How One Elementary School Dramatically Improved Math Achievement

        In this American Educational Research Journal article, Elham Kazemi (University of Washington), Alison Fox Resnick (University of Colorado), and Lynsey Gibbons (University of Delaware) describe how the principal of a racially diverse, low-SES elementary school shifted math instruction from teacher-centered and procedure-focused to student-centered and emphasizing discussion, problem-solving, reasoning, and sense-making. Over three years, the school rose from “failing” status to being named as a School of Distinction by the state, with fourth and fifth graders outscoring the district and state (passing rates for fifth graders went from 20 to 79 percent) and no achievement differences among the school’s racial and socioeconomic student groups. 

        Kazemi, Resnick, and Gibbons studied this turnaround with a particular focus on how the principal worked with teachers and teacher teams. Their observations:

        • Teachers as learners – The principal was clear about her vision for an improved mathematics curriculum and classroom practices that needed to change, say the authors, but she also believed teachers “needed to be trusted and engaged as competent sensemakers in messy and experimental learning.” To encourage risk-taking, one of the principal’s mantras was, “You can’t look good and get better at the same time.” She knew it would take time for the pedagogical changes that needed to be made, with plenty of mistakes along the way.

        • Modeling risk-taking – As the principal worked shoulder to shoulder with teachers in grade-level meetings, math labs, and PD sessions, she shared their struggles implementing new materials and pedagogical practices, built collegiality and trust – and continued to communicate clear and high expectations. “I’m constantly shifting back and forth between pressure and support,” she said. “As I’m listening, I’m thinking all these things at once.” Because the principal sat in on so many teacher meetings, she was a keener observer of math teaching and learning when she visited classrooms.

        • Equity – One of the school’s goals was to close racial and economic achievement gaps, but the principal “resisted pervasive equity discourse,” say the authors – also the idea that black and brown students needed to “catch up” with their white and Asian peers. Instead, the principal “focused closely on students’ experiences and participation in classrooms” – and on all students’ opportunities after they graduated from the school. Bringing effective, rigorous instruction to every classroom was central to the principal’s equity philosophy. “It’s not fair,” she said, “that a child could have two different experiences because of the flip of a coin, you got this teacher and not that teacher.”

        • Student agency – “Our goal,” said the principal, “is to change kids’ outcomes in life by having them be thinkers, by having them be leaders of their own learning.” In classrooms, she watched for who was doing the intellectual heavy lifting – the teacher or the students. When a teacher said, “I wish you were in here five minutes ago when I was teaching,” the principal said that “teaching” was everything teachers were orchestrating that got kids talking to each other about their work and understanding math content and skills.

        • Teacher collaboration – The principal saw weekly 45-minute grade-level teams (during teachers’ common planning time) as the “unit of change,” the key “leverage point” for improving individual teachers’ effectiveness. The school’s math coach facilitated these meetings, guiding teachers as they talked about what had been most successful in their classrooms. The principal and coach watched for how well teachers were working together, and the principal reassigned teachers to different grade levels when team dynamics were not productive. Maximizing the potential of teams was also a key consideration when the school filled teaching vacancies.

        • Lesson study – Four to six times a year, each grade-level team, joined by special education and ELL teachers, participated in a full- or half-day “math lab” in which (facilitated by the math coach) they (a) unpacked new ideas about content, instruction, and student thinking; (b) collaboratively planned a short lesson; (c) taught the lesson in their classrooms; and (d) discussed their insights. The principal made a point of attending all teams’ math labs in the course of each year (24 in all), and saw these cycles as key to improving instructional planning and disrupting some teachers’ deficit ideas about what students were capable of doing mathematically.

        • Individual coaching – Every week, the principal and the math coach visited classrooms to gauge how teachers and students were making sense of the curriculum and provide feedback and support. The principal sat with students on the rug or checked in with them as they worked at their desks, asking about what they were learning and which problems they found easy and difficult. The principal and the coach followed up with teachers during and after visits, praising effective practices and problem-solving when students were struggling.

