Annual Conference

Student Retention Closes Gaps

How do we retain students from 8th or 9th grade on to graduation, and ensure that they have opportunities for college or other postsecondary education? A panel of ASCD authors and presenters convened Monday April 3 to discuss this question, particularly as it relates to students from low-income or "minority" cultural groups. The panelists were

Douglas Fisher, Professor of Literacy and Language Education, San Diego State University, California. His recent publications includes (as co-author), Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents (ASCD, 2006).

Yvette Jackson, Executive Director, National Urban Alliance, Lake Success, New York. A long-time teacher and administrator for the Yonkers and New York City Public Schools, she is a presenter at the Harvard Principal Center and a member of ASCD’s Differentiated Instruction Faculty.

Marilee Sprenger, consultant and Adjunct Professor, Aurora University, Peoria, Illinois. Her recent books include How to Teach So Students Remember (ASCD, 2005).

Vicki Urquhart, Senior Consultant, Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), Denver, Colorado. She is the senior author of Teaching Writing in the Content Areas (ASCD and McREL, 2005).

When asked what particular challenges educators of adolescents face today, Doug mentioned the "frustration levels" that many students face when they try to read difficult subject-area texts—particularly students whose first language is not English. Marilee stated that many secondary schools begin the school day too early—the adolescent brain is not an early riser. Vicki said we need more research on schools that "beat the odds"—and not necessarily just "small schools." Yvette pled for "relevancy in education" for all students—not only for motivation but to prepare them for their future, which will be different from what we face as adults.

Solutions mentioned included having small groups of students monitored and encouraged throughout high school by one adult; using data of all types to inform instruction; providing computers and instruction for both students and teachers; and greatly decreasing labeling and tracking of students, including labeling of student groups as "minorities."

How are you meeting the challenge to teach-to-retain adolescent students? Share here.

Post submitted by Carolyn Pool, ASCD Books Acquisitions Editor.

Canadian Principal Named Outstanding Young Educator

Charles Coleman, principal of Khowhemun Elementary School in Duncan, British Columbia, has been named the winner of ASCD’s 2005 Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA). Coleman was honored at Saturday’s Opening General Session.

Coleman is the first non-U.S. educator to win the prestigious award. “I am gratified, humbled, and surprised that ASCD selected me as Outstanding Young Educator. I didn’t think you would pick a Canadian,” he joked.

He was selected for the leadership and team building he displayed in increasing student achievement in reading and mathematics at a school with a large “First Nations” student population of native people. Coleman said he and his team of faculty and staff at Khowhemun regularly apply the principles of differentiated instruction, individualized learning, multiple intelligences, and action research to serve the needs of their students.

“Working as a collaborative team in a learning community, I believe we can make a difference,” he said. “It is with the kids of Khowhemun mind that I gratefully accept this award.”

"The key strategies that Mr. Coleman initiated were  focused goals, parent involvement, targeted intervention, and First Nations support," said Tom Hierck, president of the British Columbia Principals' & Vice-Principals' Association, who nominated Coleman for the award. "His colleagues look to him for leadership, his peers have recognized his contributions, his staff feel empowered and supported, his parent community feels valued, and his students feel cared about."

Read more about Charles Coleman in the April issue of Educational Leadership magazine.

Spring nominations for the 2006 OYEA close on April 15. To nominate a deserving colleague, please click here. Two nominees for the 2006 award will be selected from the spring cadre of nominees. Two others will be selected in a fall round of nominations.

Photo Credit: Mark Regan

School Leadership Teams “the Engine of Change”

Jan Keating believes that well-managed leadership teams are key to ensuring that schools remain flexible enough to serve student needs. In her Conference session, “Transforming Your School through Shared Leadership,” she maintained that essential change cannot happen without a collaborative team of educators guiding the process.

A purposeful approach to building the team and guiding its work makes it effective.

“The leadership team is the engine of change in your school. Schools have to change all the time. A leadership team gives a school the capacity to adapt,” said the former biology teacher and principal who has worked in both Illinois and California. “Schools are like living organisms. If an organism cannot adapt to the changing environment, it will cease to exist. If allowed to change and adapt to fit its environment, the organism will evolve and flourish.”

Keating said the composition of leadership teams may vary from school to school. Generally the team members are teachers, although that’s not essential. She urged educators to avoid the easy route of simply appointing department heads. “The leadership team cannot be a political place,” she said.

