Post on 23-Dec-2015
Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from
Chicago Guest presenter: Elaine Allensworth, Senior Director and Chief Research
Officer, at the Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago
Coalition for Community Schools
• Vision: The Coalition for Community Schools believes that strong communities require strong schools and strong schools require strong communities. We envision a future in which schools are centers of thriving communities where everyone belongs, works together, and succeeds.
• Mission: The Coalition advances opportunities for the success of children, families and communities by promoting the development of more, and more effective, community schools.
Coalition Partners
• With over 150 local, state, and national partners, the Coalition is comprised of organizations representing:– Nonprofit organizations: e.g. United Ways, YMCA’s– Youth development– Health, mental health and social services– K-12 and higher education– Local government– Community development organizations– Local community school initiatives…more
• Our partners recognize the community school advantage in achieving their own goals.
2011 Professional Development Opportunity
For more information email ccs@iel.org and visit: www.communityschools.org
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Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago
Webinar for the Coalition for Community Schools
Elaine Allensworth
Based on work with co-authors Anthony S. Bryk, Penny Bender Sebring, Stuart Luppescu and John Easton
A Tale of Two Chicago Schools:
Hancock and Alexander• Similar in many ways as Chicago decentralized
authority to local school councils in the early 1990s– Located in same area of the city, less than 2 miles apart
– 100% African American enrollment and 100% low income
– Both among 100 poorest-performing schools in reading and math in 1989
• One moves dramatically forward over the next seven years (Hancock) but the other does not (Alexander)
Hancock and Alexander were not unique
How did Hancock beat the odds?How did Hancock beat the odds?
Why did Alexander fail to do so?Why did Alexander fail to do so?
A Framework of Essential Supports
A Concept of Essentiality
The “baking a cake” metaphor John Kotsakis, CTU:What would a cake be if we forgot
the eggs or the baking powder?
Indicators of School Improvement• How much are children learning during the
period in which they are enrolled at that school?
Are these learning gains improving over time?
Is attendance improving over time?
Schools divided into groups, based on improvement in each area (attendance, math tests, English tests):
• Stagnant (25%)• Typical - small improvements (50%)• Improving – substantially (25%)
Perc
enta
ge o
f Sch
ools
that
Impr
oved
Sub
stan
tially
Likelihood of Improvement, Given Weak or Strong Supports
Attendance Improvement
• Safety and order – a basic need
• Advanced by “interesting instruction” –active student learning in an aligned curriculum
(new challenges)
• Among schools with weak instruction and poor safety:
• 0% showed substantial improvement in attendance• 53-67% had stagnant attendance (depending on the indicator of instruction)
Improvement in learning gains depended on adults working
cooperatively, focused on instruction and school climate• In schools with a poor learning climate
and…– Weak collaboration among teachers OR– Weak collaboration between parents and
teachers:
• 0% substantially improved math or reading scores
• 39-59% were stagnant
Improvement in learning gains depended on adults working
cooperatively, focused on instruction and school climate• In schools with a well-aligned curriculum and a
strong professional community among teachers• 48-57% substantially improved math/reading scores• 4-9% were stagnant (Depending on subject)
Teacher backgrounds much less important than collaborative work• Only mattered in schools without strong professional community
or quality professional development
• Strategic orientation• Nurturing multiple leaders,
collaboration• Focus on instructional improvement
School Leadership as a Catalyst for Change
Trust is a key enabler of school improvement
Projected effects of base level of relational trust on improvements in parent involvement
Revisiting Hancock Elementary• New principal invested heavily in developing
the teaching staff– Monthly breakfasts to discuss practice
– Collective focus on literacy instruction, then math instruction
– School-based workshops, common planning periods
– Social services support team – coordinating services from agencies throughout the community
– Efforts to connect with parents and bring them in as partners
Revisiting Hancock ElementaryBy the midpoint of this study, Hancock had
become very strong across most essential supports…
• Leadership: 99th percentile
• Parent involvement: 73rd percentile
• Teacher Professional community: 90th percentile
• Interactive instruction: 90th percentile
• But the school still struggled with safety and order (10th percentile), despite substantial effort and noticeable improvements.
Hancock was exceptional, but not alone
Improving schools were
located in neighborhoo
ds across the city
Stagnating schools were
concentrated in the poorest
neighborhoods
Supports were less likely to develop in schools in communities with weak social
capital• Bonding social capital
-the degree to which community members work together on community issues, belong to local organizations and religious institutions
• Crime in the school neighborhood and students’ neighborhoods
• Percent of students in the school living under extraordinarily difficult circumstances – histories of abuse or neglect or in out-of-family care
Supports were less likely to develop in schools in communities with weak social
capitalPercentage of schools with very strong essential
supports in 1994
Disadvantaged communities – schools needed robust essential support practices to improve student learning.
Better off communities – some schools improve with even average internal essential supports.
No schools improve with weak internal supports, despite their location.
If external social resources are weak, internal social resources need to be strong
But the essential supports were even more important for school improvement in schools in
communities with weak social capital
Subsequent work has shown the importance of parent involvement
in both elementary and high schools in the years after decentralization
Teacher stability
Teachers’ perceptions of parent support was one of the strongest predictors of staying in their school
– As important as….• Teacher-principal trust• Collective responsibility among teachers in the school
– More important than….• Professional development• Teacher-teacher trust and socialization of new teachers• Perception of principal as an instructional leader
– Only the learning climate was more important for teacher stability than parent involvement, and only at high schools
From The Schools Teachers Leave (2009)
Social-organizational features of schools explain differences in safetyVariation in school safety explained by:
Student Safety
Teacher
Safety
Poverty and Crime alone 48% 40%
…plus social resources in the community
57% 43%
…plus teacher collaboration 65% 67%
…plus teacher relationships with students and parents
74% 75%
The climate of safety
Other work has shown there are no “magic bullet” solutions• Drastic efforts (firing staff, replacing principal,
closing and re-opening) have had mixed results in Chicago– Depend on attention to organizational structure
• Accountability Sanctions (for students & schools) worked only for schools with strong organizational structures
• Requiring more rigorous curriculum not effective– Learning climate and professional capacity not sufficient
to support new curricula (college prep for all, IDS)
Narrow interventions are tools for organizational improvement, not ends in themselves
Concluding remarks
Five Essential Supports for School ImprovementSchool Leadership as Driver for Change
Robust Parent-Community TiesStrong Professional Capacity
Student-Centered Learning ClimateInstructional Guidance
•Narrow interventions are limited
•Tools for improvement, not ends in themselves
•Leadership requires work on multiple levels
•The development of social capacity is critical
School improvement requires systemic work on multiple fronts
About the bookEmail: organizingschools@ccsr.uchicago.edu
Website: ccsr.uchicago.edu/osfi
About CCSRWebsite: ccsr.uchicago.edu
Stay in touch with the Coalition!
• Visit our homepage: www.communityschools.org
• Sign up for our Newsletter: http://tiny.cc/wedng
• Become a Facebook fan: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/Coalition-for-Community-Schools/142001244279
• Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/coalcomschools