Using formative assessments to strengthen instructional practice

As Guskey’s research indicated, successful classroom assessments “serve as meaningful sources of information for teachers, helping them identify what they taught well and what they need to work on.”  And “when as many as half the students in a class answer a clear question incorrectly or fail to meet a particular criterion, it’s not a student learning problem – it’s a teaching problem.”

Through their rigorous research, Black and Wiliam proposed that formative assessments, in which classroom evidence is used to adapt the teaching to meet student needs, is the best way to improve student achievement.  Similarly, in the study of effective teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong, they found that among the key factors that separated “highly successful teachers” from the general teaching population was that highly successful teachers used assessments as feedback about their teaching rather than about student learning.

How then do teachers best learn to use formative assessments to modify and improve their instruction?  Through their PLCs.  Rather than relying on more traditional approaches such as purchased assessment packages or using the workshop approach for assessment design strategies, “developing assessment competencies requires that people rethink both what they do now and what beliefs led them to adopt those practices.  It requires that they make decisions about what to give up and retool.  The workshop model of professional development cannot offer the support needed for such changes.” (Stiggins and Chappuis)  Yet PLCs and similar collaborative teams “reach their ultimate goal of changing classroom assessment practices in specific ways that benefit students.”

“Our teachers are meeting in PLCs but we aren’t seeing any real changes in classroom practices.”

The first step is to break the cycle of teachers as independent operators.

It is the start of a new school year and teachers are independently working in their rooms putting up bulletin boards, planning classroom procedures, writing up grading policies and developing lessons plans.  The challenge is that the procedures, policies and instructional practices of Teacher A may have little on no resemblance to those of Teacher B across the hall.  As a result, students bounce from class to class trying to navigate a maze of different routines rather than focusing on what they need to learn.   This fractured approach may work well for the teachers, but it rarely gives students enough practice with any one strategy, skill, routine, approach, or procedure to become expert at it.

The second step is to think deeply about what works best for students.

Stepping into the shoes of students for a moment and thinking about what works and what doesn’t work within and across classrooms can be the catalyst for changing from a culture of “me” to a culture of “we.”  Looking at the school day, classroom practices, and teaching styles through the lens of students casts a new light on how students experience school and can help teachers to think “bigger” than the walls of their own classrooms.

I was fortunate enough to spend time at Hoover High School in San Diego where the faculty has made this transition to the benefit of teachers and students alike. Much of what I witnessed and learned at Hoover (documented in this article for Principal Leadership) can serve as a model for other schools embarking on the PLC journey.

The third step is to use PLCs to work collaboratively on behalf of students.

I was struck by how a few simple changes by the faculty to implement consistent procedures across classes had a tremendous impact on student learning, in particular for struggling students and English language learners for whom “navigating the maze” was particularly challenging.  One example is the agreement by all teachers to use a consistent format and structure for note taking (Cornell Notes), enabling students to focus on what each teacher wants them to learn rather than how to take notes in each classroom.  A relatively simple change for the teachers had tremendous benefit for the students and helped move the school culture from “me” to “we”, making subsequent changes that much easier.

If you have other examples of where collaborative changes by the faculty have had a great impact on student learning, please share them in the comments section below!

The role of phonics is to help students develop a fluent understanding of sound-symbol relationships and how words work. It includes the active exploration and examination of word features that are appropriate to where the students are in their literacy development. Paired with authentic reading and writing opportunities, this knowledge will help students become independent readers and writers. Vocabulary development increases students’ comprehension and enhances their writing.

In this segment the teacher leads his students through a chant that helps them to learn high frequency words they will use in reading and writing.

It’s three o’clock on the second Thursday of the month and time for the monthly staff meeting. Having sat through my share of staff meetings over the years, an immediate picture forms in my head: 90 teachers crowded into the library, some grading papers, others chatting about the fight at lunch, a few parked by the door ready to bolt when the hour is up, and the front-row contingent politely waiting to bolt when the hour’s up. It gets better. It’s the day before winter break—so add a few more people to the “rapid exit” section. Because I am a visitor (and a polite “front rower” myself), I put on a brave face and hope for the best. What happened next changed my thinking about literacy-related professional development for secondary school teachers forever.

Groups of 6–8 teachers gather around tables. At each table there are two students—all English language learners, many of whom have been in the country less than one year. Their teacher explains to the staff that the students have been reading The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt (Riverhead Books, 2002), which will be the schoolwide teacher readaloud book selection for second semester. The teacher explains that the students will read passages from the book that were particularly meaningful to them and describe how the book connected to their lives. Teachers are encouraged to take notes, jot down specific passages, and any other information they think will help them introduce the book to their class during sustained silent reading in January.

