You Know When It's Right

You know the feeling when something is right?  I do.  I looked up the definition of the word "right".  It was defined as "in accordance with what is good, proper, or just".  Insight is right.  As an organization, Insight believes in doing right by public education.  We have quality people doing quality work to improve teacher effectiveness as we embrace the Common Core.  The work that we do is meaningful and rich and there's a passion in our staff that is unequaled in comparison to other K12 vendors in the industry.  I'm so very proud to be part of this dynamic team and proud to work under the guidance of Dr. Michael Moody and Jason Stricker.  We are a company of integrity.  Insight is the right fit for me and the right fit if you want to improve student outcomes through effective teachers.

Standards Alone Don't Improve Learning . . . Teachers Do!

In the April 18th, 2012 edition of Education Week, an article reviewing the potential effectiveness of the new standards said, “Standards that simply sit on a shelf are certain to have no effect.  Solid curricula, excellent teaching, good assessment, sound accountability systems and many other things must fall into place for the promise of standards to be realized.”  Preparing teachers and aligning curricula to the new standards is a complex issue and doesn’t begin with an assessment or by adopting new textbooks; teachers serve an important role.  The level of rigor for learning is much higher with the new Common Core State Standards and engaging teachers early on means a better understanding by these crucial stakeholders as well as better buy-in.

Success at Baltimore City

Insight continues to build on its outstanding reputation of quality services helping schools and districts to realize the Common Core.  According to Sonja Santelises, CAO at Baltimore City Schools in Maryland, "The instructional framework (cooperatively designed and implemented by Insight)  has been the most successful initiative we have undertaken in this district since my tenure and that of the Superintendent."

Common Core Stamina

As I set out for an early jog this morning, I was thinking about stamina.  Not specifically my own running stamina (though that could use some work) but what stamina means in regards to the Common Core State Standards, and how we can help ensure we are building the academic stamina of all our students.

As a runner, I build stamina by alternating amongst mid-length easier runs, short, high-intensity interval training, and long runs that are often completed at a (very) slow pace.  I can see the progress I make as long runs get easier and short runs get faster.  What’s the equivalent for our students? 

How do we ensure that all students are getting the opportunities to practice different types of academics?  To build their academic stamina, students need a balance of work that they can easily accomplish on their own, short, high-intensity drills and problems that push their skill set and complex problems, texts and tasks that take significant time, but tie together all the skills students are learning.   But how do we do this?  Just as I can’t run a marathon without lots of training, students need strategies and scaffolding to get to a point where they can approach challenging texts and tasks with confidence and stamina.  We need to help students build an infrastructure of skills, habits, knowledge and experiences that enable them to feel confident approaching any text or task knowing they have the training to be successful. 

How do you build the stamina of your students?

A Contradiction that Could Save You Money

I smiled when I read this article this morning.

Recognizing that the findings for the study are from our neighbors up top, I was still very interested to read how public-school kids had been more successful than snot-nosed private-school kids. Okay, so they probably attempt to keep their noses clean too...maybe even with those incredible Puffs infused with Vicks! I digress.

The article mentions the difference in household income but fails to compare the actual cost of private v. public education. The point is clear that parents assume that paying more for private school should result in higher test scores and greater preparedness for college.

At Insight Education Group, we partner with districts, schools and even individual teachers across the U.S. as we strive to improve teacher effectiveness. We are not opposed to working with teachers from the private sector, but we love getting in and helping teachers find ways to reach even the most disadvantaged students--the ones who often live in urban environments and cannot afford costly private-school tuition. We are always happy when we see successes in traditionally underserved areas. Read case studies for two success stories we had working in urban school districts:  Washington, DC (DCPS) and Baltimore (BCPS).

Frameworks, Not Fireworks

Though it’s been a while, my first year of teaching is vividly in my mind. It did not come easily to me. I was always searching for that new thing to give my classroom a boost and shake us out of mediocrity. I never found it that year.

What I did find was a pamphlet on our district’s new initiative. It had fireworks on the cover. The big wigs were really excited about it. It included edu-jargon that I’d never heard of before. And words I had heard, like “research-based” and “guaranteed.”