Team members must share a commitment to ensuring that the best curricula are in place and that the best instruction is taking place in every classroom.

Keating said strong leadership teams can effectively tackle several critical tasks.

• Driving instructional improvement. Teams are a forum for sharing best instructional practices and determining how to make them available to the entire faculty. Teams are also well suited for addressing grading issues and interpreting data that can be used to improve instruction.
• Hiring and developing good teachers. Developing teacher recruitment strategies, establishing interview processes, setting up induction and mentoring programs, and directing professional development are all appropriate team tasks.
• Setting and communicating policy. Keating views leadership teams as the prime mechanism for researching, debating, and deciding school policy matters. Team members are charged with gathering relevant information and viewpoints from their colleagues, and building buy-in among other teachers.

Keating urged educators to use rigorous processes for conducting team business and considers team participation a formal part of members’ job descriptions.

The results can be dramatic. At Pacific Collegiate School, a Santa Cruz, Calif., public charter secondary school where Keating served as principal until recently, a strong focus on team leadership led to significantly better AP exam participation and passage rates, higher SAT scores, lower student attrition, and greater enrollment. Collaboration works, she said.

“By setting up a shared leadership team, you are setting up a professional learning community,” Keating said. “Everyone is working toward the important goal of improving curriculum and instruction in the classroom.”

What's your experience with collaborative or team leadership? Does it work--or is it a lot of work with few results? Tell us about the team leadership barriers and benefits you have encountered -- just click on "Comments" below.

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ASCD offers several important resources addressing teacher leadership, which is essential to effective shared leadership teams. Of particular note is Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, a new book by Charlotte Danielson that delivers practical strategies for helping teachers become effective leaders in their schools.

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Education Data and the "Whole Child"

ASCD has announced the public release of the report, The Whole Child in a Fractured World by Harold "Bud" Hodgkinson. ASCD commissioned the paper for use by the Commission on the Whole Child, which held its inaugural meeting last month in Washington, D.C.

Convened by ASCD, the Commission is composed of a group of leading thinkers, researchers, and practitioners from a wide variety of sectors.

ASCD Executive Director Gene R. Carter noted that the Hodgkinson paper is designed to serve as a resource document for the Commission's work. The Commission is charged with recasting the definition of a successful learner from one whose achievement is measured solely by academic tests, to one who is knowledgeable, emotionally and physically healthy, civically engaged, prepared for economic self-sufficiency, and ready for the world beyond formal schooling.

The report documents the "splendid isolation of the U.S. educational system (or better yet … educational systems)," providing an overview of the complexity, the challenges, and the flaws in measuring efficacy. For example:

• The U.S. Department of Education contributes only 10 percent of total education spending, but it issues 90 percent of the regulations that schools must follow.
• Many dropouts actually "disappear" from the dropout rosters in the current high stakes high school testing environment.
• The transience of U.S. students results in flawed assessments. According to the report, "the error can be 15 percent in states, and up to 50 percent in individual schools," using the primary testing unit for No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

Hodgkinson, director of the Center for Demographic Policy, Institute for Educational Leadership, proposes five themes for consideration.

• Equity. Who gets access and who doesn't?
• Coordination. Should there be one national standard for student proficiencies, set by the federal government, or a standard for each state? Who decides?
• Knowledge Integration. How can we develop a common vocabulary for education discourse?
• Sequence. In regards to learning and teaching, what should happen to people at what moment in their lives?
• Wholeness.  Could schools collaborate with health, school, and community organizations in maximizing potential using a whole child approach?

"ASCD has convened the Commission on the Whole Child, because we believe that the success of each learner can only be achieved through a whole child approach to learning and teaching," said Carter. "Parents, teachers, and the community believe schools should focus on developing students who are academically proficient and physically and emotionally healthy and respectful, responsible, and caring."

"If decisions about education policy and practice started with 'What works for the child?' how would resources—time, space, and human—be arrayed to ensure each child's success?" said Carter. "If the student were truly at the center of the system, would could we achieve?"

Look for more information on the Commission and its work in coming months.

What's your view? How can schools nurture the whole child in an education environment that sometimes seems intent on squeezing out anything that doesn't contribute to the bottom line of test scores? Or does concern for the whole child go hand in hand with all manner of school-improvement efforts? Click on "Comments" below to tell us what you think.