From the Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge

by Gregory MacDougall, Science Specialist

In a previous Cutting Edge article, I reviewed a two-hour documentary that aired October 2005 on the Public Broadcasting Service called “Making Schools Work.” In that article, I stated that “the field of education is beginning to identify ways that schools and school districts can make substantial improvements.” Over the last 20 years, there are many sources that are pointing education towards being able to truly ‘leave no child behind.’ The focus of this article is to compare the similarities among some of these studies. Specifically, this article will compare the lessons learned from the documentary “Making Schools Work” with studies of successful schools of high poverty.

There are two studies that are often cited in this body of research. (1) In California, a large scale study was released in the summer of 2005 by EdSource (www.edsource.org) called Similar Students: Different Results. The study looked at 550 schools with students from moderately high poverty – between 65 to 75 percent poverty. The study looked at what was done differently between the high performing schools and the low performing schools. The second study is (2) The 90-90-90 Schools: A Case Study by Doug Reeves. This large scale study, which included over 200 schools in a variety of settings (rural, urban, and suburban), looked at schools that had at least 90% minority students, 90% students on free/reduced lunch, and 90% of students who met or exceeded the standards.

The following table, Table 1, shows the similarities of the results of each study. Note the similarities between the studies.

Table 1. Similarities of What Works in Schools According to Three Studies

	Making Schools Work	Similar Schools: Different Results	90-90-90 Schools: A Case Study
High Expectations	High expectations for all students	Prioritizing student achievement and enforcing high expectations for student behavior	Focus on student achievement
Curriculum	Clear standards	Implementing a coherent, standards-based instructional program	Clear curriculum choices
Assessment	Regular testing to monitor student progress towards the standards	Using data to improve student achievement and instruction	Frequent assessment of student progress
Staff Development and Teacher Collaboration	Systematic staff development that are on-going and designed to improve student achievement	Professional development and teacher collaboration	Collaborative scoring of student work
Resources	Adequate resources to effectively implement the initiatives	Ensuring availability of instructional resources
Other	Time for staff to buy into initiatives	Parents	Emphasis on nonfiction writing
Other	Systematic structuring of the initiatives into daily school life

Each of these studies conclude with some advice and warnings. The warnings center around a caution for those interested in discovering a ‘magic bullet’ that can make all things better. The advice, however, centers around the reproducibility of the strategies that were employed in these schools. Schools and school systems can and do improve when the culture of the school earnestly adopts and adapts ‘best practices’ into their day to day life. The questions on many minds then is “What exactly are these best practices? What do you mean by ‘high expectations’ or ‘clear curriculum choices’ and what exactly does this look like in various high performing schools?” We will save that question for future articles in From the Cutting Edge.

Professional Development