By Carol S. Young, Ph.D., Director, BCHF Accountability and School Improvement Department
Let us start with an understanding of correct terminology. In this refreshing age of people first language, there are no “Low Students” and there are no “High Students.” I think of my son when he was learning to play Stairway to Heaven on the electric guitar. He was a beginner, and this song did not come easily (early performances were low). Yet, he was determined, and he would get this amazing look of gritty purpose on his face when he practiced. At the dinner table, his fingers moved on imaginary frets. He eventually learned the song and played it over and over again.
All learners deserve a sense of gritty purpose. It is a down-deep sense of learning something hard, knowing we can do it, and finally getting there. Too frequently during school visits, though, we hear that students are too low to even attempt something hard. In fact, our team visited a school where educators had never unpacked expensive grade-level materials. Teachers felt the students needed lower content. So instead, they used activities on the internet for drilling and practice. This type of instruction is ineffective, and it is disrespectful (Schmoker, 2018). Students never see or hear the challenge of what they are supposed to learn. And much of what they experience is low in content and uninteresting. To add to the problem, educators place students in “low groups” where there are no role models of proficiency or response to challenge. Students recognize when they are “in a low group” and become discouraged. This is a recipe for continued limited performance.
Truly there are students for whom learning standards are incredibly challenging. There are some who lack underlying foundational skills and readiness. An effective instructional response, or winning recipe, is to realize that these students need more support. In other words, the student is more dependent on the teacher, for now, to learn the content, skills, or understanding. An effective teacher will expose every student in the classroom to challenging grade-level work. The teacher will provide explanations, examples, and shared practice to gradually release student dependency. Educators may incorporate foundational skills into relevant learning, or they may back up standards to earlier grade-level expectations through review or intervention sessions. This approach addresses gaps in learning while providing exposure for everyone to high-level, respectful content.
High expectations for all students are more than educational jargon. The phrase refers to a change of mindset. If you really want to move the school improvement needle, you need an action plan with high expectations. Here is how you develop one:
- Instill confidence. Do not accept “I am not good at—–.” Respond by saying, “We just have to see how to make it click for you!” Students have marvelous talents, critical thinking potential, and creative skills. Encourage them.
- Ensure access. Do not assume “some students can” and “some students can’t.” All students deserve access to high-quality instruction as well as opportunities for enrichment and advanced coursework. Examine existing biases, avoid labeling, and limit assignment of students to fixed groups.
- Review student learning data. Are most students achieving in the limited range? The limited range means that students have limited knowledge of the expected learning standards. Students in the limited range of achievement need more exposure to grade level standards, not less. Teachers should teach and re-teach the most critical skills.
- Keep it interesting. Keep it real. Research (Saphier, 2016) reports that disadvantaged students are more likely to engage in non-meaningful schoolwork, for example, having older students spend time coloring. Students will engage and achieve more if learning activities bring authentic, real-life tasks and interests into the classroom.
- Teach grit. Grit means falling in love with challenges. As humans, we are afraid of what we cannot do, but we have all experienced times when friends convinced us to do something scary or hard. It was a “dare” or an “adventure,” but with a safe group. Teachers can bring a spirit of adventure and an assurance of safety to students when they face challenging material. “This is a bit of a stretch but let’s all tackle it together.”
- Put foundations in perspective. Learning is not always sequential. Some students cannot spell “night” correctly, but they can spell “nitrogen.” Why? They are interested in science, or they are farmers or gardeners! On the stairway to achievement, we skip steps.
- Develop self-discipline. Self-discipline is an executive functioning skill. Our thinking brain, or cortex, regulates executive functioning. This “inner voice” makes us get up on time, make our bed, exercise, and—very importantly— practice or study. Teach students how to study and engage in spaced practice sessions. These days, students can use logs, timers, charts, chatbots and any number of interesting tech tools. With practice, difficult things become easy.
- Work toward fluency. Fluency is when students experience success and joy in learning. They want to keep doing it; they practice guitar positions in thin air or recite complex formulae through rap chants. Students do not completely grasp a challenging concept until they approach fluency and the overlearning effect of doing something again, again, and again.
As we enter Spring and testing season in Ohio, every educator must think about high expectations for all students. There are many positive examples of this mindset in BCHF schools. Even young elementary and middle school students are winning state and national robotics competitions. All students in one school engage in performing arts, putting their confidence and skill out in public. In another, students exit high school as apprentices to skilled trades. And, finally, students at one school tackle complex issues to improve their own community through project-based learning. All our students are climbing a stairway to the future. They may be on different steps right now. But they should ALL be able to see a way to the top.
References:
Saphier, J. (2016). High expectations teaching: How we persuade students to believe and act on ‘smart is something you can get.’ Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.
Schmoker, M. (2018). Focus: Elevating the essentials to radically improve student learning. Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.