        • Teacher evaluation – The district’s system for evaluating teachers was incompatible with the principal’s desire to have conversations about teaching and learning throughout the year, setting goals and giving feedback from September through June. The principal also disagreed with the district’s practice of making each classroom visit evaluative. “I need to be spending my time with teachers learning and planning and reflecting and adjusting,” she said. She complied with the district’s requirements, but her main focus was on being in classrooms and team meetings every week, noticing how teachers were interpreting and implementing lesson plans, communicating with teacher teams about their insights and ideas, and fine-tuning teaching throughout the year.

        • Instructional leadership team – The ILT, consisting of the principal, assistant principal, and the math and literacy coaches, focused on how well teachers were implementing new practices, how successfully students were learning, and teacher interactions in grade-level teams. The leadership team made decisions about supporting individual teachers and teams and brainstormed ideas for the next round of math labs.

        • All-staff communication – The principal used e-mails, staff meetings, and schoolwide professional development sessions to deprivatize practice, spread effective ideas, and communicate a sense that “we are all learning this together.”

        • Storytelling – The principal encouraged teachers to tell her when lessons went especially well and send students to her (or the math coach) when they made a learning breakthrough. The principal often began staff meetings by sharing one or two of these stories, and frequently used metaphors to make important points: they were all in the same boat and needed to be rowing in the same direction; building a new mathematics system was fragile and vulnerable, like a house of cards; when sharing learning data that showed student progress, she stressed that students were on the road but had not yet arrived.

        • Buffering outside agendas – Once the school’s instructional vision was clear, the principal pushed back on district initiatives that would distract teachers from the path they were on. “Part of what I do,” she said, “which is my least favorite part of my job, is I say no all the time. ‘No, I’m sorry our teacher can’t go to that. No, I’m sorry, we can’t help you do that. No, I’m sorry, we can’t have another visit. No, we do not want that curriculum you bought because you think every elementary school needs it. No, I can’t even store it in my building because… that sends a message.’” 

 “Principal Leadership for Schoolwide Transformation of Elementary Mathematics Teaching: Why the Principal’s Conception of Teacher Learning Matters” by Elham Kazemi, Alison Fox Resnick, and Lynsey Gibbons in American Educational Research Journal, December 2022 (Vol. 59, #6, pp. 1051-1089); the authors can be reached at ekazemi@uw.edu, alison.resnick@colorado.edu and lgibbons@udel.edu.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #964 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Amanda Gorman - An Ode We Owe

How can I ask you to do good

When we’ve barely withstood

Our greatest threats yet:

The depths of death, despair and disparity,

Atrocities across cities, towns & countries,

Lives lost, climactic costs.

Exhausted, angered, we are endangered,

Not because of our numbers,

But because of our numbness.

We’re strangers

To one another’s perils and pain,

Unaware that the welfare of the public

And the planet share a name–

–Equality

Doesn’t mean being the exact same,

But enacting a vast aim:

The good of the world to its highest capability.

The wise believe that our people without power

Leaves our planet without possibility.

Therefore, though poverty is a poor existence,

Complicity is a poorer excuse.

We must go the distance,

Though this battle is hard and huge,

Though this fight we did not choose,

For preserving the earth isn’t a battle too large

To win, but a blessing too large to lose.

This is the most pressing truth:

That Our people have only one planet to call home

And our planet has only one people to call its own.

We can either divide and be conquered by the few,

Or we can decide to conquer the future,

And say that today a new dawn we wrote,

Say that as long as we have humanity,

We will forever have hope.

Together, we won’t just be the generation

That tries but the generation that triumphs;

Let us see a legacy

Where tomorrow is not driven

By the human condition,

But by our human conviction.

And while hope alone can’t save us now,

With it we can brave the now,

Because our hardest change hinges

On our darkest challenges.

Thus may our crisis be our cry, our crossroad,

The oldest ode we owe each other.

We chime it, for the climate,

For our communities.

We shall respect and protect

Every part of this planet,

Hand it to every heart on this earth,

Until no one’s worth is rendered

By the race, gender, class, or identity

They were born. This morn let it be sworn

That we are one one human kin,

Grounded not just by the griefs

We bear, but by the good we begin.

To anyone out there:

I only ask that you care before it’s too late,

That you live aware and awake,

That you lead with love in hours of hate.

