IMPROVING ACHIEVEMENT AND CLOSING GAPS BETWEEN GROUPS: How Can Researchers Help? IES June, 2006

As a group, educators are a pretty conservative lot. It’s hard to get them to change what they do.

Not clear that more and better research will cause many of them to do things differently, but it certainly can help.

Would help, however, if it focused on the questions most on the minds of educators today. Here are the ones I get most often.

1. What differentiates the teachers who are most effective in growing student learning from those who are less effective?

Students in Dallas Gain More in Math with Effective Teachers: One Year Growth From 3 rd -4 th Grade Source: Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.

Cumulative Teacher Effects On Students’ Math Scores in Dallas (Grades 3-5) Source: Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on Longitudinal Student Achievement, Beginning Grade 3 Percentile Rank= 55 Beginning Grade 3 Percentile Rank= 57

Some of the things we most need to know…in order to act: Are teachers who are high value-added on state assessment also same when second measure is introduced? How stable are value-added measures? What are the characteristics and practices of teachers with high value added? What can we do to produce/attract/select more of them?

#2. What is it about unusually effective schools—especially those serving low-income students and students of color-- that makes them so effective?

Source: Education Trust analysis of data from National School-Level State Assessment Score Database (

Source: Education Trust analysis of data from National School-Level State Assessment Score Database (

Source: Education Trust analysis of data from National School-Level State Assessment Score Database ( Data are from 2002.

Not all these schools are consistently high performers in multiple years and subjects. But some certainly are.

Centennial Place Elementary School Atlanta, Georgia 528 students in grades K-5 92% African American 62% Low-Income Source: School Information Partnership,

Centennial Place High Achievement for All Students Grade 5 Math, 2005 Source: School Information Partnership,

Centennial Place High Achievement for All Students Grade 5 Reading, 2005 Source: School Information Partnership,

Frankford Elementary Frankford, Delaware 29% African-American 34% Latino 34% White 76% Low-Income Source: Delaware Department of Education Online School Profiles,

Frankford Elementary Closing Gaps, Grade 5 Math Source: Delaware Department of Education, DSTP Online Reports,

University Park High School Worcester, MA Grades 7-12; 70+% poverty; 50% ELL; Most students enter at least two grade levels behind.

University Park Results: % of 10 th graders passed MA high school exit exam on first attempt. 87% passed at advanced or proficient level. Fifth most successful school in the state, surpassing many schools serving wealthy students.

#3. What explains the big differences in how the “same” groups of children perform across different districts and states?

Low-Income African American Students do Better in Some Districts (Urban NAEP Grade 4 Reading, 2005) Source: National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, Proficient Scale Score = 238 Houston and Austin are not included due to high exclusion rates for students with disabilities and English Language Learners

Low-Income African American Students do Better in Some Districts (Urban NAEP Grade 8 Math, 2005) Source: National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, Proficient Scale Score = 281

Latino Students Do Better In Some Districts (Urban NAEP Grade 4 Reading, 2005) Source: National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, Proficient Scale Score = 238 Houston and Austin are not included due to high exclusion rates for students with disabilities and English Language Learners. Latino scores are not available for Atlanta

NAEP 2005 Grade 8 Math, African American Scale Scores Source: National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, Proficient Scale Score: 299 MA RI

NAEP 2005 Grade 8 Math, Latino Scale Scores Source: National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, Proficient Scale Score: 299 TX CA

#4. None of these educators, schools, districts or states are yet achieving what we need them to achieve, especially for the kids who enter behind. What do we know—from learning science, psychology, brain research and the like—that could help them go further, faster?

Average High School: Percent of Instructional Time in Reading Intensive Courses Below Grade Level Students On Grade Level Students Advanced Students 24%29%35%

Surprise: Gaps Grow.

We know that this isn’t smart. But what, exactly, is?

What many educators think they know from “research”: If they’re not good at reading or math, let them “express themselves” with another “intelligence”; If you don’t get them by the time they are 3 (or 3 months) those “synapses” will never grow or connect; If the students are black or brown, virtually every lesson must be “culturally relevant” (and if that means taking the content or rigor out, well then so be it).

You can do better! Really important to both get research out there AND to guard against deeply “dumbed down” versions of your research.

Getting Results USED: What DOESN’T Work Writing it up in journals; Expecting Ed School faculty to integrate your findings into their instruction.

Getting Results Used: What CAN work First, get Russ Whitehurst to give you lots of money to ensure that the findings are solid; Then, get the federal government (or, if you prefer) the Gates Foundation to put lots of money behind training people to do it; and, Make really, really sure that your trainers don’t dumb it down.

The Education Trust Download this Presentation Washington, DC: Oakland, CA: