Jon Saphier on High-Expertise Teaching

            In this Kappan article, author/consultant Jon Saphier says many districts have idealistic vision statements like these: 

• Students loving learning; 
• Developing 21st-century skills;
• Capable, responsible citizens. 

But high-flown goals, says Saphier, aren’t helpful for generating actionable plans for improving teaching and learning. 

            Similarly, he believes, education reform efforts have lacked an effective guiding principle, resulting in three decades of lurching from one initiative to another: teacher evaluation, small schools, site-based decision-making, PLCs, active learning, habits of mind, social-emotional learning, project-based learning, cooperative learning, student agency, advisories, digital literacy, and more. Teachers get cynical, wondering what happened to last year’s grand plan, and administrators are often distracted by crises and lose their focus on the initiative of the year. 

            What really matters in schools, says Saphier, is high-expertise teaching. “This is because the overall knowledge and skill of the individual teacher is the most important factor in student achievement. It dwarfs everything else” – and it’s directly tied to closing achievement gaps. That’s why he believes the North Star for every district’s improvement efforts should be: 

            Make every school an engine for continuous improvement of high-expertise teaching for equity. 

This vision statement, Saphier believes, synthesizes 70 years of insights on sustainable improvement in teaching and learning. It “conjures concrete images of what to do to improve the experiences of children and their learning. It comes with anchors in the research base on instructional improvement, deep roots in the literature of healthy organizational culture, and direct ties to the lived experiences of students.” Here’s how he unpacks the vision: 

• Every school – There should be a certain amount of autonomy from school to school within a district, says Saphier, allowing for “individual creativity, different implementation, or idiosyncratic approaches.” But high-quality teaching, clearly defined, is non-negotiable – for example, the way teachers scaffold complex texts to bring grade-level content within reach for all students. Superintendents also need to develop, recruit, hire, and support principals who can sustain teaching quality over time. 
• Engine for continuous improvement – Principals’ number one job is building a culture that supports the kind of teaching that gets results for all students, which means first-rate professional learning, deep collaboration within and across teams, and non-defensive examination of practices through analysis of student learning. Superintendents need to bring principals together in a collective we, promoting collaboration versus competition among schools. 
• High-expertise teaching – This is built on the vast, complex, and often untapped knowledge base about classroom practices that make the biggest difference in student learning and promote equitable outcomes. Teaching really is more complex than brain surgery. 
• Teaching for equity – This is a personal journey for teachers as school and district leaders support them in examining their beliefs and current practices in light of their impact on different students and developing a sense of urgency in changing historical patterns of achievement. 
• Professional working conditions – The infrastructure of teachers’ daily lives – team meetings, collegiality, student scheduling, professional development, hiring and onboarding, supervision, evaluation, coaching, and support – is often ragged, says Saphier: “If we don’t address this problem, no other reform movement has a prayer of accomplishing its goals.” The school district leadership is key to addressing this challenge, ideally supported by a higher education partner.
• Getting started – Saphier suggests several steps to move a district toward implementing this ambitious vision: 
• Developing a common definition of high-expertise teaching and identifying the elements that are most important for the district – for example, cultural proficiency, active reading and writing in every class, formative assessments, and robust classroom discussions.
• Focusing on hiring and supporting principals who have a good eye for teaching, are committed to dismantling inequitable structures and practices, and can mobilize teacher teamwork around looking at student work and continuously improving practice. 
• Reducing variance among schools by ensuring strong instructional leadership, professional learning opportunities, time and structures for teacher collaboration, support systems for students, and a relentless focus on equity. 
• District office personnel interacting with school-based educators in ways that move everyone toward this North Star. “If we want schools to have adult cultures of trust and constant learning,” says Saphier, “it must be modeled from the top.” 
• Stay focused on a simple, compelling vision: Make every school a reliable engine for constant learning about high-expertise teaching for equity. Put it on the wall, in the header of every agenda, in back-to-school speeches and year-end summaries. “Make it the North Star of every journey,” says Saphier, “and cancel the trips that can’t connect to this destination. Avoid statements too abstract to indicate action, worthy though they may sound.” 

 “A New North Star” by Jon Saphier in Kappan, December 2023/January 2024 (Vol. 105, #4, pp, 52-56); Saphier can be reached at Saphier@RBTeach.com.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1016 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.