Using the High Yield Instructional Strategies to Help Narrow the Opportunity/Achievement Gap

2006 Texas Social Studies Supervisors’ Spring Conference

March 30-31,2006

Closing the GapWhat you can do as a

supervisor• Focus on the Gap-force people to

look at the gap--Prepare charts/reports

• Talk about the gap-compare your gap with others-school, content areas, etc

• Book studies

Grade Eight

  Reading Math Social Studies

District Gap 4 22 8

State Gap 10 31 12

< or > State Gap <State by 6 <State by 9 <State by 4

  

Grade Ten  ELA Math Social

StudiesScience

District Gap 26 28 12 31

State Gap 16 32 13 35

< or > State Gap

>State by 10 <State by 4 <State by 1 <State by 4

Exit Level

  ELA Math Social Studies

Science

District Gap 15 18 2 22

State Gap 10 18 3 19

< or > State Gap

>State by 5 <State by 5 <State by 1 >State by 3

“In 2004 on 26 TAKS tests, our gap was narrower than the states gap on 16 tests.”

“In 2005 on 26 TAKS tests, our gap was narrower than the states on 19 tests.”

ClassroomWalkthroughsLearning24/7

Robert Marzano

Classroom Instruction That Works

“One of the primary goals of the study was to identify those instructional strategies that have the highest probability of enhancing student achievement for all students in all subject areas at all grade levels.”

“What works in Classroom Instruction”

What really works…High Yield Instructional

Strategies• Identifying similarities and

differences-45%---1.61 • Summarizing and note-taking-

34%---1.00• Reinforcing effort and providing

recognition-29%---.80• Homework and practice-28%---.77

High Yield Instructional Strategies

• Nonlinguistic representations-27%---.75

• Cooperative Learning- 27%---.73

High Yield Instructional Strategies

• Setting objectives and providing feedback-23%---.61

• Generating and testing hypotheses-23%---.61

• Using questions, cues, and advance organizers-22%---.59

Identifying similarities and differences

• “Common Bond” question• The student can find and develop

similarities and differences in cultures, historical accounts, and ideas

• Why/how is this like……..• Why/how is this different from…

• Comparing-teacher directed, student directed and graphic organizers

• Classifying-TEKS biography • Creating

Metaphors-”superhighways”• Analogies

Summarizing and note-taking

• Summarizing forces generalizations, inferences, etc

• The student can summarize readings and take notes from the teacher, the text, and personal interviews

What research says about note taking

• Verbatim note taking is least effective-strongly discouraged

• Notes should be considered a work progress

• Most powerful use is to review for tests

• “less is more” is a misconception

Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

• Swift and sincere• Specific, variety, provides

information to the student• Noteworthy• Positive reinforcement• Examples of this …..

What research says about reinforcing effort

• People believe that success is attributable to one of four causes: ability, effort, other people, or luck

• Teach students that added effort will pay off in terms of enhanced achievement

One study compared…

• Time Management• Techniques for comprehension of

new materials• The relationship between effort

and achievement

Homework and practice

• Why is this a high yield strategy?• What is good homework/practice?• What percent of the first 18 years

of life is spent at school?

What research says about homework

• With teachers’ comments as feedback (may or may not be graded)-30% gain

• Homework graded-28• Assigned but not graded-11• Grade levels-(4-6)-6 (7-9)-12 (10-

12)-24

Nonlinguistic Representation

• Restates concepts and content in nonlinguistic representations

• Illustrated time line• Or…• The student can infer and interpret

graphic information into verbal or written-describe a picture

Learning Groups

• The student uses cooperative learning groups to develop social interaction skills

• Accountability• Overused and misused

Setting objectives and providing feedback

• The student is asked to determine causes and effects in historical and cultural events

• The student reads, interprets, and constructs maps

• The teacher writes plans that reflect specific objectives

Goal of the C&A Department

• To ensure that every student has access to a viable curriculum and that he/she learns it.

Generating and Testing Hypotheses

• The students is asked to read multiple accounts of historical events and then analyzes the writers’ perspectives: newspapers, diaries, social commentaries

Using questions, cues, and advance organizers

• The student can use graphic organizers to compare, classify, analyze, and organize ideas or concepts

What does research tell us about student learning?

Changes in performance-Students entering at the 50th percentile, leave*

Effective teacher/Effective School 96%Average Teacher/Effective School 78%Effective Teacher/Least Effective School63%Average Teacher/Average School50%Least Effective Teacher/effective school 37%Least Effective Teacher/Least effective school 3%

*after two years

Marzano, Pickering & Pollock

playerc@marshallisd.com

903-927-8715, ext.1010