The four-minute timer is set, and the students are on. One confident young woman begins, “Hello, my name is Julia Pinto. I am going to read a passage from this book to you and then explain why I liked this part so much. Please turn to page 43….” Another student gently concludes her excerpt with a reminder, “Teachers, tell your students to read this book, and it will change their lives. It’s about their lives.” After eight minutes, the students rotate to a new table so that each teacher has the chance to hear from at least four students. For the next hour, 16 students and 90 teachers are absorbed in a dialogue about the lives of the people in the book, their own lives, and the love of reading. There’s nothing more powerful than watching people in the act of learning—teachers and students alike. It went beyond a culture of learning; it was more like a “cult of learning.” My first thought was, How did this literacy cult get started? My second was, How can I join?

Building a Learning Community

By their very nature, schools are already communities, yet anyone involved with secondary schools knows that middle level and high school teachers often work in alone and that such meetings are not commonplace. In many schools, Teacher A establishes classroom procedures, grading policies, and lesson plans that may have little or nothing to do with what Teacher B is doing across the hall. As a result, students bounce from class to class trying to figure out what they are supposed to do instead of what they need to learn. This fractured approach rarely gives students enough practice with any one strategy, skill, routine, approach, or procedure to become expert at it.

Note taking is a prime example. Most secondary teachers agree that note taking is an important skill and one that should be developed in school. What they rarely agree upon is a note-taking structure or process. Students are forced to adapt to four different approaches to note taking in as many subjects—rarely mastering any one style. The result is that students spend precious time and energy focused on how to take notes instead of what the teacher wants them to learn. As a result, students rarely master any one approach or learn to use note-taking strategies for independent practice. It’s a system that would frustrate the most patient adult, let alone a struggling student.

Thinking deeply about what works for adults in a school and what works best for students is the first—and easiest—step in building a learning culture. The tough part is acting on this new knowledge.

From Me to We

At Hoover, the hard work of learning and refining teaching practices began and continues through PLCs. The teachers and administrators see PLCs not simply as another reason to attend meetings, but as a means of engaging with their colleagues about the implementation of a schoolwide literacy instructional framework. PLCs also give teachers a place to focus on student work and to plan instruction on the basis of student performance.

A major factor in their success is that teachers participate in two PLCs: one with teachers who teach the same subject and another with teachers from other disciplines. Teachers in “course alike” PLCs meet Wednesday afternoons to develop common formative assessment items, review and analyze student performance on assessments, and plan interventions and reteaching options for students who did not learn.

The cross-disciplinary PLCs focus on implementing the schoolwide literacy plan. The teachers have selected specific research-based approaches they wanted to learn about and implement schoolwide. Those include developing anticipatory and background activities, reading aloud and shared reading, developing vocabulary, using graphic organizers, writing to learn, note taking, and reciprocal teaching. (See Fisher & Frey, 2008, for more information.) Meeting as cross-disciplinary PLCs enables teachers to examine and discuss whether or how the use of those content-area literacy strategies improves student achievement across all subject areas.

The idea that increasing teacher learning is paramount to improving student learning is more than a belief; it has shaped the entire approach to professional learning at Hoover. Two things distinguish the PLCs at this school from other PLC schools. First, PLC attendance is mandatory. Increasing the literacy skills of students who enter ninth grade reading at the fourthgrade level cannot be done by a few teachers in a few subject areas. Every teacher, every period, every day must actively contribute to students’ reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. For that to happen, all teachers need to learn and use content literacy strategies.

Second, PLC topics are selected from a schoolwide literacy plan that was developed by the staff. Groups of teachers can focus on a wide range of topics within the plan, but they can’t choose to also focus on school gardens, referral policies, or the new math adoption. Although these may be very important topics in the life of the school, they aren’t topics that deserve the level of attention of a PLC. These two major differences have resulted in changing from a culture of “me” to a culture of “we”—a change that has benefited both teachers and students alike.

Powers of 10

An added benefit of having successfully used PLCs to improve literacy is that once word gets out, there are ample opportunities to share what works and extend the collaboration and learning beyond the school’s walls. Technology has amplified that ability, and videos of instruction can reach teachers anywhere in the world. An example is a recent training in Virginia, at which PLC facilitators were asked to share what they were learning and practicing with their PLCs. One of the facilitators played a video of a veteran middle school teacher in her group. The teacher had filmed herself and her students using an anticipation guide before and after reading, as well as her observations about students’ comprehension of the text as a result of using the guide. Anticipation guides commonly include 4–8 statements that students read and determine whether they are true or false. This activates their background knowledge and provides a review opportunity at the end of the unit. The teacher in the video had learned about anticipation guides by watching Rita Elwardi, a teacher at Hoover, and her ESL students.

Although these two teachers are not part of the same PLC (in fact they have never met) they are part of a community of learners who are continuously looking for ways to improve their teaching. Perhaps someday, 21st century tools will provide a window into classrooms around the world, and virtual PLCs will enable the exchange of ideas among educators that will transform learning for thousands of teachers and students, expanding the impact of a small group of teachers and their professional learning community tenfold. Perhaps someday is now.

The vision for collaborative learning communities is clear, yet many schools and districts struggle to make that PLC vision a reality.

