School-Wide Programs Solutions

Closing the Achievement Gaps
Across High School Student Cohorts

School-wide programs are an effective way to identify and close the achievement gap among high school student cohorts. This solution rests on three strategies that explicitly link curriculum, instruction, and assessment:

• Providing equal access to rigorous, standards-focused curricula
• Improving instructional practices to address learning needs
• Monitoring and measuring student achievement

Closing the achievement gaps is a complex process, especially at the high school level. Successful solutions are rooted in deep understanding of student learning needs, providing a rich and rigorous curriculum that is aligned with the standards and designed to prepare the students for college or work, and improving teaching and learning by applying research-based instructional practices proven to raise the bar on student achievement.

The solution strategies offered are shaped by ongoing face-to-face and online professional learning, supported and enhanced by focused coaching, and monitored and measured by ongoing classroom walkthroughs and formative assessments.

Provide a Rigorous, Standards-Focused Curricula: There is growing evidence that demanding all students participate in rigorous and compelling curricula raises achievement for all students, but particularly for students of color or those living in poverty. Pass rates are higher, graduation rates improve, and college attendance increases. In short, more students succeed.

What does this take? We know that teachers of college-prep students have successfully taught this cohort for many years. The challenge is how effectively these same teachers can help all students succeed in more rigorous, college-prep classes.

• Teachscape coaches will work closely with academic faculty to review college-prep curriculum, identify places where less capable students are likely to experience difficulty, and provide the supports teachers may need to ensure all students can complete the curricula successfully
• Coaches will help teachers analyze their curriculum frameworks; develop pacing guides to ensure the essential content is taught; design lessons aligned with the curriculum, the standards, and the assessments; and offer examples of standards-setting student work, demonstrating what is "good enough"

The goal of this solution strategy is to ensure all students have equal opportunities to learn rigorous content to high standards and teachers have the resources and support they need to enable this.

Improve Instructional Practices: Both research and common wisdom recognize that teachers make the critical difference in student learning. For high school students with significant learning gaps, who may have learning difficulties or for whom English is a second language, the ways they are taught—the instructional practices applied—make a critical difference.

To ensure all teachers can identify and implement effective instructional practices to close the achievement gap among high school students, Teachscape coaches will provide opportunities for face-to-face and online professional learning, at-elbow coaching to help implement the identified practices, and support for ongoing collegial discussions focused on improving practice to improve achievement. While this approach will be customized for the school, Teachscape coaches are likely to:

• Promote understanding, application, and analysis of research-based instructional strategies, including High Yield Instructional Strategies, SDAIE strategies for ensuring ELL students learn content while developing English language skills, and specific strategies to address unique learning needs
• Use formative assessment and walkthrough data to inform and assess the impact of instructional practices

This focus on instructional practices/strategies is designed to ensure teachers have approaches to address the widely diverse learning needs in American classrooms today while keeping all students on track in rigorous courses that will prepare them for higher education.

Continuously Monitor Student Achievement: Closing achievement gaps requires continuous focus on student progress and on continuous identification of emerging learning needs and challenges. This solution strategy focuses on using data collected through two primary sources—formative assessments and classroom walkthroughs—and using the data to inform instructional practices. The first captures emerging data on student progress relative to the goals of the school's comprehensive education plan and to the state standards. The second captures data on teaching practices and enables assessment over time of the impact of improved instructional practices and the degree to which the gaps are closing. Teachscape coaches will:

• Work closely with faculty to develop robust class learning profiles that reflect achievement, academic progress, demographic indicators, special interests/needs, language proficiency, etc. and use this profile to determine initial learning groups, monitor learning gaps, and determine student learning needs.
• Coach instructional leaders to use classroom walkthroughs. Effective school-wide programs must focus on the instructional leadership necessary to promote, support, and sustain practices that help close the achievement gap. Teachscape coaches will ensure the instructional leaders can work with faculty to determine instructional practices that are effective in closing achievement gaps and those that are not, by monitoring the application of the strategies and measuring their impact through ongoing classroom walkthroughs. Teachscape coaches will also offer at-elbow support to the instructional leaders by doing walkthroughs with them, analyzing the data, and providing support as the leaders work with faculty to identify and close achievement gaps.