I challenge you to heed this call,

I dare you to shape our fate.

Above all, I dare you to do good

So that the world might be great.”

Amanda Gorman's Poem:“An Ode We Owe,” recited to the U.N. General Assembly Sept 19, 2022

Recommended Children's Books with Neurodiverse Characters

In this School Library Journal article, Allison Staley recommends 12 books featuring characters with dyslexia, autism, ADHD, dysgraphia, and anxiety: 

• The U-nique Lou Fox by Jodi Carmichael, grade 3-7
• A Perfect Mistake by Melanie Conklin, grade 3-7 
• When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle, grade 3-7 
• Flipping Forward Twisting Backward by Alma Fullerton, grade 3-7 
• It’s So Difficult by Raúl Guridi, grade 1-4 
• How to Find What You’re Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani, grade 3-7 
• Honestly Elliott by Gillian McDunn, grade 4-7 
• A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll, grade 4-7 
• Brilliant Bea by Shaina Rudolph, preschool-grade 3 
• Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass, grade 4-7 
• A Walk in the Words by Hudson Talbott, grade 1-3 
• The View from the Very Best House in Town by Meera Trehan, grade 4-7

 “Great Minds Don’t Think Alike” by Allison Staley in School Library Journal, September 2022 (Vol. 68, #9, pp. 46-48)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #952 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Respectfully Pushing Back on Parents' Attempts to Censor Literature

            In this article in English Journal, Sean Connors (University of Arkansas) and Roberta Seelinger Trites (Illinois State University) note recent challenges to controversial books, among them New Kid by Jerry Craft, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George Johnson, Drama by Raina Telgemeier, and Maus by Art Spiegelman. Connors and Trites believe that most parents who object to these and other books are genuinely concerned for their children, and educators need to understand their concerns while also helping them understand why teachers want to use the books in their classrooms. Here are their suggested talking points: 

• The desire to shield young people from certain kinds of knowledge and content is based on an unrealistic understanding of innocence. Many adults believe that children are born pure, gradually gain knowledge, and eventually lose their innocence, say Connors and Trites, and parents see their job as preserving and protecting youthful innocence as long as possible. “But anyone who has taught school-aged children,” they say, “knows that children are typically so inquisitive that they are rarely innocent of knowledge about, for example, sex and sexuality.” Whether they live in cities, suburbs, or rural areas, children find out about that subject, and others, around the age of seven. Most parents will acknowledge that fact. 

• Paradoxically, many parents assume their children have a Rousseauian innocence while admitting that they, as children, did not. Upon reflection, adults remember when they first learned about topics like the Holocaust and economic injustice and heard homophobic slurs. “How many children are truly innocent by the time they leave middle school?” ask Connors and Trites. “And how many more have developed empathy and understanding because they witnessed (or read about) an injustice that stirred their social conscience?” 

• In every classroom, students are at different stages of maturation. When Connors taught eleventh-grade English, a parent said her child wasn’t old enough to read The Bluest Eye with the class. They arranged for an alternative book and writing assignment without denying the rest of the class the powerful experience of reading Toni Morrison’s novel.

• Arguments for protecting young people are often made with only one type of student in mind. Are those objecting to a particular book “thinking of African-American teenagers who have no choice but to attend underfunded and under-resourced schools?” ask Connors and Trites. “Or immigrant children whose parents live under the threat of deportation? Are they imagining children who have experienced physical or sexual abuse, or who are exposed to some form of addiction at home, or whose families struggle in poverty?” 

• Reading literature develops young people’s capacity for empathy and understanding. Research shows that people who read fiction on a regular basis are better able to understand and empathize with fellow humans and see the world from their perspective – abilities most parents want their children to possess. 

• Removing books that might make white, heterosexual students feel uncomfortable ignores the fact that LGBTQ parents and parents of color also have school-aged children. They too want their children to learn about their own histories and experiences. All students need books that provide “windows” and “mirrors” on their own experience and culture. “By engaging in this kind of perspective-taking,” say Connors and Trites, “students are better able to comprehend how other people understand and experience those historical events and social topics. Equally important, they are better prepared to make informed, conscious decisions as to whether they wish to reproduce discriminatory policies and practices that have been, or are, injurious to other people.”

