the equity and excellence research.
Part II presents the results of the equity and excellence research by devoting one chapter to each of the seven teaching and leadership practices that distinguish equity and excellence schools from similar schools with lower performance. According to the research, equity and excellence schools do the following (Reeves, 2004).
1. Organize their school or district as a professional learning community (PLC)
2. Display a laser-like focus on student achievement
3. Conduct collaborative scoring
4. Emphasize nonfiction writing
5. Utilize frequent formative assessment with multiple opportunities for success
6. Perform constructive data analysis
7. Engage in cross-disciplinary units of instruction
When you establish these practices in your own schools and districts, you are likely to see improved achievement for all students within a single school year.
The challenge of part III is to move from research to practice. In this section, you will consider how to apply the equity and excellence research in any school. This section will discuss the equity and excellence mindset and its differences from prevailing mindset theories, and introduce the key implementation model of behavior precedes belief to help teachers and leaders break free of the bonds of traditional change models. Part III also discusses the importance of transforming vision into action through promoting teacher leadership, and how to improve coaching, feedback, and evaluation methods throughout schools and districts.
Part IV returns to the roots of the equity and excellence research by advocating for the development of an accountability system that will help any school system (large or small) identify, document, assess, and replicate successful strategies. It discusses the importance of accountability indicators, from the system level to the school and department levels, as well as the necessity of an accompanying narrative for stakeholders to more fully explain the story behind the numbers.
The book concludes with a clarion call for giant leaps, not baby steps. This is not the time for the meek and tentative.
In the pages that follow, you will find all the tools you need to be bold and to forge ahead with confidence because the students you serve deserve nothing less than your courage, resilience, and perseverance.
A Word About Sources
The extensive reference section acknowledges the work of many scholars in this field, and I hope that I have done them justice. I have found a great deal of commonality among their writings and also a strong sense of consistency with my own research. I have also included observations from the field and, where possible, named the people, schools, and districts involved. In other cases, I have used a synthesis of observations and my conclusions from my work in fifty states and more than thirty countries. These observations and conclusions represent my best thinking on the matter in late 2019, but I acknowledge that much research remains to be done. Where there is a relevant citation of the work of others, I have included it to the best of my ability. The conclusions without citations represent my observations from extensive research and field study over more than twenty-five years.
| PART I |
Discovering When to Trust Educational Research
Our journey begins as every educational decision must—with evidence. Since publication of the original research on equity and excellence schools (Reeves, 2004), there have been two competing narratives about the influence of poverty on student achievement. The first and dominant narrative is that demography is destiny. This is an echo of American sociologist, theorist, and empirical researcher James S. Coleman’s (Coleman et al., 1966) report, Equality of Educational Opportunity, which contends that the strongest predictor of student academic success is the mother’s level of education. From the 1960s through the early years of the 21st century, the assertion that schools with high percentages of low-income students who are members of ethnic minorities and do not speak English at home would inevitably have low achievement seemed incontrovertible. Whenever there were outliers—that is, schools with students from low-income families who performed well academically—these schools stood out because they were so unusual. This narrative remains dominant in North American education. When I present data to the contrary—that not only individual schools but also entire districts are defying the odds—some educators and administrators may challenge the accuracy and credibility of the data. Even when I present data from their own districts and schools, there remains hard-core disbelief in the notion that poor children and children of color can succeed in the American educational system.
In my keynotes, seminars, and personal conversations across the United States and around the world, I often ask, “Why do teachers and administrators distrust educational research?” The answers include the following.
• The research doesn’t apply to us. We are different because we are urban (or rural or suburban), our union contract is different, our budget is different, and our parents are different.
• The research has a tiny sample size that cannot be generalized to the broader student population.
• The research is from schools with heroic teachers and administrators, but they will burn out because their efforts are unsustainable.
• The research is commercially tainted because publishers conduct it while attempting to sell their textbooks, online systems, or instructional programs.
• The criteria for success are too low, so what the research calls meeting standards is not equivalent to what our district regards as a successful outcome.
• The per-pupil funding in the research is higher than in our schools.
• The successful schools cherry-pick students.
The objections are consistent and pervasive, so many school leaders and teachers subsequently avoid implementing the positive practices of these exemplary schools. Therefore, part I makes the important case for when readers should trust the research. Chapter 1 presents a typology of evidence, proceeding from level 1 research (personal beliefs) through level 5 research (preponderance of the evidence—the gold standard of educational research to which these chapters aspire). Chapter 2 then considers seven common challenges to educational research and offers a respectful reply to each challenge.
CHAPTER 1
Understand the Five Levels of Educational Research
Educators and leaders are weary of the vague claims that “research shows …” In conversations around the globe, they tell me that ambiguous claims are not enough to change their practices. They want to see credible evidence of the impact of improved leadership and teaching practices, and will not settle for claims without credible evidence. This chapter will help you to be a more critical consumer of educational research. Just as we ask students to evaluate claims based on the evidence,
