What are California high performing districts, schools, and educators doing to close the achievement gap of low income and culturally and linguistically diverse students?  What are the practices and dispositions of teachers whose students achieve high levels of academic success?  What are the implications for California teacher preparation programs?

 Quantitative data from surveys, observations, student achievement data, demographic data  Qualitative data from interviews (individual and focus groups), observations, field notes, and classroom, school, and district artifacts

Center web-portal  Longitudinal data on every public school in California  Higher performing, comparable school profiles and data  Best practice framework, artifacts and audit tools  Organized data for each CSU campus

San Diego County School Type: Elementary Grade Span: K- 6 Enrollment: 592 Soc Dis: 311 (52.6%) FRSL: 275 (46.4%) English Learner: 363 (61.4%) Hispanic: 571 (96.4%) Outperforming Expectations (based on Linear Regression): Hispanic ELA: Hispanic Math: Soc Dis ELA: Soc Dis Math: Eng Learn ELA: Eng Learn Math: Star School Outperforming E AYP Min. Proficiency

Chula Vista Learning Community Charter

 High expectations for all students  Teacher dispositions that lead to effective instruction  Demonstration of the collaborative nature of teaching  Effective differentiation of instruction  Effective use of data to monitor and adjust instruction  Culturally and Linguistically contextualized pedagogy  Deep knowledge and understanding of content and standards

Alignment of Purpose ClassroomSchoolDistrict Higher Education Teachers, Counselors and Administrators

 NCLB / ESEA Re-Authorization  Common Core Standards  Summative/Formative Assessments  Informing Teacher Preparation in California  How do we Continue as a Catalyst for Change and Break Through the Clutter?

National Center for Urban School Transformation Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. National Center for Urban School Transformation San Diego State University February 14, 2011

National Center for Urban School Transformation Dedicated to identifying, studying, and promoting the best practices of America ’ s highest achieving urban schools in a manner that supports urban districts in transforming teaching and learning

Non-selective, urban schools (serving primarily students from low-income families) that demonstrate high achievement for all students. These schools evidence:  High proficiency rates for all groups  High graduation rates for all groups  High rates of access to challenging programs for all groups  No disproportionate enrollments of racial/ethnic groups in special education  Low rates of suspension/expulsion for all groups  Other indicators of student success/achievement

In the past five years, NCUST has identified 48 remarkable elementary, middle, and high schools in 15 different states.

Although these urban schools serve low- income communities with many challenges, they have multiple evidences of outstanding achievement for all of the demographic groups they serve.

What are the teaching practices in these high-performing urban schools? Why are they more likely to attain excellent learning results than schools with similar demographic compositions?

In excellent lessons, educators:  Create clarity about what students are expected to learn  Minimize transitions, wait time, and time off task  Focus persistently on the objective to be mastered  Focus on generating substantial depth of understanding (higher order thinking)  Respond to data/information concerning student mastery of content

 In excellent lessons, educators:  Engage all students in demonstrating their levels of understanding throughout the lesson  Attend carefully to evidence of student understanding throughout the lesson  Adapt instruction when student mastery is not evidenced  Conclude by checking student understanding

 In excellent lessons, educators:  Know the content they intend to teach thoroughly  Present key concepts in an organized manner, based on a logical task analysis  Teach strategies so students can acquire information on their own  Keep presentations of information brief  Wait to present a second concept until students demonstrate that they understand the first concept

 In excellent lessons, educators:  Present key concepts in ways that build upon students ’ background, culture, and interests  Present key concepts in ways that build upon students ’ prior knowledge  Recognize when students are not understanding and find other ways to explain concepts when necessary  Scaffold down and enrich upward based on levels of student understanding

 In excellent lessons, educators:  Pre-identify key academic vocabulary that influences understanding of the lesson content  Educators provide multiple opportunities for all students to practice using key academic vocabulary in their own spoken language

 In excellent lessons, educators:  Allow students to practice independently only when they have substantial evidence that independent practice will be meaningful and successful  Monitor independent practice (and/or give students ways to monitor their own practice) and intervene when necessary

 In excellent lessons, educators:  Maintain a clean, attractive classroom  Express a genuine interest in each student ’ s ideas  Demonstrate courtesy and respect in all interactions  Provide specific, meaningful praise in response to student effort  Post high-quality student work frequently  Give students the tools needed to evaluate the quality of their work (rubrics)  Provide visual aids that can help students succeed

 In excellent lessons, educators:  Help students understand the importance of the content to be learned  Demonstrate enthusiasm for the content  Provide opportunities for students to use technology and/or manipulate objects in ways that reinforce lesson objectives  Integrate material from other disciplines in teaching lesson objectives  Provide students leadership opportunities  Encourage student-to-student interaction

 If these practices represent key factors that enable teachers to close achievement gaps:  Are they emphasized in teacher preparation programs?  Do we determine that teacher candidates have mastered these practices prior to exiting our programs?  How might we determine if our graduates are continuing to demonstrate these practices in their teaching positions?  Are these practices emphasized in our administrator preparation programs?  Do we determine that our administrative credential candidates know how to support teachers in developing these practices?  How might we determine if our graduates are supporting teachers in developing these practices in their leadership positions?