Developing Schools of Achievement for
African American Students
Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D.
Dean, College of Education, SDSU
Executive Director, NCUST
African American Regional Education Alliance
January 31, 2015
http://www.ncust.org
http://go.sdsu.edu/education
Every system is perfectly
designed to achieve the
results it gets.
Paul Batalden, Dartmouth University
Variables that Matter?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Race/Ethnicity
Language Background
Family Income
Gender
Zip Code
NCUST Identifies, Celebrates, and
Studies
Non-selective, urban schools (serving primarily students from lowincome families) that demonstrate high achievement for all
students. These schools evidence:
• High proficiency rates for all groups
• High graduation rates for all groups
• High rates of access to challenging programs for all groups
• Demonstrated success for English learners
• Low rates of suspension/expulsion for all groups
• Other indicators of student success/achievement
If in every school in America,
African American students achieved
as they achieve in these schools,
there would be NO achievement gap!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Revere High School, Boston, MA
Mallard Creek High School, Charlotte, NC
Dandy Middle School, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Bursch Elementary, Compton, CA
West Manor Elementary, Atlanta, GA
Highland Elementary, Silver Spring, MD
R.N. Harris Elementary, Durham, NC
Our Persistent Questions:
•
What are the teaching practices in these
high-performing urban schools?
•
Why are these schools more likely to attain
excellent learning results than schools
with similar demographic compositions?
•
What are the leadership practices in these
high-performing urban schools?
•
What influenced the development of these
teaching and leadership practices?
In the face of more
challenging academic
standards, how can we get
better learning results for
all African American
students?
These Successes Are Not Accidental:
They Are Systemic
Consistently, we see seven
elements that are prevalent in
high-performing, urban schools
1. Clarity of focus
Do educators who teach the same subject
matter and grades have the same
understanding of what students must master by
various points during the school year?
Do teachers share the same focus and
commitment for African American students?
• Common commitments
• Guaranteed curriculum
2. Measurement of
mastery
Do educators who teach the same subject matter
and grades share the same understanding of what
mastery of each standard means/looks like?
Are educators regularly monitoring to ensure that
African American students progress toward
mastery?
• Common formative assessments
• Assessing while teaching
st
1
3. Planning
instruction
Do all educators who teach the same subject
matter and grades share an understanding of
what constitutes instruction that is LIKELY to
lead to mastery of key standards?
Is initial instruction DESIGNED to lead
African American students to mastery?
• Collaboration that improves instruction
• Culturally relevant pedagogy
• No chicken feeding
4. Observation & Support
Do educators benefit from observation,
feedback, and support that helps them
improve the quality of first instruction?
Do observers provide feedback and support
designed to help educators ensure mastery
for African American students?
• Evaluation is secondary to support
• Support should focus on evidence that all
students are advancing toward mastery
5. Professional development
Do educators benefit from a coherent program of
professional development that helps them improve the
quality of first instruction related to key standards?
Does professional development support teachers in
building upon strengths and meeting the needs of
African American students?
• Coherent systems of professional development
• PD must be explicitly connected to collaboration,
observation, and support
6. Effective intervention
Do all students benefit from timely, effective
intervention that helps them master key
standards when additional instruction is
warranted?
To what extent is intervention tailored to
ensure mastery for African American
students?
• Tailored, carefully evaluated interventions
7. Powerful enrichment
Do all students benefit from engaging enrichment
programs that deepen student understanding of key
standards and build commitment to learning?
To what extent is enrichment tailored to deepen
mastery for African American students?
• Enrichment for all
• Enrichment embedded into daily instruction
• Carefully evaluated enrichment
NONE OF THIS IS EASY.
ALL OF THIS IS ATTAINABLE.
• Leadership is essential.
• Leaders must convince teachers, support
personnel, parents, and students that:
• The change is worth the effort
• Success for all students is attainable
• Each person and each group of people must
contribute by engaging in specific efforts related to
the 7 systems, and
• Each person and each group of people has enough
support to ensure that they can succeed.