Using the High Yield Instructional Strategies to Help Narrow the Opportunity/Achievement Gap 2006 Texas Social Studies Supervisors’ Spring Conference March 30-31, 2006

Closing the Gap What you can do as a supervisor Focus on the Gap-force people to look at the gap--Prepare charts/reports Talk about the gap-compare your gap with others-school, content areas, etc Book studies

Grade Eight ReadingMathSocial Studies District Gap4228 State Gap State Gap<State by 6<State by 9<State by 4

Grade Ten ELAMathSocial Studies Science District Gap State Gap State Gap >State by 10<State by 4<State by 1<State by 4

Exit Level ELAMathSocial Studies Science District Gap State Gap State Gap >State by 5<State by 5<State by 1>State by 3

“In 2004 on 26 TAKS tests, our gap was narrower than the states gap on 16 tests.” “In 2005 on 26 TAKS tests, our gap was narrower than the states on 19 tests.”

Classroom Walkthroughs Learning24/7

Robert Marzano Classroom Instruction That Works

“One of the primary goals of the study was to identify those instructional strategies that have the highest probability of enhancing student achievement for all students in all subject areas at all grade levels.” “ What works in Classroom Instruction”

What really works…High Yield Instructional Strategies Identifying similarities and differences-45% Summarizing and note-taking-34% Reinforcing effort and providing recognition-29% Homework and practice-28%---.77

High Yield Instructional Strategies Nonlinguistic representations-27% Cooperative Learning- 27%---.73

High Yield Instructional Strategies Setting objectives and providing feedback-23% Generating and testing hypotheses- 23% Using questions, cues, and advance organizers-22%---.59

Identifying similarities and differences “Common Bond” question The student can find and develop similarities and differences in cultures, historical accounts, and ideas Why/how is this like…….. Why/how is this different from…

Comparing-teacher directed, student directed and graphic organizers Classifying-TEKS biography Creating Metaphors- ”superhighways” Analogies

Summarizing and note- taking Summarizing forces generalizations, inferences, etc The student can summarize readings and take notes from the teacher, the text, and personal interviews

What research says about note taking Verbatim note taking is least effective-strongly discouraged Notes should be considered a work progress Most powerful use is to review for tests “less is more” is a misconception

Reinforcing effort and providing recognition Swift and sincere Specific, variety, provides information to the student Noteworthy Positive reinforcement Examples of this …..

What research says about reinforcing effort People believe that success is attributable to one of four causes: ability, effort, other people, or luck Teach students that added effort will pay off in terms of enhanced achievement

One study compared… Time Management Techniques for comprehension of new materials The relationship between effort and achievement

Homework and practice Why is this a high yield strategy? What is good homework/practice? What percent of the first 18 years of life is spent at school?

What research says about homework With teachers’ comments as feedback (may or may not be graded)-30% gain Homework graded-28 Assigned but not graded-11 Grade levels-(4-6)-6 (7-9)-12 (10- 12)-24

Nonlinguistic Representation Restates concepts and content in nonlinguistic representations Illustrated time line Or… The student can infer and interpret graphic information into verbal or written-describe a picture

Learning Groups The student uses cooperative learning groups to develop social interaction skills Accountability Overused and misused

Setting objectives and providing feedback The student is asked to determine causes and effects in historical and cultural events The student reads, interprets, and constructs maps The teacher writes plans that reflect specific objectives

Goal of the C&A Department To ensure that every student has access to a viable curriculum and that he/she learns it.

Generating and Testing Hypotheses The students is asked to read multiple accounts of historical events and then analyzes the writers’ perspectives: newspapers, diaries, social commentaries

Using questions, cues, and advance organizers The student can use graphic organizers to compare, classify, analyze, and organize ideas or concepts

What does research tell us about student learning? Changes in performance-Students entering at the 50 th percentile, leave* Effective teacher/Effective School96% Average Teacher/Effective School78% Effective Teacher/Least Effective School63% Average Teacher/Average School50% Least Effective Teacher/effective school37% Least Effective Teacher/Least effective school 3% *after two years Marzano, Pickering & Pollock

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