“What Happens to Knowledge Deferred? Defending Books from Conservative White Censors” by Sean Connors and Roberta Seelinger Trites in English Journal, May 2022 (Vol. 111, #5, pp. 64-70); the authors can be reached at sconnors@uark.edu and seeling@ilstu.edu.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #940 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Helping Students Become Flexible, Sophisticated Thinkers

            In this Educational Leadership article, author/consultants Harvey Silver, Abigail Boutz, and Jay McTighe say that five thinking skills are essential to grappling with the modern world’s complex problems (acronym IDEAS): 

• Inquiry – Thoughtful questions drive an investigative process that seeks to explain and understand. Inquiry involves analyzing documents and data, generating models, and conducting experiments. 
• Design – An iterative process produces a new way of solving a problem, addressing a need, or improving an existing product or way of doing things. Designers describe a need, generate possible solutions, test options, and plan for implementation.
• Evaluation – Appropriate criteria are used to assess a product (for example, the strength of a bridge), an outcome (how the stock market did), or a process (did a group collaborate well?).
• Argumentation – This involves making a claim or critique and justifying it with reasons and evidence. 
• Systems analysis – Changes in one or more parts of a system may produce short- and long-term consequences. 

            These are the very skills that have been used during the Covid-19 pandemic: scientists inquired about the origins and mode of virus transmission; the pharmaceutical industry designed vaccines; government officials evaluated different strategies for reducing the risk of infection; everyone argued about which to prioritize; and system analysis is being used to address supply-chain issues. 

            Silver, Boutz, and McTighe believe the goal of K-12 education is to develop “sophisticated thinkers and learners who understand content deeply and can transfer their knowledge and skills to real-world challenges.” But even in schools committed to project-based learning, they say, there’s not nearly enough practice with the IDEAS thinking skills. They give examples of tasks that focus on authentic issues, are engaging and relevant, and require deep thinking and transfer of knowledge: 

            - A secondary social studies inquiry task – How did a ragtag colonial militia with limited financial support defeat Great Britain, at that time the world’s most powerful nation? 

            - A high-school psychology design task – After studying the behavioral and intellectual development of toddlers, create a safe educational toy that will appeal to toddlers and help them develop attention, memory, reasoning, imagination, and curiosity. 

            - A secondary ELA evaluation task – Examine three options for a complete 10th-grade reading list, make a recommendation, and explain your thinking. 

            - A primary-grade health argument task – Use insights from sleep research to advise your parents on how to respond to your sister’s argument that bedtimes are silly and she should be able to stay up as late as she wants. 

            - An elementary science systems analysis task – Research an endangered tropical animal and create a children’s picture book that explains the rainforest ecosystem and predicts what might happen if the animal became extinct. 

This link provides additional task starters and guiding questions for the five skills. 

 “5 IDEAS for Developing Real-World Thinking Skills” by Harvey Silver, Abigail Boutz, and Jay McTighe in Educational Leadership, May 2022 (Vol. 79, #8, pp. 38-42); the authors can be reached at hsilver@thoughtfulclassroom.com, aboutz@thoughtfulclassroom.com, and jay@mctighe-associates.com.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #937 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Recommended Graphic Novels

            In this School Library Journal feature, Brigid Alverson recommends ten standout graphic novels: 

• Almost American Girl by Robin Ha, grade 7 and up 
• Chibi Usagi: Attack of the Heebie Chibis by Julie and Stan Sakai, grade 4-7 
• Geraldine Pu and Her Cat Hat, Too! by Maggie Chang, grade 1-3 
• Lola: A Ghost Story by J. Torres, illustrated by Elbert Or, grade 3-6 
• Marshmallow & Jordan by Alina Chau, grade 4-7 
• Palimpsest: Documents from a Korean Adoption by Lisa Wool-Rim, grade 11 and up 
• The Princess Who Saved Her Friends by Greg Pak, illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa, grade 4-6 
• The Rema Chronicles Book 1: Realm of the Blue Mist by Amy Kim Kibuishi, grade 3-7 
• Stealing Home by J. Torres, illustrated by David Mamisato, grade 4-7 
• Wingbearer by Margorie Liu, illustrated by Teny Issakhanian, grade 5-8 