When it got down to it, these fireworks were the expected results of a new reading program. And it was detailed to the point that it was basically a script. I was given the questions to ask while reading the story. I had the worksheets printed out to distract the students who were ready for more challenge while I sat down with the struggling kids along with my Reteaching Guide. It wasn’t the “fun” I’d envisioned when I thought about teaching reading – and I knew my kids could do so much more – but we got through the year and most of my kids passed the test.

When I think back, I wonder: were those the fireworks? Did we really declare victory for doing not so much? My kids had a minimal level of proficiency and an increased tolerance for enduring this painful activity they’d known as reading. And I learned to tolerate the program, but I did not become a better reading teacher that year.

Twelve years later, after visiting countless schools, I look back at my story as one that is still common: that of a struggling teacher at a school in survival mode during the first phase of reform and accountability. Like so many other schools, we indulged in new programs and initiatives like they were energy drinks, giving us the power to climb just a little higher. Yet it did nothing to make us stronger as a faculty, and no program sustained its potency beyond a short honeymoon period.  We teachers out-smarted the foolproof curriculum and would enhance it quietly with the door closed. It was mediocrity, and it was apparently good enough.

These days, when I visit a great school, I look for what makes it shine. It’s not really because of the high fidelity with which they implement their programs, or simply because of the tremendous commitment of the faculty. What often shines brightest is an unwavering belief about student potential and solid unity around a framework of common and interwoven practices that bring about success.

These highly effective schools operate under a common belief about how kids learn. The school or district agreed to these, and often teachers had a primary role in their creation. Teachers are then given autonomy to carry out these practices with their own style and approach, and they refer to a rubric for detailed expectations. Conversations among teachers focus on how to maneuver these practices in order to bring students to mastery of the standards. Coaches and school leaders observe teachers and provide feedback aligned with the framework. Their professional development is flexible in order to address their needs, always grounded in the shared practices. And when at their best, exemplary teachers use the framework to mentor developing teachers.

The schools that excel most at using a framework rarely talk about their reading program or their math text. Instead, they’re laser focused on particular practices that bring about success among students, they mine data to inform their next moves, and they’re constantly observing and giving feedback to one another.

But the not-so-fun truth is that in these schools, there are few fireworks. There is no victory when kids make modest gains. Instead, teachers and leadership are engaged in the hard and slow work of investing in one teacher at a time. They avoid the energy drink quick fixes in favor of building stamina and skill that will sustain for the long haul. And they never “get there” in their quest to be great; they just continue to seek greater.

In 2012, the quick fixes just won’t cut it anymore. The next phase of accountability – not to mention the Common Core – will demand much more from teachers and schools, and the only way of getting there is to train harder and smarter. Not to chug another math program packaged with shiny promises.

So I’m putting my money on the frameworks, and letting the fireworks flame out.

Brett Shiel

Successfully Rolling out the Common Core

Most teachers know the Common Core State Standards are coming, but the majority of them do not feel ready to roll them out. In a recently released Gates survey of 10,000 teachers, 78% of teachers are aware of the CCSS, yet 51% of teachers felt somewhat prepared and 27% of teachers felt somewhat/very unprepared. With only 22% of teachers feeling confident about teaching the CCSS, it is clear that there needs to be additional measures in place so that teachers feel ready to roll them out successfully.

At Insight, we’ve been doing a lot of work to align resources to effectively support the implementation of the CCSS. In Memphis, for example, we are incorporating the instructional shifts that the CCSS require into the revised TEM, Memphis’ framework for teaching and learning. We are taking the same steps with other districts to ensure that expectations for teaching match the level of rigor that CCSS set.

Of course, solid tools, while necessary, are not sufficient. Training must accompany the tools so that they are implemented effectively. Teachers realize this, and they are asking for it. In the Gates survey, 63% of teachers said that they would need professional development on the requirements of the standards, and 60% expressed a need for professional development on how to teach parts of the standards that are new to them. As one high school teacher noted, “I understand Common Standards, I have read them. And I like them. I need more curriculum support and training to integrate them into my lessons.”

With the right tools and training in place, we are excited by the potential power of the CCSS in schools across the country