Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
In his book What Works in Schools, Robert Marzano shares research that affirms the fact that the number one factor that increases levels of learning is what gets taught. Marzano calls this a “guaranteed and viable curriculum.” The “viable” part is readily available. Kentucky schools have a legal standard (the Program of Studies) on which the curriculum must be based. So if the school curriculum is aligned to this standard, then you have a “viable curriculum.”
The issue in many Kentucky schools is that we cannot say that the curriculum is “guaranteed.” In other words, do we regularly monitor classrooms and collaborative planning meetings to ensure that the “viable” curriculum is actually being taught? Mike Schmoker, in his book Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning, expands on Marzano’s research. He believes that if school leadership and teams of teachers will review the curriculum on a quarterly basis, they can make huge improvements in learning. This review should include the following:
· quarterly assessments/results
· lists of essential standards taught that quarter
· grade books (that reflect standards taught)
· scored student work samples
Schmoker goes on to say that none of the factors that impact student learning — exceptional leadership, teacher teams, clear standards or accountability — by itself will make the difference. But in combination, these factors can almost guarantee that any school will make rapid, substantial improvement. At the foundation, there must be a culture that doesn’t provide fierce resistance when a principal demands the most reasonable requirements of teachers: a coherent, high-quality curriculum that is reasonably well taught.
eWalk and Effective Instruction
Do all of your teachers consistently use best practices in the classroom? Do they use positive reinforcement and emphasize high levels of thinking? Are their lessons well planned, aligned and differentiated? Is your building a safe, secure and orderly learning environment? How do you know? Extensive training and promotion has enabled eWalk to become the standard means by which administrators gather and analyze classroom data electronically. Establishing this standard has been the culmination of 18 months of effort by the Professional Development Branch at the Kentucky Department of Education, including thousands of user registrations, hundreds of training sessions and follow-up sessions, innumerable phone calls and several statewide conference presentations.
Currently, more than 1,600 users employ eWalk in over 128 districts to gather, analyze and document classroom performance and other school or district data. Since the program’s implementation in October 2005, more than 20,000 electronic walkthroughs have been conducted statewide. Additionally, thousands of elements, or “look fors,” have been created to include in dozens of custom-designed individual or district walkthrough instruments. One user noted that eWalk was an “excellent way to give teachers fast, constructive feedback without them feeling that it will be used as an evaluation instrument,” while another commented on the “big change in higher level questioning and higher level feedback after teachers saw reports.” They also agree that the most critical component of the eWalk program is its potential to help schools to improve overall achievement and to assist in decreasing achievement gaps. If you have questions about the eWalk tool, please visit the eWalk Web site or contact John Fields or Michael Vriesenga.
Quotable Quotes
“Successful leaders make the right move at the right moment with the right motive.”
John Maxwell