Transcript Minnesota’s Lighthouse High Schools

Minnesota’s
Lighthouse High
Schools
Connecting Action and
Research
Building the Foundation:
Building the Foundation:
Building the Foundation:
Foundational Pieces:
A Unifying Framework for School Improvement
Based on the research of Fred Newmann
The key is to integrate cultural and structural conditions to focus on intellectual quality and professional community in a sustained way.
Cultural Conditions
• Primary concern for the intellectual quality of
student learning
• Commitment to high expectations for all students,
regardless of individual differences
• Support for innovation, debate, inquiry, & seeking
new professional knowledge
• Ethos of caring, sharing, & mutual help among staff,
& between staff & students, based on respect, trust,
& shared power relations among staff
• Strong, mutually influential relationship between
the school & the parents & community (Fullan).
School Structures
Policies & Programs (e.g., homework policy, prof.
development program, length of school day & class
periods, etc.) that provide—
•Sustained time for instruction, planning, staff
development, & student advising
•Interdependent work structures for staff, esp. teaching
teams & committees for schoolwide decision making
•School autonomy from regulatory constraints
•Small size for school & instructional units
State & district level policies and programs also affect
school level structures (Fullan).
Sources
School Capacity
• Teachers’ Individual
Knowledge, Skills
& Dispositions
• Professional Community
• Program Coherence
• Technical Resources
• Principal Leadership
Instructional
Quality
Professional development is more
likely to enhance capacity when it
addresses several aspects of
capacity instead of focusing only
on teachers’ knowledge, skills
& dispositions.
Teachers’ Individual
Knowledge, Skills &
Dispositions
• Staff are competent in
instruction & assessment
which is centered on
curriculum appropriate for
their particular students
• Staff hold high
expectations for all
students’ learning
Professional Community
• Clear shared goals for
student learning
• Collective &
collaborative
responsibility among
staff
• Reflective professional
inquiry among staff
• Opportunities for staff
to influence school’s
activities & policies
Student
Achievement
Instruction & Assessment
Program
Coherence
Programs for
student & staff
learning are
coordinated,
focused on clear
learning goals, &
sustained over a
period of time.
Technical
Principal Leadership
Resources
• Principal is very
High quality standards
influential in life of
& assessments,
the school & is a
curriculum, books &
critical force in the
other instructional
school’s capacity.
materials, lab
• Principal has
equipment, computers,
primary legal
adequate workspace,
authority to
remodeled physical
positively affect
facilities, etc.
each aspect of
school capacity.
1. Fullan, M., Rolheiser, C., Mascall, B. & K. Edge (2001). Accomplishing large-scale reform: A tri-level proposition. Retrieved from http://sustainability2002.terc.edu/invoke.cfm/page/70/show/print.
2. Newmann, F. et al (2000). Professional development that addresses school capacity. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association annual meeting, New Orleans.
3. Newmann, F. & Associates (1996). Authentic achievement: Restructuring schools for intellectual quality. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
B. Aune, MDE 6/16/05
Broad Goals:
 Build SEA capacity to facilitate
high school redesign
 Support systemic high school
redesign through action
research
Finding the Schools:
 Site leadership team
 Data collection and analysis
 School improvement plan
development and refinement
 Evaluation of grant activities
 Public reporting of results
Building SEA Capacity
 Facilitators partnered with school
teams
 Periodic training and work sessions
 Site visits and team retreats
Working with Data:
 From reporting outcomes to
documenting implementation
 From sharing practice to sharing
knowledge