1. Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago
Guest presenter: Elaine Allensworth, Senior Director and Chief Research Officer, at the Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago

2. Coalition for Community Schools
Vision: The Coalition for Community Schools believes that strong communities require strong schools and strong schools require strong communities.  We envision a future in which schools are centers of thriving communities where everyone belongs, works together, and succeeds.
Mission: The Coalition advances opportunities for the success of children, families and communities by promoting the development of more, and more effective, community schools.  

3. Coalition Partners
With over 150 local, state, and national partners, the Coalition is comprised of organizations representing:
Nonprofit organizations: e.g. United Ways, YMCA’s
Youth development
Health, mental health and social services
K-12 and higher education
Local government
Community development organizations
Local community school initiatives…more
Our partners recognize the community school advantage in achieving their own goals.

4. 2011 Professional Development Opportunity
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6. Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago
Webinar for the Coalition for Community Schools
Elaine Allensworth
Based on work with co-authors Anthony S. Bryk, Penny Bender Sebring, Stuart Luppescu and John Easton

7. A Tale of Two Chicago Schools: Hancock and Alexander
Similar in many ways as Chicago decentralized authority to local school councils in the early 1990s
Located in same area of the city, less than 2 miles apart
100% African American enrollment and 100% low income
Both among 100 poorest-performing schools in reading and math in 1989
One moves dramatically forward over the next seven years (Hancock) but the other does not (Alexander)

8. Hancock and Alexander were not unique

9. How did Hancock beat the odds?
Why did Alexander fail to do so?

10. A systematic, empirical attack on this question
internal workings
external conditions
What distinguishes schools that improve from those that do not?

11. A Framework of Essential Supports

12. A Concept of Essentiality
The “baking a cake” metaphor
John Kotsakis, CTU:
What would a cake be if we forgot the eggs or the baking powder?

13. Indicators of School Improvement
How much are children learning during the period in which they are enrolled at that school?
Are these learning gains improving over time?
Is attendance improving over time?
Schools divided into groups, based on improvement in each area (attendance, math tests, English tests):
Stagnant (25%)
Typical - small improvements (50%)
Improving – substantially (25%)

14. Likelihood of Improvement, Given Weak or Strong Supports
Percentage of Schools that Improved Substantially

15. Attendance Improvement
Safety and order – a basic need
Advanced by “interesting instruction”
–active student learning in an aligned curriculum (new challenges)
Among schools with weak instruction and poor safety:
0% showed substantial improvement in attendance
53-67% had stagnant attendance
(depending on the indicator of instruction)
A safe and orderly climate with interesting instruction.
Work we’ve done later has shown that parent-teacher relationships are really key for safety & order, teacher professional capacity needed for interesting instruction.

16. Improvement in learning gains depended on adults working cooperatively, focused on instruction and school climate
In schools with a poor learning climate and…
Weak collaboration among teachers OR
Weak collaboration between parents and teachers:
0% substantially improved math or reading scores
39-59% were stagnant
Learning climate is EITHER safety OR PEER INTERACTIONS, BEHAVIOR

17. Improvement in learning gains depended on adults working cooperatively, focused on instruction and school climate
In schools with a well-aligned curriculum and a strong professional community among teachers
48-57% substantially improved math/reading scores
4-9% were stagnant
(Depending on subject)
Teacher backgrounds much less important than collaborative work
Only mattered in schools without strong professional community or quality professional development
Teachers working together around instruction – that is what is key

18. School Leadership as a Catalyst for Change
Strategic orientation
Nurturing multiple leaders, collaboration
Focus on instructional improvement
By itself, leadership is the strongest predictor of improvement. But only matters if other elements are strong – must be focused on developing the five essential supports.

19. Trust is a key enabler of school improvement
Same thing with safety, teacher cooperative work
Projected effects of base level of relational trust on improvements in parent involvement

20. Revisiting Hancock Elementary
New principal invested heavily in developing the teaching staff
Monthly breakfasts to discuss practice
Collective focus on literacy instruction, then math instruction
School-based workshops, common planning periods
Social services support team – coordinating services from agencies throughout the community
Efforts to connect with parents and bring them in as partners

21. Revisiting Hancock Elementary
By the midpoint of this study, Hancock had become very strong across most essential supports…
Leadership: 99th percentile
Parent involvement: 73rd percentile
Teacher Professional community: 90th percentile
Interactive instruction: 90th percentile
But the school still struggled with safety and order (10th percentile), despite substantial effort and noticeable improvements.

22. Hancock was exceptional, but not alone
Improving schools were located in neighborhoods across the city

23. Stagnating schools were concentrated in the poorest neighborhoods

24. Supports were less likely to develop in schools in communities with weak social capital
Bonding social capital
-the degree to which community members work together on community issues, belong to local organizations and religious institutions
Crime in the school neighborhood and students’ neighborhoods
Percent of students in the school living under extraordinarily difficult circumstances
histories of abuse or neglect or in out-of-family care

25. Percentage of schools with very strong essential supports in 1994
Supports were less likely to develop in schools in communities with weak social capital
Percentage of schools with very strong essential supports in 1994

26. But the essential supports were even more important for school improvement in schools in communities with weak social capital
Disadvantaged communities – schools needed robust essential support practices to improve student learning.
Better off communities – some schools improve with even average internal essential supports.
No schools improve with weak internal supports, despite their location.
If external social resources are weak, internal social resources need to be strong

27. Subsequent work has shown the importance of parent involvement in both elementary and high schools in the years after decentralization

28. Teacher stability
Teachers’ perceptions of parent support was one of the strongest predictors of staying in their school
As important as….
Teacher-principal trust
Collective responsibility among teachers in the school
More important than….
Professional development
Teacher-teacher trust and socialization of new teachers
Perception of principal as an instructional leader
Only the learning climate was more important for teacher stability than parent involvement, and only at high schools
Even in high schools
From The Schools Teachers Leave (2009)

29. The climate of safety
Social-organizational features of schools explain differences in safety
Variation in school safety explained by:
Student Safety
Teacher Safety
Poverty and Crime alone
48%
40%
…plus social resources in the community
57%
43%
…plus teacher collaboration
65%
67%
…plus teacher relationships with students and parents
74%
75%

30. Other work has shown there are no “magic bullet” solutions
Drastic efforts (firing staff, replacing principal, closing and re-opening) have had mixed results in Chicago
Depend on attention to organizational structure
Accountability Sanctions (for students & schools) worked only for schools with strong organizational structures
Requiring more rigorous curriculum not effective
Learning climate and professional capacity not sufficient to support new curricula (college prep for all, IDS)
Narrow interventions are tools for organizational improvement, not ends in themselves

31. Concluding remarks

32. Five Essential Supports for School Improvement
School improvement requires systemic work on multiple fronts
Five Essential Supports for School Improvement
School Leadership as Driver for Change
Robust Parent-Community Ties
Strong Professional Capacity
Student-Centered Learning Climate
Instructional Guidance
Narrow interventions are limited
Tools for improvement, not ends in themselves
Leadership requires work on multiple levels
The development of social capacity is critical
Decentralization worked—even though it did not focus on instruction, it did not require replacing ineffective teachers with effective ones, it did not include accountability sanctions. It worked because it encouraged teachers, community members, parents and school leaders to work together to improve schools. It is noteworthy that communities with more social capital showed the highest improvements.

33. About the book
Website: ccsr.uchicago.edu/osfi
About CCSR
Website: ccsr.uchicago.edu

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