Through nearly ten years of working with districts and schools, TeachFirst has identified five consistent obstacles to effective PLCs:

• Obstacle I: Developing the Instructional Leadership skills needed for leading a PLC school. School leaders who, despite their best efforts, currently lack the instructional leadership skills have to create and sustain the conditions needed to transform schools into learning organizations.

• Obstacle II: Creating Collaborative Cultures to overcome the resistors in all schools. School-based professional learning requires changing the status quo and shifting from a culture of “me” to “we.” School leaders who do not address these cultural barriers up-front struggle to gain the buy in to move their faculty through the required change process.

• Obstacle III: Fostering the PLC Facilitation Skills of teacher-leaders. Effectively facilitating a PLC of one’s peers is a learned skill  — one that is very different than teaching children.  Developing PLC facilitation skills is the key to developing school-based capacity for continuous improvement, yet is often overlooked or under supported during the PLC implementation process.

• Obstacle IV: Providing Instructional Content designed to be used within PLCs so time focuses on instructional improvement.  If we ask teachers to take ownership for their professional growth and don’t provide them with the tools and resources to do so successfully, then they are likely to give up and return to business as usual.  These tools and resources need to be designed for use by collaborative teams and teachers need to be trained in how to use the resources effectively and efficiently.

• Obstacle V: Lack of Transparency into the Impact on Classroom Instruction. Many districts have fought hard to carve precious time out of the school day to support PLC work, yet have no transparency into exactly how that time is being used within each PLC and whether or not it is resulting in changes in classroom instruction.

Unlike workshops, “PLC Summits” or “Parades of Experts”, our model focuses on the daily work required to address these challenges and make the vision of PLCs a reality in each school.  The result is PLCs that foster the consistent transfer of instructional practices into classrooms to meet the needs of all students.

If your schools may be facing any of the challenges outlined above and you’d like greater insight into both the challenges and potential solutions, please contact us at info@teachfirst.com.

The key to getting the most out of group work is to match research-based principles of group work with practical action. Classroom examples across grade levels and disciplines illustrate how to:

• Create interdependence and positive interaction.
• Model and guide group work.
• Design challenging and engaging group tasks.
• Ensure group and individual accountability.
• Assess and monitor students’ developing understanding (and show them how to do the same).
• Foster essential interpersonal skills, such as thinking with clarity, listening, giving useful feedback, and considering different points of view.

The authors also address the most frequently asked questions about group work, including the best ways to form groups, accommodate mixed readiness levels, and introduce collaborative learning routines into the classroom. Throughout, they build a case that productive group work is both an essential part of a gradual release of responsibility instructional model and a necessary part of good teaching practice.

(ASCD Premium, Select, and Institutional Plus Member book, November 2009) 7″ x 9″, 125 pages.

The acquisition expands Editure’s professional development division, which already includes AUSSIE PD, a leading New York based provider of on-site professional development, offering training services to schools and teachers. Editure is also a leading provider of internet-based learning platforms to schools around the world.

Seattle-based TeachFirst offers proprietary programs, content, videos and tools to assist schools in developing collaborative frameworks for teacher professional development.  TeachFirst has helped thousands of district administrators, principals, teacher-leaders and teachers create school-wide professional learning communities focused on improving the quality of classroom instruction.

“Editure is continuing to build its global education business both organically and, where we see the right opportunity, by acquisition.” said Joe Ewart, Chief Executive Officer of Editure.  “The combination of TeachFirst’s content and services with AUSSIE PD’s expertise in on-site professional development and Editure’s learning platform is very compelling.  We are a uniquely-positioned education improvement organization that currently works with over 10,000 schools around the world.”

TeachFirst will continue to be based in Seattle and will continue to offer the TeachFirst approach and service to its customers.  Editure has retained the services of TeachFirst’s senior management team, including John Mullin the President & CEO of TeachFirst.

“Editure shares our philosophy and commitment to working with schools to improve educational outcomes. We look forward to the opportunity of working as part of a broader educational platform and continuing to work with all our customers” said John Mullin, President and CEO of TeachFirst.

About Editure
Editure is a leading education and training company that focuses on the global K-12 sector.  Editure provides services aimed at improving school performance and professional development programs for teachers through its subsidiary AUSSIE PD. Editure also offers virtual learning environment software to schools around the world.  Editure provides services and products to approximately 10,000 schools around the world and has customers in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa and Asia.  Editure was founded in 1984 and is a recognized leader in assisting schools improve learning outcomes for children worldwide.

To learn more about Editure visit www.editure.com.

About AUSSIE PD
AUSSIE PD is a subsidiary of Editure that specializes in providing services aimed at improving school performance and professional development programs for teachers.  AUSSIE PD is based in New York and has been providing services to United States schools since 1992.   AUSSIE PD’s educational consultants work directly in schools and provide services specifically tailored to the requirements of the school.  The aim is to improve student achievement by enhancing teacher performance via job-embedded customized professional development programs.

To learn more about AUSSIE PD visit www.aussiepd.com.