 “APA Artistry: 10 Standout Graphic Novels” by Brigid Alverson in School Library Journal, May 2022 (Vol. 68, #5, pp. 24-27)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #936 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Preparing Students for an Uncertain Future

(Originally titled “Future-Proofing Students”) 

            When they’re adults, more than half of today’s students will work in jobs that don’t yet exist, says author/psychologist Michele Borba in this Educational Leadership article. Her research has identified seven skillsets that are vital to success in this ever-changing world. “These strengths are not fixed nor based on scores, IQs, or ZIP codes,” says Borba, “but teachable abilities that can be woven into daily lessons and help prepare kids for life.” Here are the strengths, each with several associated abilities: 

            • Self-confidence: Self-awareness, strength awareness, finding purpose – “Confidence is the quiet understanding of ‘who I am’ that nurtures inner assuredness and appreciation of one’s unique strengths and interests,” says Borba, “as well as areas in need of improvement.” Schools can develop self-confidence by having students keep digital portfolios of their learning progress and scheduling “genius hours” to encourage students to get deeply involved in a particular area of interest. 

            • Empathy: Emotional literacy, perspective taking, empathic concern – “Empathy allows us to feel with and understand others,” says Borba, “setting us apart from the machines we create. Its cultivation will be crucial to successfully navigating life in a world dominated by artificial intelligence and augmented reality.” Students can get better at perspective-taking through cooperative learning activities, retelling stories from the point of view of different characters, or acting out a different way of seeing a historical or current event. 

            • Self-control: Attentive focus, self-management, healthy decision-making – Many young people can’t go more than two minutes without checking their devices, so self-control is a key growth area. Schools can help students set limits and teach mindfulness, meditation, and yoga. 

            • Integrity: Moral awareness, moral identity, ethical thinking – “Students don’t learn integrity through osmosis,” says Borba; “it must be intentionally taught, and we have to work at it.” Studies show that despite expressing self-satisfaction with their ethical standards and conduct, 57 percent of teenagers agree with the statement, “Successful people do what they have to do to win, even if it involves cheating.” Teachers can lead ethically focused discussions about books like The Outsiders and foster moral consciousness through service projects addressing issues like climate change and income disparities. 

            • Curiosity: Curious mindset, creative problem-solving, divergent thinking – “If adversity strikes,” says Borba, “this strength helps kids stay open to possibilities and find solutions.” Curiosity is an essential skill in a rapidly evolving job market. Teachers can nurture it by asking provocative open-ended questions, designing lessons that make students pause and wonder, scheduling innovation days where teams can explore topics of interest, and providing time to tinker in maker spaces. 

            • Perseverance: Growth mindset, goal setting, learning from failure – “Students who attribute gains to their inner drive are more creative and resilient than those who think they have no control over outcomes,” says Borba. Schools need to temper parents’ overprotective tendencies; for example, a school that forbids parents, starting in third grade, from escorting children to their classrooms and dropping off forgotten assignments or nonessential items. Schools also need to cut back on extrinsic rewards like trophies and stickers, foster an “I got this” attitude to challenging situations, and teach students to set goals and track progress. 

            • Optimism: Optimistic thinking, assertive communication, hope – One in three high-school students report persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, reported a recent study, and instant access to disturbing news is making the world seem volatile and scary. Fortunately, research has shown that explicit, skillful teaching of optimism protects against depression, increases engagement and resilience, and boosts learning and work productivity. In their morning announcements, principals can highlight stories about young people who made a difference; schools can play video clips on hallway screens of inspiring local and national stories; and service projects can give students a chance to make a difference, however small. “Our moral obligation,” Borba concludes, “is to equip this generation with the content and abilities they will need to handle an unpredictable future and thrive. Doing so may be our most important educational task.” 

 “Future-Proofing Students” by Michele Borba in Educational Leadership, May 2022 (Vol. 79, #8, pp. 18-23); Borba’s book is Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2021)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #935 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.